The Northeastern State RiverHawks are the athletic teams that represent

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of high ...

, located in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; ''Cherokee'': ᏓᎵᏆ, ''daligwa'' ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century ...

, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division II level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

(MIAA) for most of its sports since the 2012–13 academic year; while its men's soccer team competes in the

Great American Conference The Great American Conference (GAC) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, with headquarters located in Russellvill ...

(GAC). The RiverHawks previously competed as an NCAA D-II Independent during the 2011–12 school year; in the D-II

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

(LSC) from 1997–98 to 2010–11; and in the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference (OIC) of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA) from 1974–75 to 1996–97.

Name change

Northeastern State University announced on May 23, 2006, that it would be dropping "Redmen" and selecting a new mascot. The change was made proactively in response to the 2005

NCAA Native American mascot decision In 2005 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) distributed a "self evaluation" to its member institutions for teams to examine the use of potentially offensive imagery with their mascot choice. This examination was done in accordance ...

. The university announced its new athletic name as the RiverHawks on November 14, 2006.

Varsity teams

NSU competes in 11 intercollegiate sports sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf and soccer; while women's sports include basketball, golf, soccer, softball, spirit squads and tennis.

Men's basketball

In 2003, the men's basketball team won the NCAA Division II National Championship, beating

Kentucky Wesleyan Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) is a private Methodist college in Owensboro, Kentucky. The college is known for its liberal arts programs. Fall 2018 enrollment was 830 students. History Kentucky Wesleyan College was founded in 1858 by the Kent ...

75–64.

Spirit Squads

The university also offers participation in spirit squads at athletic and other school sponsored events. *

Pom Squad A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or song team, is a team of participants that participates in competitive dance. A dance squad can also include: a jazz squad, ballet squad, or any kind of religion dance squad. Dance squads ...

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

Cheerleading

The Northeastern State University cheerleaders are coached by Krystal Cooper. The Squad last competed in

National Cheerleaders Association The US National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) was established as a way to bring cheerleaders together to learn new skills. Since 1951, the NCA has held summer camps, and is credited with the invention of the herkie jump, the pom pom, the spirit st ...

collegiate nationals in 2013, placing 3rd in the Intermediate Coed Division II category.

Pom Squad

The Northeastern State University pom squad is currently coached by Lauren Perez.

Notable alumni

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

, ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' winner and country music singer *

Billy Bock Billy Bock (April 30, 1935 – July 8, 2003) was an American college and high school baseball coach, who led his high school teams to a nine state championships across four decades while never having a losing season. Billy Bock of Pine Bluff die ...

, late baseball coach for four high schools winning nine state titles * Jarrett Byers, former

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

wide receiver *

Larry Coker Larry Edward Coker (born June 23, 1948) is a former American football coach and player. He previously served as the head coach of the University of Miami and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Coker's 2001 Miami Hurricanes football ...

, former head coach at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

* Bob Hudson, former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

player * Ronnie Jones,

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach * Derrick Moore, former

player *

Ryan Helsley Ryan Dalton Helsley (born July 18, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2019. Amateur career Helsley attended Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, ...

, current pitcher for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

References

External links

* {{Oklahoma college sports