The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are the athletic teams for

Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...

, located in Maryville, Missouri. The Bearcats play in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

. Northwest is a founding member of 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 ...

in 1912 and has remained in the conference ever since. From their founding until 1937, they competed in the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

. From 1937 to 1957, they competed in 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 ...

before joining NCAA Division II. Northwest has appeared in ten Division II football title games (winning six) since 1998. The men's basketball team appeared in an AAU title game in 1930. The men's basketball team won the Division II title in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022.

Sports sponsored

Football

The Bearcats have appeared in ten NCAA Division II national title games (and won six) since going 0-11 in Mel Tjeerdsma's first season in 1994.

Basketball

Men's basketball

Northwest has won four national titles (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022) and appeared in another two Elite Eights (2002, 2004). Northwest was ranked #1 in 2020 going into the playoffs to defend its title but the playoffs were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

Women's basketball

Head coach Michael Smith finished his second season at Northwest Missouri State after the 2014–15 season, with a total record of 18–37. Since 1971, the women's basketball team has a combined record of 667–533.

Softball

The Bearcat softball team appeared in one Women's College World Series in 1975.

Facilities

Bearcat Stadium

Bearcat Stadium (formerly Memorial Stadium and Rickenbrode Stadium) is the football stadium of the

Bearcats in Maryville, Missouri and is the oldest continuous site for any

school. The Stadium was originally opened in 1917 as Memorial Stadium. It has a capacity of 6,500 and had lights and FieldTurf installed in the summer of 2007.

Bearcat Arena

The Arena is in Lamkin Activity Center, a part of the Ryland Milner Complex and is located between Bearcat Stadium on the west and the Martindale Gymnasium and the Robert P. Foster Aquatic Center on the east.

References

External links

* {{Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association navbox