The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are the athletic teams for Northwest Missouri State University, located in

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University and Northwes ...

. 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 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 h ...

. 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 st ...

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 Mel Tjeerdsma ( ; born May 24, 1946) is a retired American football coach and athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. He served as the head coach at Austin College in Sherman, Texas from 1984 to 1993 and ...

'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.

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 The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

in 1975.

Facilities

Bearcat Stadium

Bearcat Stadium (formerly Memorial Stadium and Rickenbrode Stadium) is the football stadium of the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in

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 Bearcat Stadium (formerly Memorial Stadium and Rickenbrode Stadium) is the football stadium of the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in Maryville, Missouri and is the oldest continuous site for any NCAA Division II school. It has a ca ...

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