The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

, United States. The Zips compete in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) East division. Akron sponsors 17 varsity teams across six men's, 10 women's, and one coed NCAA sanctioned sports. The football team competes in the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS), the highest level of competition for

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Nickname and mascot

The Zips name comes from "zippers", rubber overshoes made by the BF Goodrich Company of Akron that were popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, a campus-wide contest had been conducted to choose a nickname for the university's athletic teams. Suggestions submitted by students, faculty, and alumni included Golden Blue Devils, Tip Toppers, Rubbernecks, Hillbillies, Kangaroos, and Cheveliers. The winner, freshman Margaret Hamlin, received a prize of $10 for "Zippers". Athletic director Kenneth Cochrane officially shortened the nickname to ''Zips'' in 1950. The university's mascot is "Zippy", a female kangaroo. Zippy is one of only eight female college mascots in the United States.

Sports sponsored

Teams

Baseball

Akron reinstated its varsity baseball program for the 2020 season (2019–20 school year) after having dropped the sport in 2015.

Basketball

Men's basketball

In 2006, the men's basketball team, under head coach Keith Dambrot, won its first ever Division I postseason game by defeating

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

in the NIT. The team, led by first team All-MAC performer

Romeo Travis Romeo Travis (born December 10, 1984) is an American born naturalized Macedonian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Akron. High school career Travis was born in Akron, Ohio. As a high scho ...

(former teammate of NBA star

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

in high school), won the most games in a season, 23. In 2008, Keith Dambrot led Akron to the MAC Tournament Final for a second year in a row, yet the team fell for a second time, this time to archrival Kent State. The Zips advanced to the NIT for a second time in Dambrot's four years as head coach and won their first game at Florida State, eventually falling in the Sweet 16 in a game at UMass. In 2009, the men's basketball team captured the MAC Tournament title, defeating Buffalo in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

at the Quicken Loans Arena 65–53, thus qualifying Akron for its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 1986 and first as a MAC member. In 2010, the team reached the MAC Tournament Championship game for the fourth straight year, but lost to Ohio 75–81 in overtime. The Zips played in the postseason CBI tournament where they lost to Wisconsin–Green Bay 70–66. The men's basketball team advanced to the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

in 2011 and 2013 as well.

Women's basketball

The women's basketball team went to their first NCAA Tournament in 2014 after winning the MAC title. They made the WNIT in 1999, 2013, and 2015 and the WBI in 2015.

Football

Akron's major football rivalry is with

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

, whom they play for the Wagon Wheel. They also formerly played

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergrad ...

for the Steel Tire until that series was discontinued in 1995. In 2005, the Akron Zips

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team won their very first MAC championship giving them a chance to play in the Motor City Bowl, Akron's first Division I-A

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

appearance where they lost to the

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Rifle

The rifle team went to their first NCAA Championship in the 2019/2020 season after placing 4th in the national standings. The 2020 NCAA Rifle Championship was cancelled after the practice day to Covid. Akron competes as a single-sport member of the Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) after leaving the

Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference The Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Shooting sport#Rifle, rifle-only conference. The MAC was established in 1978 for schools that sponsor NCAA sanctioned varsity rifle teams, but do not have ...

(MAC) in 2016. in 2017, Rifle was the first sport that Akron hosted an NCAA National Championship competition and in 2023 hosted Akron's 2nd ever NCAA National Championship competition.

Men's soccer

The Akron Zips men's soccer team, ranked number one throughout the 2009 regular season, went undefeated, making it to the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship, but lost in penalty kicks to the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as Wahoos or Hoos, are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic Coast C ...

. On December 12, 2010, Akron won the NCAA Division I national championship in men's soccer by defeating the Louisville Cardinals, 1–0. This was the first NCAA team championship for the school in any sport. The Zips play their home games at FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field. Following the 2012 campaign, head coach Caleb Porter left the Zips to take the head coaching of the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. The Zips have remained a national power under coach Jared Embick, winning the MAC season and tournament championships in each of his first four seasons. The Akron Zips Men's Soccer program made their way to another NCAA College Cup in 2018 but fell 1–0 to the Maryland Terrapins in the final. Akron joined the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

for men's soccer after the 2022–23 school year.

Other sports

In 2005, the women's cross country team, women's indoor track and the men's soccer team also won the MAC championship in their respective sports, making the 2005–06 year the most successful in Akron athletics history with a total of four Mid-American Conference championships in the same year. The 2005 men's soccer team was the first team in UA history to hold a national no. 1 ranking in any sport, and was coached by Ken Lolla, now the head coach at the University of Louisville. The 1978 men's archery team, led by 3-time national individual college champion Richard Bednar and hall-of-fame coach Bill Bednar, was the first team in UA history to win a national collegiate team championship. The University of Akron has produced five individual national champions, including 4 NCAA national champions: * Shawn Barber, indoor and outdoor pole vault: 2015; World champion, 2015 * Jenna Compton, air rifle: 2009 * Stevi Large, track and field (weight throw), 2009 * Christi Smith, track and field (heptathlon), 2000 * Richard Bednar, archery: 1976, 1977, 1978 The newest Zips varsity sport is women's lacrosse, which played its first season in the spring of 2020 as a single-sport member of the

ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

Facilities

* InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field (football) * James A. Rhodes Arena (men's & women's basketball, volleyball) *The Stile Athletics Field House (indoor T&F, strength and conditioning center, sports medicine center, indoor golf facility, football practice field & locker rooms, coaches' offices, team meeting space and spectator seating for 1,200.) *Oliver J. Ocasek Natatorium (swimming & diving) *Robert A. Pinn Shooting Range (rifle) *Lee Jackson Field Complex (a 23-acre multi-purpose facility) ** FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field (''formerly Lee R. Jackson Field'') (men's & women's soccer) **Lee R. Jackson Track & Field Complex (outdoor T&F) **Lee R. Jackson Softball Field (softball) **Lee R. Jackson Practice Field (football) **Outdoor Tennis Facility ** Skeeles Field (baseball)

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Akron Zips, color=white , list = {{Mid-American Conference navbox {{Big East Conference navbox {{Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference navbox {{Ohio Sports {{Ohio college sports