NSU Athletics Overview

Intercollegiate athletics at Northwestern State University have provided some of the finest achievements and most remarkable figures in the rich history since the University was established in 1884.
 
9938Athletics at Northwestern have also spawned generations of coaches, administrators and teachers who have made profound impacts on the lives of countless thousands of students in hundreds of schools in cities, towns, villages and communities around Louisiana and beyond. Northwestern was founded as the State Normal College, designed to produce teachers, and that historic mission remains at the core of the university's identity two centuries later. Many student-athletes, dating from the days before the first intercollegiate competition in a 1907 football game, have gone on to significant careers in education.
 
In the century-plus that Northwestern has been active in athletics, Demon and Lady Demon competitors, teams and coaches have brought great recognition and pride to the university, the surrounding area, the state and alumni around the world. Sports has evolved from a pleasant afternoon or evening outing for the campus and local community into a highly competitive marketing arm of the university, significant in student recruitment, alumni engagement and attracting new support to Northwestern.
 
Considering the wide range of achievements by NSU competitors, those goals are being accomplished.
 
The Demons football program is nationally known for producing professional talent and is regarded as one of the country's consistently successful Football Championship Subdivision teams. NSU boasts Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Jackie Smith, College Football Hall of Fame members Joe Delaney and Gary Reasons, 40 All-Americans, and among the dozens of Demons who have played extensively in the NFL, eight All-Pro selections, including NFL record-setting receiver Charlie Hennigan. Eight alumni were active in the NFL in the 2008 season.
 
The biggest single accomplishment in NSU athletic history certainly gained the university more national and even worldwide attention than any event before or since. The Demons basketball team scored a stunning last-second 64-63 win over 15th-ranked Iowa in the first-round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, rallying from 17 points behind over the final eight minutes. The dramatic victory produced a tsunami of media coverage, including a three-quarters page spread on the sports front of the New York Times. The basketball team has played 18 nationally televised games from the 2008-09 season until 2021-22 season under iconic coach Mike McConathy, whose father and uncles played for highly successful small college teams at Northwestern in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
 
Globally, Northwestern State has produced four Olympic competitors - gymnast Richard Loyd in 1968, track and field athletes LaMark Carter (2000) and Kenta Bell (2004, 2008), and weightlifting coach Gayle Hatch (2004), all representing the United States. Ricardo Acuna, a men's tennis star for the Demons in the 1970s, was a quarterfinalist in the 1985 Wimbledon Championships and a longtime board member for the worldwide Association of Tennis Professionals.
 
NSU's baseball program has emerged in the past two decades among the more successful nationally, winning over 60 percent of its games and nine Southland Conference championships. The track and field program, along with producing the two Olympians, has won 46 Division I All-America awards presented to top finishers at the national championships, including NCAA championship wins in 1981 (Victor Oatis, Joe Delaney, Mario Johnson and Mark Duper in the men's 4x100 meter relay) and 1989 (Brian Brown in the men's indoor high jump).
 
In 1968, Northwestern hosted the first high school basketball camp for girls. Seven years later, Northwestern became the first university in Louisiana to issue full athletic scholarships to women. The Lady Demons basketball team quickly developed among the best in the state and region, posting wins over nationally-prominent teams such as Duke, Notre Dame, LSU, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Missouri, Texas A&M, and Clemson.
 
The Lady Demons have also produced championship success in tennis, softball, soccer and volleyball. The soccer team was the first from Louisiana to compete in the NCAA Tournament and its four appearances this decade remain best in the state. The softball program has an array of conference regular-season and tournament titles to go with a lengthy list of wins over nationally-ranked teams.
 
Fundamentally, the student-athlete experience at Northwestern has always put academics first. As emphasis on academic accountability in NCAA Division I athletics has heightened in the past few years, Northwestern has ranked among state, Southland Conference and even national leaders in two NCAA surveys, the Academic Progress Rates report and the Graduation Success Rate.
 
Finally, athletics at NSU have enriched the cultural and social scene in Natchitoches and the surrounding region, providing exciting entertainment and intercollegiate sports. From modest beginnings to great success in the small college ranks and, since 1977, noteworthy levels of accomplishment at the highest level, NCAA Division I, Northwestern has a proud record of accomplishment. It has also provided, particularly in the past two decades, very significant economic impact locally and regionally, hosting not only NCAA events but also an array of Louisiana High School Athletic Association activities and championships along with camps, clinics and summer competitions for athletes not yet at the college level.
 
Continuing enhancements to the athletics department at NSU assure the successful tradition of achievement will continue to bloom in the years ahead.