Denver Pioneers
| Denver Pioneers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | University of Denver |
| Conference | The Summit League |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletic director | Peg Bradley-Doppes |
| Location | Denver, Colorado |
| Varsity teams | 17 |
| Basketball arena | Magness Arena |
| Ice hockey arena | Magness Arena |
| Soccer stadium | CIBER Field at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium |
| Lacrosse stadium | Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium |
| Nickname | Pioneers |
| Fight song | "D-Rah/Fairest of Colleges" (Dororthy Hickey, 1916) |
| Colors | Crimson and Gold |
| Website | www |
The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver (DU). They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, Denver is a member of The Summit League for men's and women's basketball, swimming and diving, men's and women's soccer, tennis and golf for both men and women, plus women's volleyball. Other DU teams play in various conferences in the sports that are not sponsored by The Summit. The men's ice hockey team is a charter member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), which formed in 2011 with play beginning in 2013. The lacrosse teams for men and women are members of the Big East Conference; the men began Big East play in the 2013–14 school year (2014 season), while the women left the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) after the 2016 lacrosse season. Men's and women's skiing compete in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, while the women's gymnastics team became an affiliate of the Big 12 Conference starting with the 2015–16 season.
The University has been fielding athletic teams since 1867. DU's athletic teams are known as the Pioneers. In the early years of competition from the 1860s to the early 1920s, Denver had no official nickname, but sports writers of the day referred to Denver teams as the "Ministers" or "Fighting Parsons" in homage to the Methodist heritage of the school. Denver officially became the "Pioneers" in 1925, after the result of a student nickname contest, and that nickname has been in place ever since.
With over 200 All Americans, 31 NCAA Championships, and 65 Olympians in its history, there is a long tradition of excellence in Pioneer sports. Today, DU operates a full NCAA Division I athletic program with a unique and successful mix of sports in and around the $85 million Daniel Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness, which was completed in 2000. In 2014, Denver was 43rd overall in the Learfield NACDA Director's Cup, which ranks NCAA Division I programs on total athletic program achievement, and was first among NCAA D-I schools without football programs (D-I AAA) for the seventh time in the last eight years (2015). Sports Illustrated ranked the DU program 23rd in the nation in 2008 among all schools.
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