Northern Iowa Panthers baseball
| Northern Iowa Panthers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | University of Northern Iowa |
| Conference |
Missouri Valley Conference Missouri Valley Football Conference Mid-American Conference (wrestling) |
| NCAA | Division I (FCS) |
| Athletic director | David Harris |
| Location | Cedar Falls, Iowa |
| Varsity teams | 15 |
| Football stadium | UNI-Dome |
| Basketball arena | McLeod Center |
| Mascot | TC/TK Panther |
| Nickname | Panthers |
| Fight song | "UNI Fight" |
| Colors | Purple and Old Gold |
| Website | www |
The Northern Iowa Panthers are the athletic teams of the University of Northern Iowa. The university is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, (Division I FCS in football).
A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, the University of Northern Iowa sponsors seven men's and ten women's teams in NCAA sanctioned sports:
The school's mascot is the Panther. They participate in the Missouri Valley Conference for all sports except football and wrestling, in which they are a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (formerly the Gateway Football Conference) and the Mid-American Conference. Northern Iowa previously competed in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, North Central Conference, and the Mid-Continent Conference.
On September 8, 1931, the following appeal appeared in the student newspaper, the College Eye, under the headline "Contest Started for School Name":
"Who wants to be called Tutors, Pedagogues, and Teachers all the time? Every leading school in the country has some name by which they are known in the realm of sport. Iowa is known as the Hawkeyes, Minnesota as Gophers, Chicago as Maroons, and so forth. Why not give Iowa State Teachers College a name which signifies something characteristic about the school besides the fact that it is a teachers college?"
The article goes on to note that entries would be judged by a member of the Department of Physical Education, other faculty, and students.
When the contest was announced, the Iowa State Teachers College had already been participating in intercollegiate athletics on a regular and organized basis for over thirty-five years. Teachers College teams had participated in contests with other Iowa colleges, and occasionally with teams from outside the state, in baseball, football, basketball, and track and field. Until the end of World War I, students certainly did get excited about these contests, but they probably took just as much pleasure in the success of the school's debate and oratorical teams. The school's sole mission, the preparation of teachers, tended to attract many more women than men to the Teachers College. And, consequently, the school did not have an abundance of material from which to draw its athletes in the days when only men participated in intercollegiate athletics. Following the war, however, the college made a distinct effort to attract men to the teaching profession. An important part of this effort was the addition of physical education courses to the curriculum that would help to prepare men for teaching positions that included athletics coaching responsibilities. Improved athletics facilities, including the construction of the West Gymnasium, showed that the school was taking a more serious attitude toward intercollegiate athletics.
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