The North Dakota Fighting Hawks (formerly known as the Flickertails and the Fighting Sioux) are the athletic teams that represent the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

(UND), located in the city of

Grand Forks Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Fargo and Bismarck. Grand For ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. The Fighting Hawks compete at 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. ...

Division I level as a member of the Summit League. With 17 varsity teams, North Dakota is best known for its

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team and

American Football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team. North Dakota's main rivalries are with the

North Dakota State Bison The North Dakota State Bison are the athletic teams of North Dakota State University (NDSU), which is located in the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The teams are often called the "Thundering Herd". The current logo is a bison. Sports sponsored ...

and the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

. Originally in the Division II

North Central Conference The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II. History The NCC ...

, UND began transitioning to NCAA's Division I in 2008 with the football program participating in the

Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was ca ...

(FCS). North Dakota is a member of the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

for most sports, the

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate A ...

in football, and the

National Collegiate Hockey Conference The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's Division I hockey conference. The league was formed on July 9, 2011 and began playing for the 2013–14 season, the same season that the Big Ten Conference began competition, as a ...

for men's hockey. The Fighting Hawks competed in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

in baseball, plus men's and women's swimming and diving, before dropping all three sports. Baseball was dropped after the 2016 season, and the swimming and diving teams were dropped after the 2016–17 season. Women's ice hockey competed in the

Western Collegiate Hockey Association The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated as a me ...

before also being dropped after the 2016–17 season. On January 24, 2017, reports stated that North Dakota would leave the Big Sky Conference to join the

in all sports but football beginning in 2019. The school would join the

for football in 2020. The rumored changes became official on January 26, when UND, the Summit League, and the MVFC announced the Fighting Hawks' move to the Summit in 2018 (instead of 2019) and the MVFC at the reported 2020 date. During UND's transition to the MVFC, it will continue to play a full Big Sky football schedule due to contractual commitments; while the Fighting Hawks will not be eligible for the Big Sky title, games against them will count in the Big Sky football standings.

Sports sponsored

Men's basketball

The Fighting Hawks Basketball team has appeared in the Division 1 tournament 1 time. The most famous athlete to come from the program is former NBA coach and basketball player

Phil Jackson Philip Douglas Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jackson is a 13-time NBA champion, having won two as a player and 11 as ...

Football

The men's football home games are held in the

Alerus Center The Alerus Center is an indoor arena and convention center in the north central United States, located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The facility is owned and operated by the city of Grand Forks and opened on February 10, 2001. The arena's majo ...

. The team competes at the FCS Level in the

. Prior to Joining the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the team competed in the Big Sky Conference.

Ice hockey (men's)

Having won eight national championships, the men's hockey team is easily the most recognized of UND teams. A charter member of the

, the Fighting Hawks play in the $100+ million

Ralph Engelstad Arena Ralph Engelstad Arena (REA), commonly called the Ralph, is an indoor arena located on the campus of the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and serves as the home of UND men's ice hockey. The arena was built by controve ...

Volleyball

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks volleyball are members of the NCAA Division I Summit League. The program only includes a women's team.

Rivalries

Hockey

Gophers Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...

* Pioneers

Football

Bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

Coyotes The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely relat ...

All

South Dakota State Jackrabbits The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are the 19 intercollegiate teams representing South Dakota State University that compete in the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I (for football: Football Championship Subdivision). Sout ...

South Dakota Coyotes The South Dakota Coyotes, also known as the USD Coyotes ( ), are the athletic teams for the University of South Dakota. Their team colors are vermilion and white. They have been members of Summit League of the NCAA's Division I since the 2011� ...

Former sports

The

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

program was discontinued in 1998. The baseball program dating to 1889 was cancelled at the conclusion of the 2016 season. The women's hockey program was cancelled at the conclusion of the 2016–17 season. *Baseball *Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving *Women's Golf *Wrestling *Women's Hockey

Athletics hall of fame

The Letterwinners Hall of Fame recognizes the efforts and achievements of former UND student-athletes, coaches, and other supporters of UND athletics. Inductees are selected by the UND Letterwinners Association and representatives of the UND athletic department. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony, sponsored by the UND Letterwinners Association, is held each fall in conjunction with a football game. The Hall of Fame is located on the upper concourse at the south end of the

Nickname

UND's nickname was originally The Flickertails, but was unofficially changed to "The Sioux" in 1930. UND's former athletic logo, revealed in 1999, a Native American figure, was designed by Bennett Brien, a local artist and UND graduate of

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

ethnicity. After more than a decade of controversy, the name and logo were retired in 2012. On November 18, 2015, it was revealed at a press conference held by President Robert Kelley that Fighting Hawks, with 57.24% of the vote, would become the new university nickname.

Notable Athletes

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, color=white , list = {{Summit League navbox {{Missouri Valley Football Conference navbox {{National Collegiate Hockey Conference {{Dakota Sports University of North Dakota Olympic medalists

Sports sponsored

Men's basketball

Football

Ice hockey (men's)

Volleyball

Rivalries

Hockey

Football

All

Former sports

Athletics hall of fame

Nickname

Notable Athletes

See also

References

External links