The Eastern Washington Eagles are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams that represent Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, southwest of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

. A member of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

, EWU's athletic program comprises five men's sports:

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, cross country,

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 ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, and seven women's sports:

, cross country,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Varsity athletics

Eastern has been a member of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

since the summer of 1983, moving up from Division II. For most of its history, Eastern was a member of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) before upgrading its programs and joining the NCAA in the late 1970s. EWU has been a member of the Big Sky athletic conference since 1987; the school's mascot is ''Swoop'' and the

school colors School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms ...

are red and white. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, EWU won the

NCAA 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 FCS

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

, EWU's first at the Division I level for any sport. In 1973, the student body voted to make Eastern's mascot the Eagles. Shortly before that, the board of trustees declared "Savages", its mascot through its first 92 years, no longer acceptable.

Football

Eastern football is currently coached by Aaron Best and competes at the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

(FCS) level of Division I. Eastern claimed its first national championship in

, defeating

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

20–19 in the title game.

Men's basketball

Eastern men's basketball is currently coached by David Riley. Eastern has claimed two Big Sky regular season championships and two Big Sky conference tournament championships. Eastern advanced to the 2004 NCAA tournament and the 2015 NCAA tournament. Eastern lost to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in the first round in 2004 and Georgetown in the opening round in 2015.

Women's basketball

Former sports

Eastern formerly had varsity programs in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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 ...

, and

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

(men's & women's). Baseball joined the Northern Pacific Conference in 1980 as its eighth team, but after the next season, half of those programs had disbanded, and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

dropped the sport as well. The NorPac merged into the northern division of the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

for the 1982 baseball season, bringing the total up to seven schools. Baseball and wrestling were discontinued , following the 1990 seasons. The EWU wrestling team won NAIA tournament in 1977 scoring 95.5 points. Lanny Davidson is one of only 18 wrestlers in the history of the tournament to win three national NAIA wrestling championships.

National championships

The Eagles have won two team NCAA national championships.

Team

Facilities

Roos Field

The EWU football team plays at Roos Field, opened in 1967; expanded and renovated in 2004 and 2010 to increase capacity to 11,702. The stadium was originally named 'Woodward Field' in honor of former Eagles head football and basketball coach Arthur C. Woodward. It replaced the original Woodward Field, which was located near the present JFK Library. The introduction of red artificial turf and name change to Roos Field occurred in 2010.

Reese Court

Reese Court is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena that is home to the Eastern Washington University women's volleyball and men's and women's basketball teams. It replaced the Eastern Washington Fieldhouse when it opened in 1975. It was named for William B. "Red" Reese the athletic director and head coach in multiple sports.

Rivalries

Montana Grizzlies

The EWU–UM Governors Cup is the annual

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 ...

game between the

Montana Grizzlies The Montana Grizzlies and Lady Griz are the nicknames given to the athletic teams of the University of Montana, located in Missoula, Montana, Missoula. The university is a member of the Big Sky Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fieldin ...

and the Eastern Eagles. Traditionally, it is in the middle of the regular season, played on the Saturday alternating between Roos Field and Washington–Grizzly Stadium each year. The Eagles currently trail in the series with 11 wins and 25 losses.

Mascot

In 1973, the student body voted to make Eastern's mascot the Eagles. Shortly before that, the Eastern Board of Trustees declared "Savages", its mascot through its first 92 years, no longer acceptable. Eagles are native to eastern Washington and thus a logical choice for a replacement.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Eastern Washington Eagles, color=white , list = {{Big Sky Conference navbox {{Washington Sports {{Division1washingtoncolleges Baseball teams disestablished in 1990