The Keiser Seahawks are the athletic teams that represent
Keiser University, located in
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
(NAIA), primarily competing in the
Sun Conference
The Sun Conference (TSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Eight of the ten full member institutions are located in Florida, with two in Georgia. The Sun Conference co ...
(formerly known as the Florida Sun Conference (FSC) until after the 2007–08 school year) since the 2015–16 academic year. Prior to July 2015, the
Seahawks represented
Northwood University
Northwood University (NU) is a private university focused on business education with its main campus in Midland, Michigan, United States. Opened in 1959, more than 33,000 people have graduated from the institution.
History
Northwood Universit ...
's West Palm Beach campus.
Varsity teams
Keiser competes in 24 intercollegiate varsity sports:
Basketball
Basketball was started in the 2006–2007 season, after the hiring of
Rollie Massimino in 2005, as Director of Basketball Operations for both men's and women's basketball.
Per ESPN, on December 14, 2016, Massimino, Keiser University's men's basketball coach, became the third active coach to achieve 800 career wins and the ninth coach overall. Massimino was 82 years old at the time.
Football
In 2016, Keiser announced its plan to add football to its slate of varsity athletic programs, with the team beginning play in the 2018 season.
In 2021, the Seahawks football team advanced to the NAIA quarterfinals for the second straight year. In 2023, the Seahawks football team won its first
NAIA Football National Championship, defeating
Northwestern College 31–21.
Golf
The Seahawks Women's golf team have won four
NAIA Women's Golf National Championships (2003, 2015, 2016, 2021). In 2022, the Seahawks Men's golf team won their first
NAIA Men's Golf National Championship, while also having their first individual golf national champion.
Soccer
Both the Seahawks Men's and Women's soccer teams have won national championships. The Women's soccer team won back-to-back
national championships
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 ...
in 2019 and 2020. The Men's soccer team collected its first
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 ...
in 2021.
Swimming
The Keiser Men's Swim team won the
NAIA Men's Swimming National Championship three consecutive years in 2018, 2019, and 2020. With the 2021 championships canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, they would follow up by winning their fourth straight national title in 2022. In 2022, the Keiser Women's Swim team won their first
NAIA Women's Swimming National Championship.
Wrestling
The 2019–20 season marked the inaugural year of the Keiser men's wrestling team. Keiser, along with
Southeastern University and
St. Thomas University, are the only current institutions that sponsor scholarship wrestling programs in Florida.
Cheer and Dance
The Keiser Cheer and Dance team made their inaugural appearance at the 2025
NCA &
NDA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship, held April 10–12 at the
Ocean Center in
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a coastal Resort town, resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona� ...
.
This marked the first time Keiser competed at the national level in both competitive cheer and competitive dance collegiate events. During their debut, the Seahawks achieved a runner-up (2nd place) finish in their division.
Championships
NAIA championships
The Seahawks have won 26
NAIA team national championships.
;Notes:
NACDA Directors' Cup
The Seahawks won the NACDA Directors' Cup for being the NAIA's highest performing overall athletic program for the 2020–21 season.
Club sports
* Equestrian
* Fishing
* Golf
Notable athletes
*
Nick Akoto, American professional
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 ...
player
*
Dante Calabria, men's basketball head coach from 2017–2018
*
Evan Finnegan, Irish soccer player who played as an
attacking full−back
*
Lisa Lilja, Swedish
sprinter, specializing in the
200 metres
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...
and
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...
*
Rollie Massimino, men's basketball head coach from 2006–2017
*
Aaron Molloy, Irish professional soccer player
*
Thobias Montler, Swedish
long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...
er, won silver medal at the
2022 World Indoor Championships
*
Doug Socha,
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 ...
head coach 2017–2023
*
Stanley Whittaker, American professional
basketball player
*
Stefan Zečević, Serbian professional basketball player
References
External links
*
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