The Milwaukee Panthers are the athletic teams representing the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a Public university, public Urban university, urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropo ...

. They compete as a member of 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. ...

(NCAA) Division I level, competing in the

Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...

for all sports since the 1994–95 season. A total of 13 Panthers athletic teams compete in

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 ...

. The Panthers have won the James J. McCafferty Trophy as the Horizon League's all-sports champions seven times since 2000.

History

Milwaukee's athletic teams are nicknamed the Panthers, having previously been the Green Gulls (1927–1956) and Cardinals (1956–1964), adopting the Panthers nickname in 1964. Before 1990, the university's athletics program spent the majority of its history at the NCAA Division III and II levels, as well as several years at the NAIA level. All non-Division I sports moved to the NCAA Division I level for the 1990–91 academic year.

Sports sponsored

A member of the Horizon League, Milwaukee sponsors teams in six men's and seven women's NCAA-sanctioned sports.

Baseball

The Panthers are the only Division I college baseball team in the state of Wisconsin. They have also qualified for four NCAA tournaments since 1999, most notably recording an 8–4 win over regional host

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

in the first round of the 1999 NCAA tournament. They also appeared in the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, and

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 ...

tournaments. The only Panther to appear in a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

game is outfielder Daulton Varsho, who debuted for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

in 2020.

Men's basketball

The Panthers men's basketball team has had several high-profile head coaches, including Bo Ryan (1999–2001), who was a national runner-up in 2014 as the head coach at

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, and Bruce Pearl (2001–2005), who made the 2019 Final Four as head coach at Auburn. Milwaukee made one appearance in the

NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament (officially styled as "Championship" instead of "Tournament") is a tournament to determine the NCAA Division III national champion. It has been held annually from 1975 to 2019 & since 2022, but no ...

in 1982 and two in the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament: one in 1960, and one where they reached the Elite Eight in 1989. As a Division I program, Milwaukee has made four NCAA tournaments since 2003, most notably, the 2005 tournament. As the twelfth seed in the Midwest regional, the Panthers upset fifth-seeded

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in the first round and fourth-seeded

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

in the second round to reach the Sweet Sixteen. The Panthers would go on to lose in that round to the top-seeded eventual tournament runner-up

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The Panthers have made four postseason appearances outside of the NCAA tournament, including two in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

and two in the College Basketball Invitational. The Panthers have had five players selected in the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

. The highest selection is Patrick Baldwin Jr., who was selected with the 28th pick in the first round by the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in 2022.

Women's basketball

The Milwaukee women's basketball team began as a founding member of the

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

in 1972 before moving with the rest of the university sports to NAIA in 1982. The Panthers made their first NCAA tournament appearance at any level with the

2001 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The 2001 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament began on March 16 and ended on April 1. The tournament featured 64 teams. The Final Four, held at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Missouri, consisted of Connecticut, Notre Dame, Purdue, ...

, appearing again in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. They have also appeared in three Women's National Invitation Tournaments and one Women's Basketball Invitational.

Men's soccer

The Milwaukee men's soccer team has made six NCAA tournaments since 2002, including four straight where they advanced to the second round. In the 2004 and 2005 tournaments, the Panthers lost to the top team in the country in the second round: 2004 against

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

in double-overtime and 2005 against

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

on penalty kicks. Panthers men's soccer holds the attendance record for Engelmann Stadium, which was set during a match against cross-town rival Marquette on September 3, 2015, with a crowd of 4,030.

Women's soccer

Milwaukee's women's soccer team has won the Horizon League tournament and 12 times since 1997 and has made the NCAA tournament 16 times since then, including six straight from 2008 to 2013. The Panthers have also made every NCAA tournament since 2018, winning two tournament matches in that span. Milwaukee's highest end-of-season ranking is 23, which they achieved in 2011 following a Horizon League Championship and a win in the NCAA tournament at home against Illinois State.

Women's volleyball

The women's volleyball team at Milwaukee has also enjoyed national success in recent years, qualifying for six of the last nine NCAA Tournaments and compiling an all-time record of 867–477–7 through the end of the 2006 season.

Football

Milwaukee's now-defunct

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 ...

program competed at the NCAA College Division (now

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

) level; due to lack of funds and a long string of losing seasons, they dropped the sport after the 1974 season.

Gallery

Milwaukee vs. Marquette men's soccer 2022 21 (free kick).jpg, Milwaukee men's soccer team in action against Marquette Marquette vs. Milwaukee women's soccer 2023 08 (pre-game festivities).jpg, Milwaukee women's soccer team before game against Marquette. Marquette vs. Milwaukee women's volleyball 2023 04 (Milwaukee timeout).jpg, Milwaukee women's volleyball team in 2023. Wisconsin vs. Milwaukee women's basketball 2022 63 (Milwaukee cheerleaders).jpg, Milwaukee cheerleaders performing at a women's basketball game, 2022

Athletic facilities

* UWM Panther Arena – men's basketball * Klotsche Center – men's and women's basketball, volleyball, swimming and diving, indoor track and field * Engelmann Stadium – men's and women's soccer * Franklin Field – baseball *River Glen Elite – women's tennis

Notable people

Baseball

* Daulton Varsho (outfielder, currently plays for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

)

Basketball

* Clay Tucker (shooting guard, professional player from 2003 to 2018) * Bruce Weber (former head coach at

and Kansas State, 2005

Naismith College Player of the Year The Naismith College Player of the Year is "the most prestigious national award presented annually to the men's and women's college basketball players of the year," as chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors. It is named in honor o ...

) * Von McDade (drafted by the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

in the second round of the

1991 NBA draft The 1991–92 NBA season, 1991 NBA draft took place on June 26, 1991, in New York City, New York. Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1969), Larry Johnson was selected first overall; he won the 1992 NBA Rookie of the Year award and as a two-time All ...

) * Dylan Page (small forward, currently plays for

CB Estudiantes Club Baloncesto Estudiantes, S.A.D., (English: Club Basketball Students) known simply as Estu and as Movistar Estudiantes for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball team based in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is a member of the Liga ACB, Asociación ...

) * Joah Tucker (professional player from 2006 to 2012, former

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

member) * Chris Hill (point guard, professional player from 2006 to 2010) * Ed McCants (professional player from 2006 to 2008) * Patrick Baldwin Jr. (drafted by the

in the first round of the 2022 NBA draft, currently playing for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

)

Football

* Bill Carollo (

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

official from 1989 to 2008, current director of officiating for the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

) * Mike Reinfeldt (All-Pro safety for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

, played from 1975 to 1983) * Demetrius Harris (basketball player at Milwaukee, professional tight end with four NFL teams from 2013 to 2021)

Soccer

* Jimmy Banks (member of the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

from 1986 to 1991) *

Sasho Cirovski Sasho Cirovski (born 14 October 1962) is a Macedonian-Canadian soccer coach of the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland. Born in Macedonia and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Cirovski led his University of Maryland, Col ...

(current head soccer coach at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

) * Tighe Dombrowski (drafted by the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

in the fifth round of the

2004 MLS SuperDraft The 2004 MLS SuperDraft, held in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 16, 2004, was the fifth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft. The draft was most notable at the time for the selection of one of the younge ...

) * Logan Farrington (drafted third overall by

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft) * Sarah Hagen (member of the United States U23 and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

national teams from 2010 to 2014) * Manny Lagos (former

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

player from 1997 to 2005 and former US National team member) * Tony Sanneh (professional player from 1996 to 2005, former USMNT member and manager of

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the W ...

)

Athletic directors

* Herman Kluge (1956–1970) * Albert Negratti (1970–1971) * Thomas P. Rosandich (1972–1975) * Jim Harding (1975–1980) * Daniel I. Harris (associate director for Men's Athletics, 1980–1983) * Daryl A. Leonard (associate director for Women's Athletics, 1980–1983) * Daniel I. Harris (1983–1988) * Bud Haidet (1988–2009) *

George Koonce George Earl Koonce Jr. (born October 15, 1968) is an American athlete, athletic director and collegiate fundraiser. A former linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), he served as the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Mi ...

(2009–2010) * Dave Gilbert (interim, 2010) * Rick Costello (2010–2012) * Andy Geiger (interim, 2012–2013) * Amanda Braun (2013–present)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Milwaukee Panthers

History

Sports sponsored

Baseball

Men's basketball

Women's basketball

Men's soccer

Women's soccer

Women's volleyball

Football

Gallery

Athletic facilities

Notable people

Baseball

Basketball

Football

Soccer

Athletic directors

See also

References

External links