Conference Big 12 Athletic director Mike Holder Varsity teams 16 | NCAA Division I Location Stillwater, Oklahoma | |
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University Oklahoma State University–Stillwater | ||
Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Big 12 Conference. The university's current athletic director is Mike Holder. In total, Oklahoma State has 51 NCAA team national titles, which ranks fourth in most NCAA team national championships. These national titles have come in wrestling (34), golf (10), basketball (2), baseball (1), and cross country (4). The 1945 Oklahoma A&M football team was retroactively awarded a national title in October 2016 by the American Football Coaches Association.
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Mascot and team nickname
Prior to 1957, OSU was known as Oklahoma A&M. As was common with most land-grant schools, its teams were known for many years as Aggies. However, in 1923, A&M was looking for a new mascot to replace its pet tiger (the inspiration behind the school colors of orange and black). A group of students saw Frank Eaton leading the Armistice Day Parade. He was approached to see if he would be interested in being the model for the new mascot, and he agreed. The caricature, Pistol Pete, that was drawn that year is more or less the same as the one in use today.
Only a few decades removed from the cattle drive era, the cowboy was still an important figure in the Southwest. The new mascot had become so popular that by 1924, Charles Saulsberry, sports editor of the Oklahoma City Times, began calling A&M's teams the Cowboys. "Aggies" and "Cowboys" were used interchangeably until A&M was elevated to university status in 1957.
The Waving Song
The "Waving Song" is one of the fight songs for Oklahoma State. At Oklahoma State football games, the song is played by the Cowboy Marching Band during the pregame traditions, following touchdowns, and after victories against the Cowboys' opponents. For other athletic events, the Waving Song is played after an OSU victory as the start of the fight song trilogy. While the song is played, fans wave their right arms in the air; the effect is similar to wheat waving in the wind.
The song's melody is that of "The Streets of New York," a song from the Victor Herbert operetta, The Red Mill. The lyrics used by Oklahoma State were written by H.G. Seldomridge, a professor who heard the tune on a visit to New York City. The original lyrics used the abbreviation "OAMC" in place of "Oklahoma State," as the school was still then known as Oklahoma A&M College. It was first sung in 1908 at a follies show at Stillwater's Grand Opera House. Ever since, it has been a tradition to play the song at OSU athletic events.
Men's basketball
Oklahoma State first took the basketball court in 1908. Under head coach Henry Iba, the team won NCAA championships in 1945 and again in 1946. A&M center Bob Kurland was named the NCAA Tournament MVP during their two championship seasons. Kurland was the first player to win the honor two times. Oklahoma State has a total of six Final Four appearances.
Under Eddie Sutton, the team made two Final Four appearances—in 1995 and in 2004. Sutton's son, Sean Sutton, began coaching the team in 2006 but resigned on March 31, 2008. The team is now coached by Brad Underwood after firing Travis Ford following the 2015-2016 season.
Women's basketball
Oklahoma State first fielded a women's team during the 1972-1973 season. The team is currently without a head coach, as their fifth year head coach Kurt Budke was killed in a plane crash in Arkansas in November 2011, just after the season had started.
Baseball
The Cowboys won their only national championship in 1959, but have finished runner-up on five other occasions. OSU won 16 consecutive conference championships under head coach Gary Ward in the Big 8 Conference. During that time, Pete Incaviglia was named Baseball America's Player of the Century, and Robin Ventura was inducted in the inaugural class into the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Overall, OSU has made 19 College World Series appearances, including seven straight from 1981–1987.
The Cowboys' current head baseball coach is Josh Holliday.
Football
The OSU football program has participatied in 25 bowl games overall and have been to 9 straight. There have been 10 conference championships won, 1 Heisman Trophy winner, 2 NFL Hall of Fame members, and 32 All-Americans to the Cowboys' name.
Oklahoma State plays football on Lewis Field, in Boone Pickens Stadium.
The Cowboys all-time record is 566-539-47.
The current head coach is Mike Gundy (94-46 and 6–3 in bowl appearances). During Gundy's playing career, the Cowboys have enjoyed six 9+ win seasons in the past eight seasons. Gundy coached the team to a record 12 win season in 2011, culminating with a Fiesta Bowl victory over Stanford. His accolades consist of the 2010 Big 12 Coach of the Year, 2011 Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year, 2011 Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach of the Year, and the 2011 American Football Monthly National Coach of the Year.
The 1945 Oklahoma A&M team was retroactively awarded a national title in October 2016 by the American Football Coaches Association. The Aggies finished with a 9-0 record, completing the season with a 33-13 win over St. Mary's College in the Sugar Bowl.
Barry Sanders won the Heisman Trophy in 1988.
Author Steve Budin, whose father was a New York bookie, has recently publicized the claim that the 1954 "Bedlam" game against rival OU was fixed by mobsters in his book Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll (ISBN 1-602-39099-1).
Conference (seasons as member)
Golf
Karsten Creek serves as the home course of the Oklahoma State University Men's and Women's golf teams. The Tom Fazio layout was named Golf Digest's "Best New Public Course" and served as the host site for the NCAA Men's Championship in 2003.
The men's program has qualified for the NCAA Championship 66 times in 67 years and has won 10 national championships (1963, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2006), nine individual national champions (Grier Jones in 1968, David Edwards in 1978, Scott Verplank in 1986, Brian Watts in 1987, E. J. Pfister in 1988, Charles Howell III in 2000, Kevin Yeisley in 2003, Jonathan Moore in 2006), and 54 conference championships.
The women's program has also had its share of success. Under former coach Ann Pitts, the Cowgirls won 15 conference championships and made 15 appearances at the NCAA Championship. Laura Matthews led the Cowgirls to be Big 12 champions in 2005 and a top-20 finish at the NCAA Championship. Caroline Hedwall won the NCAA Division I individual championship in 2010 under new coach Annie Young.
Conference championships:
Softball
OSU's softball team has appeared in eleven Women's College World Series, in 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982 (AIAW), 1982 (NCAA), 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1998 and 2011. In 1982, the Cowgirls played in both the last AIAW WCWS and days later the first NCAA WCWS. After having played their way through the 1982 regular season, a conference tournament, NCAA first round, winning an AIAW regional title, a loss in the AIAW WCWS final, the team's marathon season ended with 13-inning and 14-inning one-run losses in the NCAA tournament.
Wrestling
Oklahoma State wrestling's tradition started in 1916 when Edward C. Gallagher, whose name is part of Gallagher-Iba Arena, became head coach. With his expertise in anatomy, he pioneered the sport of wrestling. Gallagher coached the Cowboys until his death in 1940 from pneumonia. During those 24 years, Gallagher had 11 team national titles, 19 undefeated seasons, and a 138-5-4 record.
After Gallagher's death, Art Griffith took over and proceeded to win two straight national championships. Due to World War II, Oklahoma State wrestling was forced off the mat for three years. After the war, Griffith coached for another 11 years and won six more national championships in that time. Due to health reasons, Art Griffith resigned as head coach and Myron Roderick took over. At 23 years old, Roderick became the youngest coach to win a national championship in 1958. Roderick proceeded to win another 5 championships. In 1970, Myron Roderick stepped down to take an executive position with the U.S. Wrestling Federation. Former Stillwater High School coach Tommy Chesbro was hired as head coach and won eight Big Eight titles and one national championship in 15 years. Between 1985 and 1991, Joe Seay, former Cal State coach won five conference titles and two national titles.
In 1993, John Smith became the seventh head coach of Oklahoma State University wrestling. Smith led the Cowboys to a national title in 1995 and four consecutive national titles between 2002–2006.
Rugby
Founded in 1974, the Oklahoma State University Rugby Football Club plays college rugby in the Division 1 Heart of America conference against several of its traditional Big 8 / Big 12 rivals. The Cowboys are led by head coach Miles Hunter.
NCAA team championships
Oklahoma State has won 51 NCAA team national championships.
Other national team championships
Listed below are five national team titles in current and emerging NCAA sports that were not bestowed by the NCAA.
† bestowed retroactively by AFCA
Below are five national team titles won by Oklahoma State teams at the highest collegiate levels in non-NCAA sports: