North Dakota State Bison - History

History

The Bison football team, which (since 1993) plays their home games at the Fargodome, was a dominant force in Division II. They won NCAA Div II national titles on eight separate occasions (1965, 1968, 1969, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990) before moving up to Division I-AA (now FCS) in 2004. The program was the winningest in the history of the NCAA Division II North Central Conference with 17 outright championships and 27 total league football titles. The program has also seen some success since moving to the FCS classification. In 2006, the Bison posted a 10-1 record that included a win over Division I-A Ball State. During a 2006 game against Division I-A Minnesota, NDSU led for much of the game, but a last-second field goal attempt was blocked by Minnesota, resulting in a 10-9 loss. The following season, the Bison won their first Great West Conference championship and achieved the #1 ranking in major FCS polls for a majority of the season. During this season, the 2007 Bison football team defeated FBS members Central Michigan University and the University of Minnesota. In 2010, the Bison defeated the FBS Kansas Jayhawks, 6-3, for their first win over a Big 12 program. The Bison won the 2011 NCAA Div I-FCS national championship defeating Sam Houston State University 17-6. The 2011 title was their ninth title overall. The Bison returned to the FCS Championship game in 2012 and soundly defeated Sam Houston State University in a rematch of the 2011 title game 39-13.

The Bison basketball program includes a men's and a women's team. The teams play at the Bison Sports Arena. The women's basketball team was known as a dominant force in Division II throughout the 1990s. They won five titles during the decade (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996). The men's basketball team won an upset victory over the University of Wisconsin–Madison on January 21, 2006, potentially increasing the chances of being accepted into a conference. The Bison also upset Marquette University on their home court at their tournament, 64-60, on December 2, 2006. They recently have been accepted into the Summit League. On March 10, 2009, The Bison defeated Oakland 66-64 to win the Summit League Tournament and a bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

The Bison wrestling program has also had success under coaching legend Bucky Maughan, winning four NCAA Division II team titles (1988, 1998, 2000, 2001). The wrestling team is fully eligible for NCAA Division I tournament competition.

The 2008-2009 season was a banner year for NDSU athletics. In December 2008, NDSU's women's volleyball team captured the Summit League's regular season and tournament championships (doing so with a perfect league record) to become the first program at the school to earn a berth in a Division I NCAA tournament. The Bison dropped their opening round match to the University of Minnesota.

On February 28, 2009, the Bison men's basketball team captured the Summit League regular season championship, the school's first at the Division I level, by defeating Oral Roberts 75-72 in Tulsa, OK. Two weeks later, NDSU earned its first men's basketball NCAA berth by winning the Summit League Tournament played at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Bison defeated Centenary 83-77 in the tourney quarterfinals, stopped Southern Utah 79-67 in the semifinals, and edged Oakland 66-64 in the championship game. The Bison traveled to Minneapolis for a first round game with the defending national champions, the Kansas Jayhawks, and fell 84-74. NDSU's tournament appearance marked the first time in almost 35 years that a Division I men's program qualified for the tournament in its first season of eligibility.

In the spring of 2009, the Bison women's softball team won the Summit League tournament in Macomb, Illinois and became the school's third team to appear in an NCAA tournament in the calendar year. In its opening game in May, the Bison upset #9 ranked Oklahoma, 1-0, in an 11-inning game that spanned two days due to a weather delay. The Bison would go on to win the regional with victories over Tulsa, 3-2 and 4-1, to advance to the Super Regional (Sweet Sixteen) of the tournament, where they were eliminated.

In the fall of 2010, the Bison women's soccer team achieved the program's first NCAA tournament bid with a victory over Western Illinois in the Summit League tournament final.