NC State Wolfpack

The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college football) as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season. The athletic teams of the Wolfpack compete in 23 intercollegiate varsity sports. NC State is a founding member of the ACC and has won eight national championships: two NCAA championships, two AIAW championships, and four titles under other sanctioning bodies. Most NC State fans and athletes recognize the rivalry with the North Carolina Tar Heels as their biggest.

NC State Wolfpack
UniversityNorth Carolina State University
ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference, East Atlantic Gymnastics League, Great America Rifle Conference
NCAADivision I (FBS)
Athletic directorBoo Corrigan
LocationRaleigh, North Carolina
Varsity teams23
Football stadiumCarter–Finley Stadium
Basketball arenaPNC Arena
Baseball stadiumDoak Field
Other arenasReynolds Coliseum
MascotMr. Wuf & Mrs. Wuf
NicknameWolfpack
ColorsRed and White[1]
         
Websitegopack.com

The primary logo for NC State athletics is a red block 'S' with an inscribed 'N' and 'C'. The block S has been in use since 1890 but has seen many alterations through the years. The color red was adopted from the state bird, the cardinal. It became the sole logo for all NC State athletic teams in 2000 and was modernized to its current design in 2006.

NC State athletic teams are nicknamed the 'wolfpack'. The name was adopted in 1921 when a disgruntled fan described the behavior of some of the school's football players as being "as unruly as a pack of wolves".[2] Prior to the adoption of the current nickname, North Carolina State athletic teams went by such names as the Aggies, the Techs, the Red Terrors, and Farmers.[3]

Sports sponsored
Men's sports Women's sports
BaseballBasketball
BasketballCross country
Cross countryGolf
FootballGymnastics
GolfSoccer
SoccerSoftball
Swimming & divingSwimming & diving
TennisTennis
Track and field†Track and field†
WrestlingVolleyball
Co-ed sports
Rifle
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor.
Atlantic Coast Conference logo in NC State's colors

Baseball
Main article: NC State Wolfpack baseball
See also: 2015 NC State Wolfpack baseball team
  • Head Coach: Elliott Avent
  • Stadium: Doak Field
  • ACC Championships: 5 (1968, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1992)
  • CWS appearances: 2 (1968, 2013)

Men's basketball
Main article: NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
  • Head Coach: Kevin Keatts
  • Arena: PNC Arena
  • National Championships: 2 (1974, 1983)
  • Southern Conference Championships: 7 (1929,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952)
  • ACC Championships: 10 (1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1983, 1987)

The above record of conference titles does not include regular season 1st place finishes as championships – the ACC recognizes only the winner of the ACC Tournament as its champion.

Women's basketball
Main article: NC State Wolfpack women's basketball
See also: 2014–15 NC State Wolfpack women's basketball team
  • Head Coach: Wes Moore
  • Arena: Reynolds Coliseum
  • ACC Championships: 1978, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1990 (regular season); 1980, 1985, 1987, 1991, 2020 (ACC Tournament)

Football
Main article: NC State Wolfpack football
See also: 2017 NC State Wolfpack football team
  • Head Coach: Dave Doeren
  • Stadium: Carter–Finley Stadium
  • ACC Championships: 7 (1957, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1973, 1979)
  • Southern Conference Championships: 1 (1927)
  • South Atlantic Intercollegiate Championships: 3 (1907, 1910, 1913)
  • Bowl games: 30 (16-13-1)

Wrestling

North Carolina State University's wrestling team was established in 1925 and goes by the team nickname of the "Wolfpack". Pat Popolizio was named head wrestling coach for the Wolfpack on April 10, 2012. Popolizio was a three-time NCAA qualifier at Oklahoma State University. The wrestling team competes at home on campus in the Reynolds Coliseum.[4] NC State Wrestling also has a blog online mainly to keep up to date with the team and focus on the NCAA Championships.[5]

In 2012, Popolizio left his previous program, Binghamton University, and took all-American heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski with him. After redshirting for a year (to avoid losing a year of eligibility per NCAA transfer rules), Gwiazdowski won national titles in 2014 and 2015, becoming the first Wolfpack wrestler to win consecutive titles.

During the 2015–16 season, North Carolina State went as high as number two in the national rankings and had the school record for most wins in a single season. The Wolfpack finished T4 at the 2018 NCAA Tournament, sharing a distinction with Virginia Tech in 2016 as the highest tournament finish for an ACC team.

NC State Wolfpack Wrestling achievements:

  • 11 Academic All-Americans
  • 15 ACC Championships
  • 32 NCAA All-Americans
  • 7 individual NCAA Champions: (1980) Matt Reiss 167, (1984) Tab Thacker Hwt., (1988) Scott Turner 150, (1993) Sylvester Terkay Hwt., (2009) Darrion Caldwell 149, (2014, 2015) Nick Gwiazdowski Hwt, (2018) Michael Macchiavello 197

Other sports

In addition to baseball, basketball, football, and wrestling, NC State competes in 11 other varsity sports. Unless noted, both a men's and a women's team are fielded.

Non-varsity sports

North Carolina State University offers numerous non-varsity and club level sports throughout the year. This includes, but is not limited to, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, rugby, swimming, cheerleading, sailing, ultimate frisbee and much more. The North Carolina State University Men's Rugby Football Club was founded in 1965.[7] NC State plays college rugby in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League against its traditional ACC rivals. The NC State rugby team is led by head coach Jim Latham.[8] The Wolfpack plays their home games at the Upper Method Road Field. NC State won the Atlantic Coast Invitational 7s tournament in 2010 and 2011.[9] The Wolfpack finished 13th at the 2011 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships. NC State finished 12th at the 2012 Collegiate Rugby Championship, a tournament broadcast live on NBC from PPL Park in Philadelphia. NC State scored a notable upset against #7 ranked Davenport to reach the finals of the 2012 ACI 7s tournament in Blacksburg, only to lose in the final to host Virginia Tech.[10] In 2018, the Wolfpack won the USA Rugby Division II National Championship over Wisconsin-Whitewater and would add the USA Rugby College Sevens National Championship in 2019.

As the university's oldest active sports club, the NC State Sailing Club was founded in 1954, and since 1973 has fielded a competitive intercollegiate co-ed fleet racing team. The program added a women's sailing team in 2013, and an offshore yacht-racing program in 2016.[11] With their home facility at Lake Crabtree County Park, the "SailPack,"[12] as the club is known, competes in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association,[13] a division of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA). The SailPack has reached the SAISA regional championship consecutively for the past 14 seasons, and as of 2018 is the highest ranking active program in North Carolina ahead of Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington, Wake Forest, UNC-Charlotte, ECU, and Davidson.[14] Lake Crabtree is also the home venue for NC State's annual Triangle Tango Regatta[15] which features college sailing teams from each active program in North Carolina. Additional dinghy and offshore coastal training activities for the SailPack are located in Oriental, North Carolina where NC State Sailing hosts a major intercollegiate regatta each spring known as the SailPack Oriental Intercollegiate Regatta.[16] The 2018 edition of this event was the largest-ever one-design, collegiate regatta ever held in North Carolina.[17] NC State Sailing, together with the SailPack Foundation, host community sailing during the summer and teach sailing and racing skills to the public free of charge.

NC State's ski team is a member of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) and competes in races regularly during the winter season.

NC State fields a full varsity team in cheerleading coached by Harold Trammel, named head cheerleading coach for the Wolfpack in May 2002. The team has won 3 Universal Cheerleading Association national championships, 4 National Cheerleading Association national championships & 1 Universal Cheerleading Association national championship in the Group Stunt competition.

NC State has a proud intercollegiate tradition in ultimate frisbee. The men's team won the national championships in 1999.

The NC State club hockey team participates in the ACCHL. The Wolfpack has been coached by Mike Gazzillo since 2010, and he has been assisted by Geoff Wing since 2015. The team calls the Raleigh Ice Plex home. Each year, the Wolfpack hosts the Stephen Russell Memorial Tournament to kick off the season in memory of a goaltender for the team from 2006 to 2009. In 2018-19, NC State finished with an undefeated regular season capped off with an ACCHL title, regional championship and a Nationals appearance.

NC State also boasts a growing men's lacrosse team, formerly an NCAA Division I program from 1973 to 1982. Under head coach Chris Demarest, the Wolfpack went 11-3 in 2017 and advanced to the SELC Tournament in Johns Creek, Georgia before falling to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who advanced to the semi-final round of the MCLA D1 national championship.

NC State club sports and intramural championships are covered by PackTV, a division of the Office of Information Technology at the University. PackTV is a student-driven sport channel that is on channel 32.2 on campus as well as streamed online through Apple TV and Roku. Along with intramural championships, club soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and basketball among others, PackTV has also covered varsity-level men's and women's soccer, softball and swimming.

Championships

NCAA team championships

North Carolina State has won 2 NCAA team national championships.[18]

Notable former athletes

NC State Fight Song

The words to the Fight Song were written by Hardy Ray, Class of 1926, and the music was written by Edmund L. Gruber in 1908.[19] It is essentially a sped-up version of "The Caisson Song", or more recently, "The Army Goes Rolling Along."[20]

Red and White Song

The Red and White Song is a popular song sung by fans and played by the band at many NC State athletic events, especially at football and basketball games. It was written by J. Perry Watson, a former Director of Music at NC State, and was introduced in 1961; students first sang the "Red and White" song at the NC State – Maryland game on February 13, 1961.[21] The song, although very popular, is in fact not the official Fight Song of NC State.[22] The colors mentioned in the song refer to NC State's main athletic colors, while "Caroline", "Devils", and "Deacs" refer to other Tobacco Road team names: North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils, and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

The NC State Alma Mater

NC State's Alma Mater was written by two students in the early 1920s. Dr. Alvin M. Fountain, a class of '22 alumnus and editor of The Technician, wrote the words, while Bonnie Norris, from the class of 1923, composed the music.[23]

Mascot

Since 1975, the NC State Wolfpack athletic teams have been represented at athletic events by its mascots, Mr. and Mrs. Wuf, who were married on February 28, 1981 by the Demon Deacon at Reynolds Coliseum at halftime of a college basketball game between NC State and Wake Forest. The Demon Deacon presided over the wedding.[24] In print, the "Strutting Wolf" is used and is known by the name "Tuffy." In September 2010, a purebred Tamaskan dog became the new live mascot, "Tuffy".[25][26][27][28][29]

See also

References
  1. "NC State Athletics Brand Guide". Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  2. "Welcome to Wolfpack Awareness Week". GoPack.com. October 18, 2010. Archived from the original on July 4, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
  3. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ncst/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/history1-10.pdf
  4. "NCSU Wrestling Facts" (PDF). North Carolina State University Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  5. "NCSU Wrestling Blog". NCSU Wrestling Blog. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  6. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/NCAANewsArchive/2009/Division+I/california_staves_off_georgia_charge_in_women_s_swimming_03_23_09_ncaa_news.html
  7. Men's Rugby Club at NCSU, Home, http://www.ncstaterugby.com/
  8. Men's Rugby Club at NCSU, Coaches, http://www.ncstaterugby.com/officers/
  9. Atlantic Coast Rugby League, Home, http://www.atlanticcoastrugby.com/index.html
  10. Rugby Mag, Virginia Tech Wins ACI Opener, September 15, 2012, http://rugbymag.com/news/colleges/collegiate-sevens/5788-virginia-tech-wins-aci-opener.html Archived September 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "NC State to Compete in Collegiate Offshore". SailPack Foundation. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  12. SailPack
  13. SAISA
  14. "SailPack Foundation". SailPack Foundation.
  15. WRAL. "NC State hosts Triangle Tango regatta :: WRAL.com". WRAL.com. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  16. "Women's Teams Battle for Semi-Final Berths". www.sailingworld.com. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  17. "SailPack Regatta 2018 :: TownDock.net". TownDock.net. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  18. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/champs_records_book/Overall.pdf
  19. NC State Fight Song
  20. United States Army Europe Band – The Army Goes Rolling Along (mp3)
  21. "Special Collections Research Center". Technician. NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center, Raleigh. February 9, 1961.
  22. NC State Traditions – Red and White Song
  23. "NC State Fight Song & Alma Mater". NC State Wolfpack. September 20, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  24. Hager, Josh (February 14, 2011). "Mr. and Mrs. Wuf Got Married". North Carolina State University Libraries. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  25. Tuffy's mascot tryout at game pleases N.C. State officials September 2010
  26. NC State to use Tamaskan Dog for Mascot September 2010
  27. The Cutest Live College Mascots September 2010
  28. Tuffy Tamaskan September 2010
  29. Tuffy's Page October 2010
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