New Hampshire Wildcats

The ice hockey teams are both perennial national powerhouses. Former Wildcat standout Rod Langway '79 was the first Wildcat ever to receive hockey's highest honor when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1979 and joined the Washington Capitals in 1982, where he was captain for 11 years and was known to Capitals fans as the "Secretary of Defense". Langway was the first American in National Hockey League history to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman.

The men's basketball program has a long-standing reputation for futility even though the team has improved significantly in recent years. UNH was one of the first schools to take up the sport, but since 1903, no Wildcats team has made it to the NCAA or NIT tournaments and no ex-Wildcat player has made it to the NBA. (However, a former Wildcats coach, Jim Boylan, later became the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks) The Wildcats' rivalry with the Maine Black Bears is the longest continuous basketball rivalry between any two non-Ivy League schools: the men's teams have played each other 115 seasons in a row, from 1904-1905 thru 2018-2019. The University has invested greatly in both the men's and women's basketball programs since the hiring of Bill Herrion but they have yet to achieve the campus wide attention of the Hockey or Football teams.

The men's soccer team has had a recent resurgence under the guidance of Marc Hubbard. Hubbard completed his first season as head coach of the UNH Wildcats with one of the best seasons in program history. The Granite State native took the team from a 6-10-1 mark in 2014 to a 10-5-3 record, including a 7-0-2 streak to start the 2015 campaign. At the end of the season, the team finished with a RPI of 52nd in the nation, improving on the ranking of 164 just a year before. The team was first in the America East Conference in goals per game (1.56) and were issued the fewest yellow cards and second fewest fouls in the conference. The Wildcats also recorded the second lowest goals against average (1.00), allowing 19 goals in 18 games. New Hampshire keepers recorded five shutouts, including four straight games. Under Hubbard's tutelage, junior co-captain Chris Wingate earned the America East Midfielder of the Year Award and was an All-Conference First Team selection along with four additional Wildcats receiving All-Conference status. Wingate was also named a NSCAA Division I Men's All-East Region First Team selection while senior co-captain Andrew Chaput was tabbed a NSCAA Division I Men's All-East Region Third Team honoree. The men's soccer program is heavily involved in Soccer Sphere which provides training programs to youth soccer players throughout the state of New Hampshire. In 2017 UNH received an at large bid to NCAA Tournament, its first tournament appearance since 1994. On November 16, 2017 UNH defeated Fairfield 3-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament advancing to the second round for the first time in school history.

In 1997, the University cut baseball, softball, men's and women's golf, and men's lacrosse from its program.

On January 31, 2006, Athletics Director Marty Scarano announced in the 2006 academic year the University was cutting women's crew, men's swimming & diving, and men's and women's tennis at the varsity level, and trimming the size of the men's ski team from 27 to 12. The reason given was the Athletic Department would save $500,000 towards a $1,000,000 budget shortfall and be in compliance with Title IX for the first time.

The Wildcat became the official college mascot and nickname in February 1926.[7] Students cast their votes using a ballot which appeared in The New Hampshire. The "Durham Bulls," a nickname given to the Hockey team by the local media, was a close runner-up.[7] Other votes for the mascot included a husky, an eagle and even a unicorn.[7] It was argued in an opinion piece in The New Hampshire, in part that: The wildcat is small and aggressive—like New Hampshire. The actions of the wildcat are more symbolic of a New Hampshire team on the field than those of the sluggish bull. Furthermore, the actual mascot, if a wildcat, could be more easily transported from place to place than a bull.[7]

The first live mascot of the University was "Mazie," a cat who was captured by a farmer in Meredith, New Hampshire. Maizie made her first appearance at the 1927 Homecoming game, and died in 1929. The second mascot, "Bozo", was purchased in 1932 but disappeared in Spring 1933.

The third cat was purchased in 1934, and was to be named for the first New Hampshire player to score in the historical football game against Maine. Charles scored the first touchdown, but Henry kicked the first field goal; neither name was chosen and the cat was named "Butch Watson." Butch Watson lived behind the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house in a cage and was the only mascot to be stolen by a rival school. Butch Watson was stolen in 1939, a week before a football game against Harvard and just after the Wildcats beat Tufts. There were no claims of responsibility, but the cat was found in a garage in Woburn, Massachusetts with "HARVARD 60, N.H. 0," written on the top of the cage.

"Butch Watson II" was the fourth mascot and was purchased in 1940, but lived only a week. In 1970, a fan's pet wildcat appeared at some football games.

Since 1940, the only live mascot has been "Wild E. Cat" and "Gnarlz," a cheerleader dressed in a wildcat costume. The Athletic Department "Gnarlz" made its debut at the football team's 2008 home opener against Albany on September 20. "Gnarlz" was named via an online poll and was designed to have a "more athletic physique" and "more student-friendly look."[8]

UNH has a long history of successful hockey programs. Dating back to Charlie Holt in the 1970s to present day coach Dick Umile, it has had great support and is a figurehead among the university community. A prominent tradition within the program has been the throwing of the fish. After UNH scores its first goal, all fans turn their attention to the opposing teams net. Up and over the boards, a fish is thrown onto the ice. The crowd erupts in excitement.

According to Bob Norton, a former UNH assistant coach, the fish-tossing tradition began in the early 1970s. "It goes back to when we were playing a Division II team, and our program had gone way past theirs. I remember (the UNH fans) threw out this little dinky thing and they called it a Division II fish. I guess they were trying to tell them they weren't worthy of a first-rate fish."

This tradition caught on as the Zeta Chi fraternity made it a ritual to throw out the fish after UNH's first goal. The fish was used to resemble the visiting team, "fishing the puck out of the net."

One of Umile's favorite fish incidents occurred in the early 1990s. At that time, the home team received a penalty if fans threw objects on the ice. "At all these different rinks people were throwing things – tennis balls, newspapers – and it was really holding up the game," Umile recalls. "It's the Maine weekend, and the cops won't let the kid in with the fish. I'm in the office before the game, and the students come to get me. So I go down there, get the fish from the cops, and we're walking in with the fish in the bag. The kids say, 'But coach, we're going to get a penalty.' I say, 'Don't worry about it. We'll kill the penalty. Just throw the fish.'"[11][12]