Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Tulsa's sports teams are called the Golden Hurricane, and participate in the NCAA's Division I-A Conference USA. Tulsa's current athletic director is Bubba Cunningham. The Tulsa teams are supported by The Sound of the Golden Hurricane marching band.

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane basketball program has had a history of success, including NIT championships in 1981 and 2001, an Elite Eight appearance in 2000, three Sweet Sixteen appearances, and 14 trips to the Big Dance. Tulsa is also known for developing many coaches who have gone on to great success in the NCAA, including Minnesota's Tubby Smith, who won a national championship while he coached at the University of Kentucky, Kansas' Bill Self, and one of Arkansas' most notable former coaches, Nolan Richardson, who is the only head coach to win the NJCAA tournament (with Western Texas Junior College), the NIT (with Tulsa), and the NCAA tournament (with Arkansas). The current men's basketball head coach is Doug Wojcik.

Notable in Tulsa football tradition are the Missouri Valley Conference teams of 1964 & 1965 which compiled records of 9-2 & 8-3 & played in the Bluebonnet Bowl of both years; the passing attack famously featured Jerry Rhome to Howard Twilley, both of whom achieved lengthy careers in professional football; Rhome polled 2nd in the 1964 Heisman Trophy; Rhome & Twilley are in the College Football Hall of Fame. The 1952 Missouri Valley Conference team with its 8-2-1 record climbed to 11th in the AP poll & was invited to the Gator Bowl, then 1 of only 5 post-season bowl games, although not one of the 4 major ones. Steve Largent was another talented Tulsa receiver who graduated to a long NFL career (1976-1989 Seattle), was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of numerous enduring records as a receiver, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1994-2002, and then ran as one of the two major candidates for governor of Oklahoma in 2002.Tulsa also was handed one the worst defeats in college football history when they were beaten by Houston 100-6 in 1968. TV personality Dr. Phil was the Middle Linebacker for the team during this loss.

Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of all schools that participate in NCAA Bowl Sub-Division football. The football team is coached by Todd Graham. Graham replaced Steve Kragthorpe, who led the team to three bowl games in four seasons before accepting the head coaching job at the University of Louisville after the 2006-7 season. Graham, a former Tulsa defensive coordinator, returned to the team after serving as the head coach at Rice University for one season. Graham is largely credited with the Owls' first bowl appearance since 1961. Graham left Rice for Tulsa only three days after signing a contract extension with the Owls, prompting the award of second runner-up Sports Jerk of the Year, in the Tank McNamara comic strip (seen here).

Tulsa defeated University of Central Florida 44-27 in Conference USA's inaugural championship game on December 3, 2005. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane also defeated the Fresno State Bulldogs 31-24 on December 31, 2005, at the Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. This win brought their first bowl victory in 15 years. In 2006, the team went to the inaugural Armed Forces Bowl, but lost to the Utah Utes, 25-13. The football team was ranked in the BCS standings for the first time since 1991 on Oct. 15, 2006, breaking in at No. 25.In 2006, the Tulsa women's basketball team earned its first appearance in the NCAA tournament by winning Conference USA's regular-season and tournament championships. The Golden Hurricane's accomplishment came after back-to-back 19-win seasons and WNIT appearances.

The Tulsa Men's Soccer team has had a strong program for the past few years. In the 2004 season it made it to the elite-eight in the NCAA national tournament, and has been consistently ranked in the top 25 in the country. The head coach is Tom McIntosh, a prominent figure in Tulsa soccer for over 20 years. The team plays in the Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium, as does the track team.In the 2005-2006 season showed that Hurricane women's teams were on the rise. In addition to success in women's basketball, the 2006 season also saw the Golden Hurricane secure a Conference USA championship in women's softball.

The Men's Tennis team has also had recent success, including the 2006 Conference USA championship and a first-round victory in the NCAA tournament. Tulsa's top-ranked player Arnau Brugues also advanced to the round of sixteen in the NCAA Singles tournament. The University of Tulsa also boasts one of the nation's top tennis facilities, the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, which was host to the 2004 NCAA tennis championships and will host them again in 2008.

University of Tulsa sports teams had been known by many different names in the past such as the Kendallites, Presbyterians, Tigers, and the Tulsans. In 1922, Howard Archer, the newly-hired football coach, wanted to use new uniforms to garner publicity for then-named Tulsa Yellow Jackets. One day, he overheard someone during practice announce that the team would be roaring through opponents. As the new uniforms were yellow, Archer quickly seized upon the name Golden Tornadoes, but upon hearing that Georgia Tech had already claimed the moniker, he changed it to the now-familiar Golden Hurricane, which was quickly accepted by the team.

Since 1994, Tulsa's mascot has been Captain Cane, an anthropomorphized golden hurricane with human attributes such as biceps, clothes, and a perpetual smirk. From 1978 to 1994, the mascot was Huffy.