Kent State Golden Flashes
Encyclopedia
Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

's intercollegiate athletic teams are known as the Golden Flashes or simply as the Flashes. The university fields sixteen varsity athletic teams, all of whom play in the Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 and in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

's Division I (Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision for football). In addition, Kent State has a men's ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 club team, which plays in the American Collegiate Hockey Association
American Collegiate Hockey Association
The American Collegiate Hockey Association is the national governing body of non-varsity college ice hockey in the U.S. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments....

 (ACHA) Division I as part of the Central States Collegiate Hockey League
Central States Collegiate Hockey League
The Central States Collegiate Hockey League is Division I ACHA club level hockey-college athletic conference. The CSCHL is in its 39th season of existence and is one of the top ranked ACHA leagues. It currently has 7 member teams in the Midwestern United States.-Format:League teams play a 20-game...

 (CSCHL) and has its home games at the KSU Ice Arena. The current athletic director is Joel Nielsen, who began May 1, 2010.

Several Kent State athletic teams have enjoyed success in the Mid-American Conference and at the national level over the years, in particular in the sixteen years under former athletic director Laing Kennedy
Laing Kennedy
Laing E. Kennedy is a sports administrator. He previously served as athletic director for Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States since 1994 and previously served as athletic director at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York from 1983-1994...

 from 1994–2010. Under Kennedy, Kent State won 251 individual MAC titles, 85 team titles, 17 tournament titles, and 83 All-America honors. In addition, Kent State has won five Mid-American Conference men's all-sport trophies (known as the Reese Trophy), the most recent being in 2010, while the Golden Flashes women's program has finished in the top-three for 13 consecutive years in the women's all-sport trophy (known as the Jacoby trophy) winning seven overall, the most recent being in 2010. Through the 2009–10 season, both the men's and women's programs have finished in the top-three for 9 consecutive seasons. In 1997 and again in 2004, Kent State received full-certification status from the NCAA.

Early history

Athletics at Kent State began shortly after the school was first organized in 1910 and the first classes held in 1912. The school's first sporting event was a men's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 game in 1913 against Kent High School
Theodore Roosevelt High School (Kent)
Theodore Roosevelt High School , often referred to as Kent Roosevelt or Roosevelt, is a public high school in Kent, Ohio, United States...

 and the following spring (1914) the baseball team was organized. The football team followed in 1920 and held their first game on October 30, a 6-0 loss to Ashland College
Ashland University
Ashland University is a mid-sized, private, non-profit university that is located in Ashland, Ohio.The University offers 73 undergraduate majors and nine pre-professional programs. The majors include toxicology/environmental science and entrepreneurship, which are unusual for an institution of its...

. Around this same time, the teams became known as the "Silver Foxes" because then-president John McGilvrey raised silver foxes on his farm. After McGilvrey's controversial firing in 1926, the new administration held a contest to choose a different team name and "Golden Flashes" was chosen. The school colors of Navy Blue and Gold were originally Orange and Purple as outlined in the original 1910 charter. When the basketball team's uniforms were taken to a local cleaner, the hot water caused the colors to fade to blue and gold. The team and student body liked the new colors and voted to change them. Kent State joined the Mid-American Conference in 1951.

National placements

Although no Kent State team has won a national title in any sport, several Golden Flashes teams have placed highly in NCAA national tournaments. Notable national finishes include:
  • Men's basketball: tie-5th (2002)
  • Men's golf: 9th (2000); 6th (2008)
  • Men's indoor track and field: 5th (1972), 2nd (1973)
  • Men's outdoor track and field: 6th (1972 and 1973)
  • Softball: 7th (1990)
  • Wrestling: 5th (1941 and 1942)
  • Co-ed cheerleading
    Cheerleading
    Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

    : 8th (2008); 9th (2009)

Baseball

The baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team is Kent State's second oldest sport, though it is the school's oldest intercollegiate team. Formed in 1914, they were known originally as the "Normal Nine" as the school was originally known as Kent State Normal School. The team has enjoyed significant success both in the Mid-American Conference and on the national level and has sent several players to the major leagues
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 over the years. The baseball team currently plays at Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium
Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium
Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium is a baseball venue located on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is home to the Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team, a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Mid-American Conference...

, formerly known as Gene Michael Field. Their current coach is Scott Stricklin, a 1995 Kent State grad who began coaching at KSU in 2005. The Flashes have a 222–128 record in his six seasons and won the 2006 and 2008 overall conference titles, the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 East division titles and the 2007, 2009, and 2010 MAC tournaments, advancing to the NCAA tournament. Overall the team has 6 MAC East titles, 10 MAC overall titles, 8 MAC tournament titles, and 10 NCAA appearances.
  • MAC East division titles: 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
  • MAC overall titles: 1964, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008
  • MAC tournament titles: 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010
  • NCAA Tournament appearances: 1964, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010

Men's basketball

The men's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 team, which began play in 1913 and intercollegiate competition in 1914, plays in the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, also known as the MAC Center, MACC, and previously as Memorial Gym, is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States...

 and is Kent State's oldest sport and second-oldest intercollegiate team. After decades of near anonymity, since 1998 the team has been one of the most consistent in the Mid-American Conference with a league record ten straight twenty-win seasons from the 1998–99 season through the 2007–08 season (the previous record was five straight). Kent State was one of only eight NCAA Division I men's basketball programs in the United States to have ten consecutive seasons with twenty or more wins. Kent State also holds the MAC record for consecutive seasons with double-digit conference wins, also for ten consecutive seasons (the previous record was eight straight), and in 2002 finished 17–1 in conference play, setting a MAC record for conference wins in a season. The Flashes amassed thirty victories in the 2001–02 season which culminated in a berth in the NCAA Elite Eight
Elite Eight
The term Elite Eight, or less commonly called "Great Eight", refers to the final eight teams in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship; and, thus, represents the national quarterfinals. In Division I, the Elite Eight consists of the...

. In the tournament they defeated seventh-seeded Oklahoma State, second-seeded Alabama
Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball
The Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball program has a history of being among the best of the Southeastern Conference . It trails only Kentucky in basketball wins, SEC tournament titles, and SEC regular season titles in the 12-member conference. The team is coached by head coach Anthony Grant,...

, and third-seeded Pitt
Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt men's basketball team competes in the Big East Conference and plays their home games in...

. One of the stars on this team, power forward
Power forward (basketball)
Power forward is a position in the sport of basketball. The position is referred to in playbook terms as the four position and is commonly abbreviated "PF". It has also been referred to as the "post" position. Power forwards play a role similar to that of center in what is called the "post" or "low...

 Antonio Gates
Antonio Gates
Antonio Gates is an American football tight end for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003 after playing college basketball at Kent State University...

, went on to become a superstar tight end
Tight end
The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

 with the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

. Kent State has made ten MAC tournament title game appearances (second most in conference history) and has won five (second most), along with three regular-season MAC overall titles and six MAC East titles.
  • MAC East division titles: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011
  • MAC overall titles: 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011
  • MAC Tournament titles: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008
  • NCAA Tournament
    NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
    The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

     appearances
    : 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008
  • NIT
    National Invitation Tournament
    The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...

     appearances
    : 1985, 1989, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010

Women's Basketball

The women's basketball team, which began play during the 1975-1976 season, also plays home games at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, also known as the MAC Center, MACC, and previously as Memorial Gym, is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States...

. Currently, they are coached by Bob Lindsay, who has been with Kent State for 21 seasons as of 2009-2010. They have seven MAC East titles, six MAC overall titles, and four MAC tournament titles. In addition, they have five NCAA tournament appearances, the most recent being in 2002, and one WNIT appearance. Kent State has appeared in eleven MAC Tournament championship games (tied for most appearances with Toldeo), including seven in a row from 1996-2002. In fact, the 1996-2001 MAC title games all featured Kent State vs. Toledo
Toledo Rockets
The Toledo Rockets are the athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets are a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and play in the Mid-American Conference . The school's colors are midnight blue and gold.Toledo's...

. In 1998, Kent State became one of only two MAC schools (Bowling Green
Bowling Green Falcons
The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Bowling Green State University, located in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Falcons participate in NCAA Division I in the Mid-American Conference and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. BGSU is one of only 13 universities in the...

 being the other) to complete the regular season and tournament with a perfect record, going 18-0 in the regular season and winning the conference tournament. Prior to the start of the 2009-2010 season, Kent State had an overall record of 535-387 and a MAC record of 280-179.
  • MAC East division titles: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006
  • MAC overall titles: 1981, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002
  • MAC Tournament titles: 1981, 1998, 2000, 2002
  • NCAA Tournament appearances: 1982, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002
  • WNIT
    Women's National Invitation Tournament
    The Women's National Invitation Tournament , formerly the National Women's Invitation Tournament, is a college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year...

     appearances
    : 2004

Field Hockey

The Field Hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 team plays its home matches at Murphy-Mellis Field, which opened in 2005 and is adjacent to Dix Stadium
Dix Stadium
Dix Stadium is a stadium in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. It lies at the far eastern end of the KSU campus along Summit Street, just east of State Route 261 and is the center piece of...

. The Flashes Field Hockey team has won ten MAC titles, with the most recent in 2009, and has eight MAC tournament titles and NCAA appearances, the most recent being in 2008. In 2001, Kent State hosted the NCAA Division I national championship at Dix Stadium, where they played their home games from 1997-2004.
  • MAC titles: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010
  • MAC tournament titles: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008
  • NCAA tournament appearances: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008

Football

The Golden Flashes football team plays in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Home games are played at Dix Stadium
Dix Stadium
Dix Stadium is a stadium in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. It lies at the far eastern end of the KSU campus along Summit Street, just east of State Route 261 and is the center piece of...

 on the far eastern edge of the Kent State campus. Since 2010, the head coach is Darrell Hazell
Darrell Hazell
Darrell Hazell is an American college football coach. He is currently the head coach at Kent State University.A native of Cinnaminson, New Jersey, Hazell attended Muskingum University starting in the fall of 1982. He played on the football team as a starter for his final three years at the school...

. Behind Dix Stadium are practice fields, as well as the Kent State Field House, which contains a full indoor football field. Kent State has two post-season bowl appearances: a 1954 trip to the now-defunct Refrigerator Bowl in Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...

, where they lost to the Delaware Blue Hens 19-7 and a 1972 bid to the Tangerine Bowl
Capital One Bowl
The Capital One Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Orlando, Florida at the Citrus Bowl, and previously known as the Tangerine Bowl and the Florida Citrus Bowl...

 in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, where they lost to Tampa
University of Tampa
The University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...

 21-18. Although the team has not enjoyed many winning seasons, Kent State has sent a fair amount of players to the ranks of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 as well as in other areas of college football. Don James coached the team from 1971-1974 during the era which also saw future NFL great Jack Lambert and current Alabama
Alabama Crimson Tide football
|TeamName = Alabama football |Image = Alabama Crimson Tide Logo.svg |ImageSize = 110 |Helmet = Alabama Football.png |ImageSize2 = 150 |CurrentSeason = 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide football team...

 head coach Nick Saban
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou "Nick" Saban is the head coach of the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide football team. Saban has previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins and three other NCAA universities: LSU, Michigan State and Toledo...

 playing for the Golden Flashes and Kent State's only Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 championship in 1972 and their most recent bowl appearance. NFL players as of 2011 who played football at Kent State include Joshua Cribbs
Joshua Cribbs
Joshua "Josh" Cribbs is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He played collegiately for Kent State University. He holds the NFL record with eight kickoff returns for touchdowns...

 of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

, Julian Edelman
Julian Edelman
Julian Francis Edelman is a wide receiver for the New England Patriots of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Patriots in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football for Kent State as a quarterback.-Early years:Edelman was born in Redwood City, California...

 of the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

, and James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

. In addition, Antonio Gates
Antonio Gates
Antonio Gates is an American football tight end for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003 after playing college basketball at Kent State University...

, who played for the men's basketball
Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball
The Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball team represents Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The Golden Flashes compete in the Mid-American Conference East Division and last played in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 2008...

 team, plays for the NFL's San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

. Other notable football alumni and former coaches include current ESPN analyst and former Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

 and South Carolina
South Carolina Gamecocks football
The South Carolina Gamecocks football team represents the University of South Carolina in NCAA Division I college football. The Gamecocks have been a member of the Southeastern Conference since 1992. Steve Spurrier is the current head coach, and the team plays its home games at Williams-Brice...

 head coach Lou Holtz
Lou Holtz
Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz is a retired American football coach, and active sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker in the United States...

, former Houston Texans
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is currently a member of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 head coach and current Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

 defensive coordinator Dom Capers
Dom Capers
Ernest Dominic "Dom" Capers is an American football coach, the current defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, and the only man to serve two different National Football League expansion teams as their inaugural head coach....

 (graduate assistant at Kent State), former Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...

 standout Jim Corrigall
Jim Corrigall
Jim Corrigall, born May 7, 1946, in Barrie, Ontario, is a former all-star defensive lineman in the Canadian Football League.-High school and college:...

 (who also served as head coach at KSU) and Gary Pinkel
Gary Pinkel
Gary Robin Pinkel is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Missouri, a position he has held since the 2001 season. From 1991 to 2000, Pinkel coached at the University of Toledo, where his team won a Mid-American Conference...

, head coach of the Missouri Tigers
Missouri Tigers football
The Missouri Tigers football team represents the University of Missouri in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The team has competed in the North Division of the Big 12 Conference since the conference's inception in 1996...

.
  • MAC overall titles: 1972
  • Bowl appearances: 1954, 1972

Men's Golf

The Men's Golf team has enjoyed considerable success both in the Mid-American Conference and at the national level, winning 18 MAC Titles and making 23 trips to the NCAA level competition, including 14 trips to the championship round and three regional championships. They practice at Windmill Lakes Golf Club in nearby Ravenna
Ravenna, Ohio
* Chris Bangle; automobile designer* Bill Bower, last surviving pilot of the Doolittle Raid* David D. Busch; best-selling author* William Rufus Day; U.S. Supreme Court justice* Calvin Hampton; Classical organist* Robert B...

, where they occasionally host matches, and the Kent State Golf Course, located just east of campus in Franklin Township
Franklin Township, Portage County, Ohio
Franklin Township is a civil township located in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The 2000 census found 5,276 people in the township...

. The program has produced several pro-golfers and in 2003, former Golden Flashes standout Ben Curtis
Ben Curtis (golfer)
Ben Clifford Curtis is an American professional golfer best known for winning the 2003 Open Championship.-Early career:Curtis was born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up in Ostrander, Ohio. His family runs the , also in Ostrander...

 won the British Open
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

 in what ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 commentator Mike Tirico called "one of the most amazing stories in the history of the Open Championship" and the "all-time Cinderella story." The team is coached by Herb Page, a Kent State alum who has been head coach since 1978. He has led the Flashes to 15 of their 18 MAC titles, their three regional titles, and 21 of their 23 trips to NCAA competition. In 2008 he coached Kent State to its highest finish ever at the national level, finishing 6th in the country at the NCAA championship as well as a ninth-place NCAA finish in 2000. Page has been named MAC Coach of the Year fifteen times and NCAA district IV Coach of the Year eight times.


In the summer of 2007, Kent State opened the Ferrara and Page Golf Training and Learning Center located at the southern edge of the Kent State Golf Course. The facility includes a 350-yard outdoor practice range, outdoor practice tees, and outdoor short-game practice areas as well as an indoor putting and chipping area, a video analysis room, and a Science and Motion Putt lab. In addition, the rear of the facitily features heated stalls which allow team members to access the driving range even during the winter months to provide year-round training for both the men's and women's teams.
  • MAC titles: 1954, 1968, 1977, 1984, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010
  • NCAA appearances: 1954*, 1977*, 1984*, 1987, 1989, 1990*, 1991, 1992*, 1993*, 1994*, 1995*, 1996, 1998*, 1999, 2000*, 2001*, 2003, 2004*, 2005, 2006, 2008*, 2009, 2010*
  • NCAA regional titles: 1993, 2001, 2010
*= advanced to championship round

Women's Golf

The Women's Golf team, founded in the fall of 1998, has enjoyed success from its beginning. Every year of the program's existence it has won the Mid-American Conference title and is so far the only school to win the MAC's women's golf championship, which began in the spring of 1999. They have advanced to NCAA play in the last eight seasons, reaching the championship round in four of them. 2001 saw the Flashes finish fifteenth in the country, their highest finish to date, while 2008 saw the Flashes win two regular-season tournaments, gain a national ranking of thirteenth, and win their tenth consecutive MAC title by 51 strokes. Like the men's team, they practice at Windmill Lakes Golf Course, Kent State Golf Course and the Ferrara and Page Golf Training and Learning Center. The team is coached by Mike Morrow, who has been with the team since its inception. In addition to the 12 MAC titles and 10 NCAA appearances, Morrow has also coached the team to 27 titles at various regular-season tournaments.
  • MAC titles: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
  • NCAA appearances: 2001*, 2002, 2003*, 2004, 2005, 2006*, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010*
*= advanced to championship round

Women's Gymnastics

First developed in 1959, the Kent State women's gymnastics team was the first women's gymnastics team at the collegiate level. They began intercollegiate competition in 1964 and Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

 competition in 1981 and have enjoyed consistent success throughout their existence, which includes 11 Mid-American Conference meet championships and 13 regular-season titles. Since 2005, the team has its home meets in the MAC Center main gym. Prior to 2005, home meets were held in the MAC Gymnastics center, an annex on the north side of the building which opened in 1979 and still serves as the main practice site for the team. The current coach is Brice Biggins, a Kent State alum of the men's gymnastics team who has been coach since 1992. Through the 2008 regular season, he has a record of 130-80 in dual meets at Kent State.
  • Ohio state championships*: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978
  • MAC regular-season titles: 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
  • MAC championships: 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009


* the Ohio state championship was held prior to the Mid-American Conference adding gymnastics as a sport. Occasionally the three remaining Division I teams in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 will hold the "All-Ohio Meet".

Softball

The Kent State Softball team plays its home games at the Diamond at Dix, adjacent to Dix Stadium
Dix Stadium
Dix Stadium is a stadium in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. It lies at the far eastern end of the KSU campus along Summit Street, just east of State Route 261 and is the center piece of...

. The team has enjoyed success recently, winning regular season MAC titles in 1990, 2007, 2008, and 2010; MAC East division titles in 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 as well as the conference tournament in 2006 and 2008. In 1990, the team went 43-9 en route to their first MAC title, an NCAA regional championship, and a berth in the College World Series. Currently, the softball team is coached by Karen Linder, who has been with the team since the 1997 season. The team was established in 1976 and began regular-season play in the Mid-American Conference in 1983 when the MAC added softball as a conference sport.
  • MAC East division titles: 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
  • MAC regular-season titles: 1990, 2007, 2008, 2010
  • MAC tournament titles: 2006, 2008
  • NCAA tournament appearances: 1990, 2006, 2008
  • NCAA regional titles: 1990

Wrestling

The wrestling
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...

 team is one of Kent State's oldest sports, going back to its establishment in 1927. It has historically been one of the school's most successful teams, winning multiple conference titles and making a series of appearances in the NCAA tournament, finishing as high as 5th nationally in both 1941 and 1942. For 42 seasons, the team was led by legendary coach Joseph Begala, who compiled a career record of 307-69-5 and the national reputation as the "winningest wrestling coach" coaching Kent State from 1929–1942 and again from 1945 until his retirement in 1971. More recently, the Flashes have again received national attention appearing in the national top-25 rankings in each of the past three seasons and began the 2008-2009 season ranked 23rd. The wrestling team is currently led by head coach and Kent State alum Jim Andrassy, who has been with the team as a wrestler, graduate assistant, and assistant coach since 1990 and as head coach since 2003.
In 2011, Kent State had its first national champion with Dustin Kilgore at the 197-pound class.
  • MAC regular-season titles: 1958, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2003, 2009
  • MAC tournament titles: 1958, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1990
  • NCAA tournament appearances: 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1954, 1959, 1960, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1985

Other Varsity Sports

  • Co-ed and all-women's Cheerleading
    Cheerleading
    Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

  • Men's Cross Country
    Cross country running
    Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

  • Women's Cross Country
  • Women's Soccer
  • Men's Indoor Track and Field
    Track and field
    Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

  • Women's Indoor Track and Field
  • Men's Outdoor Track and Field
  • Women's Outdoor Track and Field
  • Women's Volleyball


Additionally, Kent State used to sponsor the following sports, which were eliminated due to either budget constraints and/or Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...

 compliance:
  • Ice hockey
    Ice hockey
    Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

    (now a club sport)
  • Men's Gymnastics
    Gymnastics
    Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

  • Men's Swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

     and Diving
    Diving
    Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

  • Women's Swimming and Diving
  • Men's Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

  • Women's Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...


Facilities

  • Dix Stadium
    Dix Stadium
    Dix Stadium is a stadium in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. It lies at the far eastern end of the KSU campus along Summit Street, just east of State Route 261 and is the center piece of...

    (Football
    American football
    American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

    )
  • Golf Teaching and Learning Facility (Golf
    Golf
    Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

    )
  • Kent State Field House (Indoor Track and Field
    Track and field
    Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

    )
  • KSU Ice Arena
    Kent State University Ice Arena
    The KSU Ice Arena is a two-rink ice complex located on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. The building contains two ice arenas, one with seating for 1,500 fans that is used for ice hockey and figure skating, with the other rink used for general skating. The two...

    (Ice hockey
    Ice hockey
    Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

     club team)
  • Kent State Outdoor Track (Outdoor Track and Field)
  • Kent State Soccer Field (Women's Soccer)
  • Diamond at Dix (Softball
    Softball
    Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

    )
  • Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
    Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
    The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, also known as the MAC Center, MACC, and previously as Memorial Gym, is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States...

    (Basketball
    Basketball
    Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

    , Wrestling
    Wrestling
    Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

    , Women's Gymnastics
    Gymnastics
    Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

    , Women's Volleyball
    Volleyball
    Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

    )
  • Murphy Mellis Field (Field Hockey
    Field hockey
    Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

    )
  • Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium
    Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium
    Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium is a baseball venue located on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is home to the Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team, a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Mid-American Conference...

    (Baseball
    Baseball
    Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

    )

Rivalries

Kent State's most prominent rivalry is with the nearby University of Akron
University of Akron
The University of Akron is a coeducational public research university located in Akron, Ohio, United States. The university is part of the University System of Ohio. It was founded in 1870 as a small college affiliated with the Universalist Church. In 1913 ownership was transferred to the City of...

 Zips
Akron Zips
One of the unique nicknames in all of intercollegiate athletics belongs to The University of Akron. Originally Zippers, athletic director Kenneth Cochrane officially shortened the nickname to the Zips in 1950. Twenty-five years earlier a campus-wide contest had been conducted to choose a nickname...

, also a member of the Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

, located just 14 miles (22.5 km) southwest of Kent. The rivalry is the most competitive in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and men's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, though it is played out in other sports as well. The two schools' football teams have played for the Wagon Wheel trophy since 1946 and each year since 1972. The rivalry, however, has only been a conference game since 1992 when Akron joined the Mid-American Conference as well as from 1932–1936 and 1944-1951 when both schools were members of the Ohio Athletic Conference
Ohio Athletic Conference
The Ohio Athletic Conference was formed in 1902 and is the third oldest athletic conference in the United States. It competes in the NCAA's Division III. Through the years, 31 schools have been members of the OAC. The enrollments of the current ten member institutions range from 1,100 to 4,500...

.

Kent State also has rivalries with fellow MAC-member and sister school Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...

 as well as non-league schools Youngstown State University
Youngstown State University
Youngstown State University, founded in 1908, is an urban research university located in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. As of fall 2010, there were 15,194 students and a student-faculty ratio of 19:1. It is recognized as being one of the premier schools in the country, comparable to Ivy League...

 and Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...

, both of which are located in close proximity to Kent.

See also

  • Kent State University
    Kent State University
    Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

  • Mid-American Conference
    Mid-American Conference
    The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

  • National Collegiate Athletic Association
    National Collegiate Athletic Association
    The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

  • Intercollegiate athletics

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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