The Tarleton State Texans (formerly the Tarleton State Texans and TexAnns),[2] also known as the Tarleton Texans, are the athletic teams that represent Tarleton State University of Stephenville, Texas in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports.
| Tarleton State Texans | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Tarleton State University |
| Conference | Western Athletic Conference United Athletic Conference (football) Conference USA (beach volleyball) |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletic director | Steve Uryasz |
| Location | Stephenville, Texas |
| Varsity teams | 16 |
| Football stadium | Memorial Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Wisdom Gym |
| Baseball stadium | Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex |
| Softball stadium | Tarleton Softball Complex |
| Nickname | Texans |
| Colors | Purple and white[1] |
| Website | tarletonsports |
 | |
History
editBefore Tarleton became a four-year institution in 1961, they were known as the "Plowboys". The Texans compete as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for 12 of their 14 varsity sports. During the school's four-year transition to full D-I membership, set to end in July 2024, Tarleton has planned to add several sports, with women's soccer the first to be confirmed, eventually launching in 2022.[3][4] Tarleton next added beach volleyball, a women-only sport at the NCAA level, in the 2024 season (2023–24 school year), competing as a single-sport member of Conference USA.[5] Wrestling is another varsity sport addition as announced by the school in partnership with the NCWA and The Texas Collegiate Wrestling Foundation with aspirations of being the first NCAA Division I program in Texas.[6][7]
Before joining the WAC in July 2020, Tarleton had been a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference (LSC). It had two separate stints in the LSC, first from 1968–69 to 1975–76, when the Texans competed in the NAIA, and then from 1994–95 to 2019–20. Tarleton was also a founding member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) in the 1976–77 school year and remained in that league until the 1990–91 school year. From 1991–92 to 1993–94, Tarleton played as an independent. The Texans began their transition to Division I upon joining the WAC.[8] Tarleton's football program competes at the second level of D-I football, the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS); it played its first D-I season as an independent before the WAC reinstated football in fall 2021.[9]
Shortly after the 2022 season, the WAC and the ASUN Conference, which had operated a football-only partnership in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, fully merged their football leagues, with Tarleton as one of the new league's nine initial members.[10][11] The new league's permanent name of United Athletic Conference was officially announced in April 2023.[12]
Women's nickname history
editThe first TSU women's varsity teams, introduced in 1968–69, played under the "Texans" nickname. However, due to female athletes' wish to play under a distinctive nickname, the school changed it the following school year, though a consistent spelling was not immediately adopted—"Texanns", "Tex-Anns", and "TexAnns" were used interchangeably until 1972–73, when "TexAnns" was officially settled on. During the 2018–19 school year, two players and a student manager in the women's basketball program started a campaign to change the women's nickname back to "Texans". After receiving buy-in from virtually all female athletes, plus much of the university community, TSU announced in January 2019 that women's teams would once again be known as "Texans" starting in 2019–20.[13]
Facilities and athletic teams
edit
Sports sponsorededit
|
Sports venuesedit
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Notes
Gallery
edit-
Football vs Texas A&M, 2014 -
Men's basketball game, 2018 -
Women's basketball game, 2018 -
Softball game in 2016 -
Men's track and field, 2015
References
edit- ^ "Media Relations". TarletonSports.com. August 13, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
- ^ Javad, Jonah (January 24, 2019). "Tarleton State drops 'TexAnns' name for female athletes". WFAA. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
- ^ "Tarleton Officially Joins Division I, Western Athletic Conference" (Press release). Tarleton Texans. July 1, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ "Tarleton to begin women's soccer program Fall 2022, search for head coach under way". Tarleton Texans. January 19, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
- ^ "Tarleton adds Beach Volleyball as 17th intercollegiate sport, will compete in Conference USA" (Press release). Tarleton Texans. April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
- ^ "NCWA & TCWF seek to create first D-I wrestling program in Texas". Wrestling Insider (WIN) Magazine. October 16, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
- ^ "Historic Achievement at Tarleton State". MSN. November 7, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
- ^ "Tarleton State to join Western Athletic Conference". Albuquerque Journal. November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
- ^ "WAC Announces Expansion, Plans to Reinstate Football". Western Athletic Conference. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ "@ASUN_Football and WAC Release 2023 Schedule" (Press release). ASUN Conference. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "ASUN And WAC Unveil 2023 Football Schedule" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "ASUN-WAC Football Partnership Formally Rebrands as the United Athletic Conference" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
- ^ "All Tarleton athletic teams to unite as 'Texans' this fall". Tarleton State Athletics. January 26, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
External links
edit
