Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks


The Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks are the sports teams of the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 14 sports. Chief administrative officer Scott McDonald has day-to-day oversight of the athletic department following the resignation of former athletic director Nick Floyd effective September 4, 2018. Since 2006, the ULM has competed as a full member of the Sun Belt Conference.

Nickname

The nickname for the Louisiana–Monroe sports teams are the Warhawks.
;Nickname controversy
On January 30, 2006, university president James Cofer announced officially that ULM would be retiring the 75-year-old "Indians" mascot in light of new NCAA restrictions against American Indian-themed mascots, which the NCAA considers "hostile and abusive" to Native Americans, despite issuing an appeal to the NCAA to keep the name after the NCAA's ruling allowing Florida State to keep their Seminoles nickname. This came a few days after a mascot committee voted unanimously in favor of the change. The university accepted suggestions for the new mascot through February 28, 2006. The mascot committee then selected 12 semifinalists.
An online poll, available to students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and the public, yielded three semifinalists: "Warhawks," "Bayou Gators" and "Bayou Hawks." The school's mascot committee passed a single recommendation to the university president, who made the final decision. Warhawks was announced as ULM's new mascot on April 5, 2006 and implemented on June 26, 2006. The new nickname honors Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, an LSU alumnus, and his Air Force unit from World War II, which utilized the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk in battle, although the logos primarily use bird imagery.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The baseball team is coached by Mike Federico, and won the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Championship. The team's home field is Warhawk Field. In 2012, the Warhawks won the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament and earned the conference's automatic bid to play in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

Women's beach volleyball

The Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks women's beach volleyball team competes in NCAA Division I beach volleyball in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association. The program, founded in 2013, competed as an independent until joining the CCSA for the 2020 season.

Football

The Warhawks college football team dates back to 1931, and currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Playing as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, the Warhawks play their home games at Malone Stadium, located on the campus. Since December 2015, Matt Viator has served as the Warhawks' head coach. As the Indians, Monroe captured or shared four Southland Conference championships and won the 1987 I-AA National Championship.
The program has sent several players into the professional ranks, including Stan Humphries, Bubby Brister, Chris Harris, Doug Pederson, Marty Booker, Teddy Garcia, Roosevelt Potts, Joe Profit, Cardia Jackson and Smokey Stover into the National Football League, Steven Jyles into the Canadian Football League and Raymond Philyaw into the Arena League.
2012 was the first season since moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision that Louisiana–Monroe had a winning season.

Non-varsity sports

Water skiing

The University of Louisiana at Monroe Water Ski Team has been the dominant ski team since the inception of collegiate water ski competition in 1979, capturing 29 National Championship titles over the past 38 years.

Championships

NCAA team championships

As of April 4, 2016, Louisiana Monroe has 1 NCAA team national championship.

Athletic facilities

Athletic venues and facilities include:
The Warhawks have Sun Belt rivalries with every West Division school. Their fiercest Sun Belt rivals are Arkansas State Red Wolves and Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.

Football

Football rivalries involving Warhawk sports teams include:

Warhawks Sports Radio Network

Louisiana–Monroe launched the Warhawk Sports Radio Network in 2007. The Network is a series of radio networks that provide access to sporting events throughout Norhteast Louisiana. Three Monroe radio stations, K-104, Talk 540 and KRJO 1680 AM, provide play by play radio commentary. The full list of participating stations are: