Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears
Logo
UniversityMissouri State University
ConferenceMissouri Valley Conference (primary)
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Mid-American Conference (men's swimming & diving)
Conference USA (beach volleyball, from 2023–24)
NCAADivision I (FCS)
Athletic directorKyle Moats
LocationSpringfield, Missouri
Varsity teams17
Football stadiumRobert W. Plaster Stadium
Basketball arenaGreat Southern Bank Arena
Baseball stadiumHammons Field
Soccer stadiumAllison South Stadium
MascotBoomer the Bear and Growl the Bear
NicknameBears and Lady Bears
Fight songThe Scotsman
ColorsMaroon and white[1]
   
Websitemissouristatebears.com
Missouri Valley Conference logo in Missouri State's colors

The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State University). Missouri State's athletics programs date back to 1908. Missouri State competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The majority of sports play in the Division I Missouri Valley Conference. Missouri State football competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, while men's swimming & diving competes in the Mid-American Conference, and the women's beach volleyball team, nicknamed Beach Bears instead of "Bears" or "Lady Bears",[2] will compete in Conference USA starting with the next NCAA beach volleyball season in 2023–24 after having been in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association.[3] Missouri State athletics are frequently abbreviated as "MOST" when televised.

Sports sponsored

Men's sports Women's sports
BaseballBasketball
BasketballBeach volleyball
FootballCross country
GolfGolf
SoccerSoccer
Swimming and DivingSoftball
Swimming and Diving
Tennis
Track and field†
Volleyball
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State University sponsors six men's and 11 women's teams in NCAA sanctioned sports.

National championships

Team

Association Division Sport Year Opponent/Runner-Up Score
NAIA n/a Men's basketball 1952 Murray State 73–64
NAIA n/a Men's basketball 1953 Hamline 79–71
NCAA Division II Men's golf[4] 1963 Aquinas 1,188–1,199
AIAW n/a Softball (Women's College World Series) 1974 Northern Colorado 14–7
AIAW Division II Field hockey 1979 Colgate 2–0

Women's basketball NCAA tournament results

NCAA Tournament appearances

Year Seed Round Opponent Result
1991#8First Round
Second Round		#9 Tennessee Tech
#1 Tennessee		W 94–64
L 47–55
1992#8First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen
Elite Eight
Final Four		#9 Kansas
#1 Iowa
#5 UCLA
#2 Ole Miss
#4 Western Kentucky		W 75–59
W 61–60
W 83–57
W 94–71
L 72–84
1993#7First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen		#10 Oklahoma State
#2 Maryland
#6 Louisiana Tech		W 86–71
W 86–82
L 43–59
1994#6First Round
Second Round		#11 Northern Illinois
#3 Virginia		W 75–56
L 63–67
1995#9First Round
Second Round		#8 Utah
#1 Colorado		W 49–47
L 34–78
1996#12First Round#5 TexasL 55–73
1998#8First Round#9 Notre DameL 64–78
1999#7First Round
Second Round		#10 UC Santa Barbara
#2 Colorado State		W 72–70
L 70–86
2000#10First Round#7 AuburnL 74–78
2001#5First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen
Elite Eight
Final Four		#12 Toledo
#4 Rutgers
#1 Duke
#6 Washington
#3 Purdue		W 89–71
W 60–53
W 81–71
W 104–87
L 64–81
2003#15First Round#2 Texas TechL 59–67
2004#12First Round#5 Notre DameL 65–69 (OT)
2006#13First Round#4 PurdueL 52–73
2016#13First Round#4 Texas A&ML 65–74
2019#11First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen		#6 DePaul
#3 Iowa State
#2 Stanford		W 89–77
W 69–60
L 46–55
2021#5First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen		#12 UC Davis
#13 Wright State
#1 Stanford		W 70–51
W 64–39
L 62–89
2022#11First Four
First Round		#11 Florida State
#6 Ohio State		W 61-50
L 63-56

WNIT appearances

2002, 2005 (Champions), 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018

AIAW tournament appearances

Missouri AIAW state tournament: 1970–1982 (won 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1981 tournaments)
AIAW Region VI tournament: 1974, 1975, 1981
AIAW Division II national tournament: 1981

Conference championships

Gateway Conference (1983–1992) 2
1991, 1992

Missouri Valley Conference (1992–present) 12
1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2020, 2021

Head coaches

  • Reba Sims (10 seasons, 129–116), 1969–1979
  • Marti Gasser (4 seasons, 62–60), 1979–1983
  • Valerie Goodwin-Colbert (4 seasons, 48–63), 1983–1987
  • Cheryl Burnett (15 seasons, 319–136), 1987–2002
    • 10 NCAA Tournament Appearances
      • 2 Final Four Appearances
      • 3 Sweet 16 Appearances
    • 1 WNIT Appearance
  • Katie Abrahamson-Henderson (5 seasons, 95–61), 2002–2007
    • 3 NCAA Tournament Appearances
    • WNIT Championship
  • Nyla Milleson (5 seasons, 105–87), 2007–2013
    • 3 WNIT Appearances
  • Kellie Harper (6 seasons, 118–79), 2013–2019
    • 2 NCAA Appearances
    • 3 WNIT Appearances
  • Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (3 seasons, 73-15), 2019–2022
    • 1 NCAA Appearance
      • 1 Sweet Sixteen Appearance

• Beth Cunningham (1 Season 20-12) 2022–Present

    • 1 WNIT Appearance

Retired numbers

  • 10 Jackie Stiles, 1997–2001 (NCAA Division I Women's Basketball's all-time #2 leading scorer with 3,393 points)
  • 35 Melody Howard, 1990–1994
  • 42 Jeanette Tendai, 1982–1986

Facilities

Facility Opened Renovated Sport Capacity
Robert W. Plaster Stadium19411991, 2014Football17,500
Great Southern Bank Arena20082013Basketball11,000
Hammons Student Center1976Volleyball
Swimming		8,846
300
Hammons Field2004Baseball7,986
Killian Sports Complex2009Softball1,200
Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium2014Soccer
Track & field		1,500
Betty and Bobby Allison North Stadium2014Field hockey
Lacrosse		250
Betty and Bobby Allison Sand Volleyball Courts 2014 Beach volleyball 150
Cooper Tennis Complex
w/Mediacom Stadium		1994Tennis2,500
Twin Oaks Country Club
+ 4 Other local courses		n/aMOST/TOCC
Practice Facility 2016		GolfN/A

Club sports

The university also sponsors several club sports teams, including ice hockey (ACHA), lacrosse (MCLA), and roller hockey (NCRHA).

Men's ice hockey

Missouri State ice hockey players celebrate a goal against University of Missouri.

Missouri State men's ice hockey, known as the Ice Bears, began in 2001 and despite not being a varsity NCAA sport receives much attention on and off-campus. The Ice Bears currently compete at the Division I level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) in the Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL).[5] The teams play off-campus at the 2,000-seat Mediacom Ice Park.[6][7][8]

Men's varsity ice hockey finished the 2009–2010 season ranked 2nd in the MACHA DII with a record of 12–4–0 in 16 league games, the team lost in the MACHA Championship 1–5 to Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville. In addition to the ACHA DII team the University also fields a JV teams playing at the ACHA DIII level.[9] The team won the MACHA DIII championship with a 5–3 win over Robert Morris University- Peoria.[10][11][12]

Men's lacrosse

Missouri State also fields a highly successful club Lacrosse Team. Founded in 2003, it competes in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) Division II and was a member of the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC) through 2017 before it moved to Division II of the Lone Star Alliance (LSA) in 2018. The Bears have been conference champions five times in their history (2004, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2018) and have qualified for the MCLA National Championships on four occasions (2009, 2010, 2017, and 2018). The Bears finished the 2018 season with a record of 12-3, including a perfect 6-0 conference record and victories over Creighton, Baylor, and in-state rival University of Missouri. Since 2003, Missouri State has fielded 11 All-Americans, over 80 All-Conference players, 3 GRLC Tournament MVP's, and 4 GRLC Division II Coach's of the Year.

Head coachYearRecord
Daren Turner2002–200824–21
Austin Holman2009–201023–9
Pat Callaham2011–201212-13
Dustin Rich 2013–2018 32-30
Donnie Curran 2019–present 0-0

References

  1. ↑ "Colors - Identity Standards - Missouri State University". February 5, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ See, e.g., "Beach Volleyball Program Will Join C-USA in 2024" (Press release). Missouri State Athletics. May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023. The Beach Bears will part ways with the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) next season to join TCU and Tarleton State as affiliate members of Conference USA.
  3. ↑ "BVB: C-USA Adds TCU, Tarleton State and Missouri State as Affiliate Members for Beach Volleyball" (Press release). Conference USA. May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  4. ↑ "NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship Results" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20080724171155/http://www.cfpmidweek.com/weeks/IssuePDFs/vo5i19web.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2010. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Experience Fall in the Ozarks - Springfield Missouri Travel & Tourism - Ozarks/Midwest Vacations". springfieldmo.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "Alumni News - Missouri State University Alumni Association - Missouri State University". Archived from the original on June 1, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association Home Page". Machahockey.com. 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20080724170815/http://www.cfpmidweek.com/weeks/IssuePDFs/vo5i21web.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2010. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ↑
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