Northern State Wolves

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The Northern State Wolves are the athletic teams for Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. They compete in NCAA Division II as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and field 13 varsity sports. The university started athletics in the early 1900s, with men’s basketball beginning in 1902, football in 1903, and baseball in 1904. The Wolves have won two national championships in women’s basketball (1992 and 1994). The team colors are maroon and gold, and the mascot is Thunder the Wolf.

Sports offered
- Men’s and women’s cross country
- Men’s and women’s basketball
- Men’s and women’s indoor track
- Men’s and women’s outdoor track
- Women’s soccer
- Women’s fastpitch softball
- Volleyball
- Football
- Wrestling
- Baseball
- Women’s swimming

Home venues and identity
- Football: Dacotah Bank Stadium
- Basketball: Wachs Arena
- Baseball: Fossum Field
- Mascot: Thunder the Wolf
- Athletic director: Nate Davis

Notable coaches and moments
- Don Meyer guided the men’s basketball program for many years, earning national recognition for his wins.
- Paul Sather led a 36–4 season in 2017–18, taking the Wolves to their first NCAA Division II championship game; he later moved to North Dakota and was replaced by Saul Phillips, who finished his first year 26–6 and won the regular-season and conference tournament titles before the 2020 national tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
- Curt Fredrickson, a longtime women’s basketball head coach, spent 39 seasons at Northern State, going 846–306 and guiding the team to two NAIA national titles, with multiple coach-of-the-year honors. He also made a mark in baseball and is in the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.

Overall, the Wolves have claimed many conference and regional titles, along with two national championships in women’s basketball.