The Tulsa Golden Hurricane is a member of the
American Athletic Conference (The American). The Golden Hurricane were members of
Conference USA from 2005 to 2014, winning 40 conference championships, including 16 postseason titles and nine regular season crowns (including three West Division titles). It's the most CUSA titles (Rice is second with 16) since the league realigned in 2005–06. It was a member of the
Western Athletic Conference from 1996–2004 and the
Missouri Valley Conference from 1935 to 1996. In 1985, the MVC dropped football so Tulsa participated as an
Independent in football, but remained as an MVC member in other sports, including basketball. Prior to 1935, Tulsa was a member of several conferences. On April 2, 2013, Tulsa announced that in July 2014 it would leave CUSA for the
Big East Conference, which would rename itself the following day as the
American Athletic Conference (The American). With The American dropping women's rowing at the end of the 2023–24 season, Tulsa became an affiliate of the
Big 12 Conference in that sport. Tulsa has won six national championships (three NCAA): four in women's golf and two in men's basketball. The University of Tulsa currently fields a varsity team in eight men's sports and ten women's sports.
Football Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of all schools that participate in NCAA
Division I FBS football. The football team was most recently coached by
Kevin Wilson, He replaced
Philip Montgomery, who replaced
Bill Blankenship, who replaced
Todd Graham who had replaced
Steve Kragthorpe, who led the team to three
bowl games in four seasons before accepting the head coaching job at the
University of Louisville after the 2006 season. Graham, a former Tulsa
defensive coordinator, returned to the team after serving as the head coach at
Rice University for one season. Tulsa has appeared in five
bowl games between the 2003 and 2008 seasons, including four straight: the
2005 Liberty Bowl,
2006 Armed Forces Bowl,
2008 GMAC Bowl, and
2009 GMAC Bowl. Tulsa's football teams have appeared in a total of 16 bowl games and Tulsa was the first university to play in five straight New Year's Day bowl games: the
1942 Sun Bowl,
1943 Sugar Bowl,
1944 Sugar Bowl,
1945 Orange Bowl, and
1946 Oil Bowl. Tulsa football finished the 1991 season ranked 21st in the nation by the
Associated Press and
USA Today/Coaches polls. During the 2008 season Tulsa football was ranked as high as 19th nationally by the AP poll, and 18th in both the
BCS rankings and
USA Today/Coaches poll. Tulsa also led all Division I FBS schools in total offense in 2008 (7,978 yds) and in 2007 (7,832 yds). Tulsa football finished the 2010 season ranked 24th in the
Associated Press poll and finished the 2012 season ranked 25th in the
USA Today/Coaches poll. The University of Tulsa has three
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees.
Steve Largent and the late
Jim Finks were members of the 1995 class, while
Bob St. Clair was a 1990 inductee. TU shares the lead for the most NFL Hall of Famers among the Division I FBS football schools in the state of Oklahoma. The University of Tulsa can also take much of the credit for developing the
passing game in collegiate football in the 1960s. Tulsa led the nation in passing in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966. Quarterbacks
Jerry Rhome (1964) and
Billy Guy Anderson (1965) and receiver
Howard Twilley (1964–65) set most of the NCAA passing and receiving records, some of which still stand today.
Basketball The Tulsa Golden Hurricane
basketball program has had a history of success, including
NIT championships in 1981 and 2001, an
Elite Eight appearance in 2000, three Sweet Sixteen appearances, and 14 trips to the
Big Dance. The Golden Hurricane have a
long-standing basketball rivalry with
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. The two teams have exchanged a
traveling trophy, the
Mayor's Cup. Tulsa is also known for developing many coaches who have gone on to great success in the NCAA, including former
High Point coach
Tubby Smith, who won a national championship while he coached at the
University of Kentucky,
Kansas' Bill Self, and one of
Arkansas' most notable former coaches,
Nolan Richardson, who is the only head coach to win the
NJCAA tournament (with Western Texas Junior College), the NIT (with Tulsa), and the NCAA tournament (with Arkansas). The current men's basketball head coach is
Eric Konkol. In 2006, the Tulsa women's basketball team earned its first appearance in the
NCAA tournament by winning Conference USA's regular-season and tournament championships. The Golden Hurricane's accomplishment came after back-to-back 19-win seasons and
WNIT appearances in 2004 and 2005. Tulsa also appeared in the 2002 WNIT, making it to the second round.
Men's soccer The Tulsa Men's Soccer team has a strong history since it became a varsity sport in 1980. TU has won four conference championships (1991 MVC, 2007, 2008, 2009 C-USA) and eight conference tournaments (1991 MVC, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012 C-USA, 2014, 2015, 2016 AAC). Tulsa holds the NCAA record for both consecutive home wins and consecutive home games without a loss, set during the same stretch of 39 games from 1988 to 1992. The Golden Hurricane has twice reached the elite-eight of the
NCAA Men's Soccer Championship, falling to eventual champion
Indiana in 2004 and top seeded
Akron in 2009. Tulsa has participated in 11 NCAA tournaments (1991, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) and has been frequently ranked in the top 25. The school has produced first team
All-American,
Ryan Pore, who played for the
Portland Timbers, and
Kansas City Wizards of
Major League Soccer.
Terry Boss of
Seattle Sounders FC and
Lawson Vaughn of
D.C. United are former Golden Hurricane currently playing in MLS.
Dominic Cervi plays for
Celtic F.C. of
Glasgow,
Scotland, and fellow goalkeeper
Tyrel Lacey has signed with
FC Lyn Oslo of
Oslo,
Norway. Since 1995, the head coach has been Tom McIntosh, a prominent figure in Tulsa soccer for over 20 years. The team plays in the
Hurricane Soccer & Track Stadium.
Tennis The Golden Hurricane Tennis program has string of success, including men's Missouri Valley championships in 1995 and 1996, men's Conference USA championships in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011 and women's Conference USA championships in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011. In 2007, Tulsa's top-ranked player
Arnau Brugués-Davi ranked as high as #1 in the nation and a four time All-American, advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles competition at the
NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, improving on his 2006 round of sixteen appearance. The University of Tulsa also boasts one of the nation's top tennis facilities, the
Michael D. Case Tennis Center, which was host to the 2004 and 2008 NCAA tennis championships.
Women's golf TU has won four team national titles in women's golf: the 1980 and 1982
AIAW titles and the 1982 and 1988
NCAA titles, with the 1988 title later vacated. Golfers
Nancy Lopez (1976),
Kathy Baker (1982 AIAW), and
Melissa McNamara (1988) have won individual national titles. Other notable Golden Hurricane female golfers are
Stacy Prammanasudh and
Kelly Robbins. The team has won 12 conference championships: •
Missouri Valley Conference (3): 1994–96 •
Western Athletic Conference (7): 1999–2005 •
Conference USA (2): 2008, 2012
Men's golf The men's golf team has won 11 conference championships: Men's golf was dropped after the 2015–16 season, but will be reinstated in 2026–27. •
Missouri Valley Conference (8): 1982, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1994–96 •
Western Athletic Conference (2): 2002, 2005 (co-champions) •
Conference USA (1): 2007
Baseball Tulsa's baseball team played in the
College World Series twice, finishing in second and third place. In
1969 the Golden Hurricane made it to the final game of the double-elimination tournament before losing to
Arizona State. First baseman Steve Caves and third baseman Les Rogers were named to the all-tournament team. In
1971 Tulsa lasted until the next-to-last game of the tournament before being eliminated. First baseman
Jerry Tabb was named the tournament's most valuable player; pitcher
Steve Rogers and outfielder
Steve Bowling were also named to the all-tournament team. Tulsa held the number one ranking in the polls for part of the 1972 season before being knocked out of that year's playoffs at the district level.
Gene Shell, who had coached the program from 1965 to 1980, finished his career at Tulsa with a 478–199 record, and was the fourth winningest coach in college baseball when the program ended. In recent years, the university has been reported on several occasions to be considering whether to restore the baseball program; a formal study was conducted in 2009 after the
Tulsa Drillers moved into their new
downtown stadium, leaving
Drillers Stadium potentially available for college baseball, but the school concluded that the financial demands of adding a new sport were more than it could accept.
Other sports The Golden Hurricane softball team won Conference USA regular season and tournament championships in 2006 and 2009. The men's golf team won the Conference USA championship in 2007.
Mascot From 1994 to 2009, Tulsa's mascot was ''Captain 'Cane'', an
anthropomorphized golden
hurricane with human attributes such as biceps, clothes, and a perpetual smirk. This representation of Captain 'Cane was named by
Fox Sports as the second worst mascot in the country. From 1977 to 1994, the mascot was known as
Hurc or
Huffy. In 2009, Captain Cane was redesigned as a human superhero with the power to summon weather. ==Championships==