Athletics Excellence
ACU’s intercollegiate athletics program began in 1919 when the football and men’s basketball teams were started. Former director of athletics A.B. Morris served as the head football and head men’s basketball coach during his long tenure at ACU. Former football coach A.M. “Tonto” Coleman went on to serve as the commissioner of the famed Southeastern Conference, and former track and field mentor Oliver Jackson coached three-time Olympic gold medalist Bobby Morrow – still called by some the greatest sprinter who ever lived.
Morrow appeared on the front covers of Life, Sport, Track and Field News and other magazines and won the James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy from the AAU in 1957 as the outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S. He also was named Athlete of the Year by Sport magazine and by the Knute Rockne Foundation. He was Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year for 1956, beating out Mickey Mantle, Don Larsen, Floyd Patterson and Paul Hornung, among other luminaries of the era.
Wildcat student-athletes have been blessed by a wealth of some of the top coaches in collegiate athletics, including Bill McClure (track and field), Wally Bullington (football), Dee Nutt (men’s basketball), Burl McCoy (women’s basketball), Wes Kittley (track and field), Don W. Hood (track and field), Don D. Hood (track and field), Derek Hood (cross country), Brek Horn (volleyball), Vince Jarrett (men’s golf), and Chris Thomsen (football). Current coaches such as Julie Goodenough (women’s basketball), Joe Golding (men’s basketball) and Adam Dorrel (football) are at the top of their profession.
ACU’s intercollegiate athletics program began in 1919 when the football and men’s basketball teams were started. Former director of athletics A.B. Morris served as the head football and head men’s basketball coach during his long tenure at ACU. Former football coach A.M. “Tonto” Coleman went on to serve as the commissioner of the famed Southeastern Conference, and former track and field mentor Oliver Jackson coached three-time Olympic gold medalist Bobby Morrow – still called by some the greatest sprinter who ever lived.
Morrow appeared on the front covers of Life, Sport, Track and Field News and other magazines and won the James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy from the AAU in 1957 as the outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S. He also was named Athlete of the Year by Sport magazine and by the Knute Rockne Foundation. He was Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year for 1956, beating out Mickey Mantle, Don Larsen, Floyd Patterson and Paul Hornung, among other luminaries of the era.
Wildcat student-athletes have been blessed by a wealth of some of the top coaches in collegiate athletics, including Bill McClure (track and field), Wally Bullington (football), Dee Nutt (men’s basketball), Burl McCoy (women’s basketball), Wes Kittley (track and field), Don W. Hood (track and field), Don D. Hood (track and field), Brek Horn (volleyball), Vince Jarrett (men’s golf), and Chris Thomsen (football).Current coaches such as Julie Goodenough (women’s basketball), Joe Golding (men’s basketball) and Adam Dorrel (football) are at the top of their profession.
ACU’s 54 national titles in track and field are the most in one sport by any university in the country. The Wildcats won 163 Lone Star Conference championships from 1973-2013 and enjoyed some remarkable championship winning streaks. The men’s track and field team won 18 straight LSC championships (27 overall), and the women’s track and field team won each of the first 20 LSC titles before its streak ended in 2004. The men’s cross country team saw its LSC championship streak ended in November 2011 at 20 straight.
ACU student-athletes also have been awarded some of their sports highest individual honors, the most recent in 2008 when running back Bernard Scott won the Harlon Hill Trophy as the top player in NCAA Division II football. That same year, offensive center Sam Collins won the Gene Upshaw Award as the top lineman in NCAA Division II.
In 2007, cross country standout Nicodemus Naimadu became the first athlete in NCAA history – male or female, any level – to win four consecutive individual national championships. In 2009, decathlete Camille Vandendriessche became the first athlete in NCAA history to win three straight individual national championships in the decathlon. One year later, Linda Brivule became the first female in NCAA Division II history to win the individual national championship in the javelin.
Alex Carpenter finished his collegiate golf career with an NCAA-record 20 tournament victories. He twice won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the NCAA Division II Golfer of the Year (2011 and 2013) and in 2011 became the first ACU student to play in a PGA Tour event when he was a featured amateur in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
ACU’s internationally recognized track and field program has produced world-record holders, 39 Olympians, several hundred all-America performers and two Olympic gold medalists. In addition, the program was named the Texas Sports Dynasty of the Century by Texas Monthly magazine in November 1999.
The Wildcats also are heavily represented in halls of fame across the country, including Jackson and Morrow, who were elected in 2015 to the Texas Track and Field Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame.
Morrow is in six different halls of fame: ACU, Drake Relays, U.S. Olympic, U.S. Track and Field, Texas Sports, and Texas Track and Field. Jackson is a member of the Texas Sports and U.S. Track Coaches halls of fame, and more than 50 other former Wildcats are recognized by other such organizations around the nation.
While it competed in NCAA Division II, Abilene Christian was the only university to have been ranked in the top 15 in each of the first 16 Learfield Directors’ Cup final standings, including second in 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99 and 2005-06. The Wildcats finished in the top four in four other seasons.
ACU’s internationally recognized track and field program has produced world-record holders, more than 20 Olympians, several hundred all-America performers and two Olympic gold medalists. In addition, the program was named the Texas Sports Dynasty of the Century by Texas Monthly magazine in November 1999.
The Wildcats also are heavily represented in halls of fame across the country, including Jackson and Morrow, who were elected in 2015 to the Texas Track and Field Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame.
Morrow is in six different halls of fame: ACU, Drake Relays, U.S. Olympic, U.S. Track and Field, Texas Sports, and Texas Track and Field. Jackson is a member of the Texas Sports and U.S. Track Coaches halls of fame, and more than 50 other former Wildcats are recognized by other such organizations around the nation.
While it competed in NCAA Division II, Abilene Christian was the only university to have been ranked in the top 15 in each of the first 16 Learfield Directors’ Cup final standings, including second in 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99 and 2005-06. The Wildcats finished in the top four in four other seasons.