The Northern Kentucky Norse are the athletic teams of Northern Kentucky University, located in Highland Heights, Kentucky, United States. NKU is an NCAA Division I school competing in the Horizon League, which it joined on July 1, 2015, after leaving the Atlantic Sun Conference. The university's teams for both men and women are nicknamed "Norse."

Nomenclature

Norse has been a common term for Norsemen in the early medieval period, especially in connection with raids and monastic plundering by Norsemen in the British Isles (i.e. Norse Vikings or Norwegians) (Gall Goidel, lit.: foreign Gaelic), was used concerning the people of Norse descent in Ireland and Scotland, who assimilated into the Gaelic culture. The Norse, or Northmen, were also known as Ascomanni, ashmen, by the Germans, Lochlanach (Norse) by the Irish and Dene (Danes) by the Anglo-Saxons.

Division I transition

NKU began preparing to reclassify as an NCAA Division I institution in the fall of 2008, and officially started the process in the fall of 2012. During the four-year reclassification, NKU was not eligible for Division I championships. The university ended its membership in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) at the conclusion of the 2011–12 academic year and began playing a full Atlantic Sun Conference schedule in fall 2012. Following the four years, NKU became a full Division I member. Prior to completing its transition to Division I, NKU changed its membership from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the Horizon League.

Sports teams

A member of the Horizon League, NKU currently sponsors varsity teams in nine men's and 12 women's NCAA-sanctioned sports, plus one men's sport that operates outside of NCAA governance. By 2025–26, NKU will have added six sports, three each for men and women, in the 2020s. Men's and women's swimming & diving, women's stunt, and men's and women's triathlon were added in 2024–25, with men's volleyball to follow in 2025–26. Men's volleyball will join the single-sport Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association upon the program's launch.

Men's basketball

The men's basketball team was the NCAA Division II national runner-up during the 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons. The Norse won the Horizon League Tournament following the 2016–17 season, making them eligible for their first NCAA tournament appearance.

Women's basketball

In 2000, the NKU women's basketball team became NKU's first national championship team by winning the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship in overtime 71–62 over North Dakota State, ending its season with a 32–2 record. The 2002–03 team was the NCAA Women's Division II national runner-up. The team won its second national championship in 2008 by a score of 63–58 over South Dakota, becoming one of only five schools to win more than one NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship, as well as the only two-time NCAA national champions in the state of Kentucky. One of the top coaches in NCAA Division II women's basketball, Nancy Winstel, was head coach of the team from 1983 until her retirement at the end of the 2011–12 season. Dawn Plitzuweit, an assistant at Michigan, was named the new NKU Women's Basketball coach on May 10, 2012. On May 6, 2016, Camryn Whitaker was named as the new head coach.

Men's soccer

In 2010, the NKU men's soccer team won the NCAA Division II national championship by defeating Rollins 3–2 in a driving snowstorm in Louisville. The team was led by senior Steven Beattie, who was named Ron Lenz National Player of the Year in both 2008 and 2010.

Women's soccer

The women's soccer team was the NCAA Division II runner-up in 2000 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four in 1999 and 2001.

Baseball

The Norse Baseball team as Division II team won Great Lakes conference valley championships between 2002 and 2009. As a Division I team, In 2024 they became the first Horizon League tournament champions in program's history as a baseball team and advanced to their first ever NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

Softball

The Norse softball began in 1985 and is currently coached by Brittany Duncan-Houghland, the sixth coach in program history. Following former head coach Kathryn Gleason who is the losingest coach in NKU history. Gleason took the Norse to their first NCAA Tournament with a dismal record of 23–32 and being swept in the Tennessee Regionals. Gleason compiled a 207–262–1 (.440) record as her time as a head coach at UMass (74–74–1) and NKU (133–188) The team holds an overall record of 621–445–1 (.583).

Spirit squad

In 2006, the Norse cheerleading squad won the Universal Cheerleading Association's national title in the small unit coed category of competition, and also won the national title again in 2007 and 2009. In 2011, The Norse Dance Team placed in the Universal Dance Association's national competition in the open hip hop category.

Championships

Over the forty years Northern Kentucky has sponsored intercollegiate athletics the university has won three NCAA DII national championships, 33 GLVC championships, and seven GLVC All-Sport Awards

National championships

Horizon League Championships

Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships

NKU claimed the GLVC All-Sports Trophy seven times in its final 11 seasons in the conference: 1999–2000, 2000–02, 2004–06, 2008–10.

Club sports

Students have also organized club teams in ice hockey, taekwondo, fencing, boxing, lacrosse, rugby, kickball, skeet & trap, ultimate frisbee, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. These clubs are primarily organized through the Sport Club program.

Facilities

Footnotes