Southern Illinois Salukis
Encyclopedia
The Southern Illinois Salukis are the varsity athletic teams representing Southern Illinois University
. The nickname comes from the saluki
, the royal dog of Egypt
and the Persian greyhound, which ties into the fact that southern Illinois has had the nickname "Little Egypt
" for just under 200 years.
The Salukis sponsor 16 varsity teams. Most compete in the Missouri Valley Conference
, specifically in men's and women's basketball
, men's and women's cross country
, men's and women's golf
, softball
, women's swimming
, men's and women's tennis
, men's and women's track and field
, and volleyball
. The football
program competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Men's swimming
is part of the Mid-American Conference
.
The Salukis play their home basketball games at SIU Arena
and football games at Saluki Stadium.
Southern Illinois University was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
from 1913 to 1962.
is the Saluki. A Saluki is one of the oldest dog breeds, and is an Egyptian hunting dog similar to a greyhound or whippet. SIU's teams originally competed under the team name "Maroons" from 1913 to 1951. Then the Saluki was chosen as SIU's mascot on March 19, 1951 in part because the southern Illinois region is colloquially known as Little Egypt
.
Champions led by NBA Hall of Famer Walt Frazier
.
Chris Lowery
is the coach of the Salukis and led the team to the NCAA tournament every year from the 2004-05 season through the 2006-07 season, where they made an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
, who had previous success at the University of North Dakota
.
SIU Football has won numerous conference championship and in 1983 The Salukis won the NCAA Division I-AA Champions, with a 43-7 win over Western Carolina.
team until the program was canceled in 1989. From 1956 until the program was canceled, Bill Meade was the coach of the team. During that time the program turned out 55 NCAA All-Americans and 15 NCAA Individual National Champions while winning four NCAA Division I championships in 1964, 1966, 1967, and 1972. The Men's Gymnastics program also holds the longest winning streak of any SIU program winning 68 consecutive meets from 1961 to 1968.
. The new stadium was part of the university's larger athletic facilities plan, "Saluki Way," to renovate and restructure the campus athletic facilities.
Saluki Stadium opened on September 2, 2010 when a sellout crowd of 15,200 watched the Salukis defeat Quincy
70-7. The new football stadium is currently named Saluki Stadium. As of right now, no official naming rights that have been sold.
is a 10,000-seat arena on the SIUC campus, it is the home of Saluki men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is undergoing renovation as part of the Saluki Way project.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
. The nickname comes from the saluki
Saluki
The Saluki, also known as the Royal Dog of Egypt and Persian Greyhound is one of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dog. From the period of the Middle Kingdom onwards, Saluki-like animals appear on the ancient Egyptian tombs of 2134 BC. They have connections both to the Bible and Imperial...
, the royal dog of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and the Persian greyhound, which ties into the fact that southern Illinois has had the nickname "Little Egypt
Little Egypt (region)
-Early history:The earliest inhabitants of Illinois were thought to have arrived about 12,000 B.C. They were hunter-gatherers, but developed a primitive system of agriculture. After 1000 AD, their agricultural surpluses enabled them to develop complex, hierarchical societies...
" for just under 200 years.
The Salukis sponsor 16 varsity teams. Most compete in the Missouri Valley Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...
, specifically in men's and women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, men's and women's cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, men's and women's golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, women's swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, men's and women's tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, men's and women's track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
. The football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
program competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Men's swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
is part of the Mid-American Conference
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...
.
The Salukis play their home basketball games at SIU Arena
SIU Arena
The SIU Arena is a 8,339 seat multi-purpose arena, on the campus of Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale, Illinois. Construction on the arena began in the spring of 1962 and took nearly two years to complete. It was completed in 1964 and is the home of the SIU Salukis basketball team.The...
and football games at Saluki Stadium.
Southern Illinois University was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States.-History:...
from 1913 to 1962.
Mascot
SIU's sports mascotMascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
is the Saluki. A Saluki is one of the oldest dog breeds, and is an Egyptian hunting dog similar to a greyhound or whippet. SIU's teams originally competed under the team name "Maroons" from 1913 to 1951. Then the Saluki was chosen as SIU's mascot on March 19, 1951 in part because the southern Illinois region is colloquially known as Little Egypt
Little Egypt (region)
-Early history:The earliest inhabitants of Illinois were thought to have arrived about 12,000 B.C. They were hunter-gatherers, but developed a primitive system of agriculture. After 1000 AD, their agricultural surpluses enabled them to develop complex, hierarchical societies...
.
Men's basketball
The school athletics may be best known for the men's basketball program. Success for the Salukis has been recent and historical. SIU has advanced to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments (2002–2007), advancing to two Sweet 16s and accruing an NCAA Tournament record of 5-6 during that time. SIU is also the 1967 NITNational Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
Champions led by NBA Hall of Famer Walt Frazier
Walt Frazier
Walter "Clyde" Frazier is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association . He was blessed with a unique combination of court vision, quickness, and size for a guard...
.
Chris Lowery
Chris Lowery
-External links:**...
is the coach of the Salukis and led the team to the NCAA tournament every year from the 2004-05 season through the 2006-07 season, where they made an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
Football
SIU competes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as 1-AA) in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. SIU has been ranked in the Top-20 of the FCS Coaches Poll for 54 straight weeks. The Salukis have won 40 games since 2003, ranking 12th in Division 1 football during that time span. The team is coached by Dale LennonDale Lennon
-External links:* *...
, who had previous success at the University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...
.
SIU Football has won numerous conference championship and in 1983 The Salukis won the NCAA Division I-AA Champions, with a 43-7 win over Western Carolina.
Men's gymnastics
SIU's also had a men's gymnasticsGymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
team until the program was canceled in 1989. From 1956 until the program was canceled, Bill Meade was the coach of the team. During that time the program turned out 55 NCAA All-Americans and 15 NCAA Individual National Champions while winning four NCAA Division I championships in 1964, 1966, 1967, and 1972. The Men's Gymnastics program also holds the longest winning streak of any SIU program winning 68 consecutive meets from 1961 to 1968.
Saluki Way
On September 9, 2005, the plans for Saluki Way were unveiled by Chancellor Walter Wendler. The plan calls for the construction of a new McAndrew Stadium, renovation of SIU Arena, both aging facilities, a new track and field complex, renovation and new additions of academic buildings, a remodeled Morris Library, and other campus improvements.Saluki Stadium
SIU Football plays at the new 15,000-seat Saluki Stadium, which replaces McAndrew StadiumMcAndrew Stadium
McAndrew Stadium was a 17,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in Carbondale, Illinois, USA. It opened in 1938 and is home to the Southern Illinois University Salukis football team...
. The new stadium was part of the university's larger athletic facilities plan, "Saluki Way," to renovate and restructure the campus athletic facilities.
Saluki Stadium opened on September 2, 2010 when a sellout crowd of 15,200 watched the Salukis defeat Quincy
Quincy
-People:*Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester, Norman nobleman*Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, Norman nobleman*Quincy Jones , American record producer and musician-Places:France*Quincy, Cher, a commune in the Cher département in France...
70-7. The new football stadium is currently named Saluki Stadium. As of right now, no official naming rights that have been sold.
SIU Arena
SIU ArenaSIU Arena
The SIU Arena is a 8,339 seat multi-purpose arena, on the campus of Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale, Illinois. Construction on the arena began in the spring of 1962 and took nearly two years to complete. It was completed in 1964 and is the home of the SIU Salukis basketball team.The...
is a 10,000-seat arena on the SIUC campus, it is the home of Saluki men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is undergoing renovation as part of the Saluki Way project.