The logo for NC State athletics is a wolf head wearing a sailor cap. The wolf depicted is known by NC State fans as "Tuffy" (not to be confused with the on-site mascots, Mr. and Ms. Wuf), and has been the primary athletic logo since 2021. The wolf head logo was preceded by the block S logo, which consisted of an 'N' and a 'C' inscribed in a larger 'S'.
NC State athletic teams are nicknamed the 'Wolfpack'. The name was unofficially adopted by the football program in 1921 following an unsigned letter to the NC State Alumni News suggesting the moniker "Wolf Pack".[2][3] Other varsity teams of that era were called the "Red Terrors" until 1948, when a campus-wide vote chose "Wolfpack" as the nickname for all varsity teams. Prior to the adoption of the current nickname, North Carolina State athletic teams went by such names as the Aggies, the Techs, the Red Terrors, and Farmers.[4]
The above record of conference titles does not include regular season 1st place finishes as championships – the ACC recognizes only the winner of the ACC Tournament as its champion.
The women's cross country team has competed in more NCAA championships than any other school in the nation (25). Additionally the Wolfpack women's cross country team has won more ACC cross country championships (29) than all other schools combined[5] and are the most by an ACC women’s program in any sport.[6]
North Carolina State University's wrestling team was established in 1925 and goes by the team nickname of the "Wolfpack". Pat Popolizio was named head wrestling coach for the Wolfpack on April 10, 2012. Popolizio was a three-time NCAA qualifier at Oklahoma State University. The wrestling team competes at home on campus in the Reynolds Coliseum.[12]
In 2012, Popolizio left his previous program, Binghamton University, with All-American heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski leaving with him. After redshirting for a year (to avoid losing a year of eligibility per NCAA transfer rules), Gwiazdowski won national titles in 2014 and 2015, becoming the first Wolfpack wrestler to win consecutive titles.
During the 2015–16 season, North Carolina State went as high as number two in the national rankings and had the school record for most wins in a single season. The Wolfpack finished tied for fourth at the 2018 NCAA Tournament, sharing a distinction with Virginia Tech's wrestling team in 2016, as the highest tournament finish for an ACC team.
NC State also competes in one other coed varsity sport. Another coed sport had been sponsored before being dropped in 2023.
Cheerleading: NC State fields a full varsity team in cheerleading coached by Harold Trammel, named head cheerleading coach for the Wolfpack in May 2002. The team has won 3 Universal Cheerleading Association national championships, 4 National Cheerleading Association national championships & 2 Universal Cheerleading Association national championships in the Group Stunt competition.
NC State sponsored a rifle team from 1958 to 2023. In recent decades, this was a coed team, as were most NCAA rifle programs; rifle is the only NCAA sport in which men and women compete alongside and against one another as equals. The Wolfpack won 10 team titles in the South East Air Rifle Conference, a conference specifically for the air rifle discipline, and had also been a member of the Great America Rifle Conference. Rifle was dropped at the end of the 2022–23 season.[13]
Non-varsity sports
North Carolina State University offers numerous non-varsity and club level sports throughout the year. This includes, but is not limited to; baseball, basketball, cheerleading, crew, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, sailing, soccer, swimming, ultimate frisbee and many others.
The North Carolina State University Men's Rugby Football Club was founded in 1965.[14] NC State plays college rugby in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League against its traditional ACC rivals. The NC State rugby team is led by head coach Jim Latham.[15] The Wolfpack plays their home games at the Upper Method Road Field. NC State won the Atlantic Coast Invitational 7s tournament in 2010 and 2011.[16] The Wolfpack finished 13th at the 2011 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships. NC State finished 12th at the 2012 Collegiate Rugby Championship, a tournament broadcast live on NBC from PPL Park in Philadelphia. NC State scored a notable upset against #7 ranked Davenport to reach the finals of the 2012 ACI 7s tournament in Blacksburg, only to lose in the final to host Virginia Tech.[17] In 2018, the Wolfpack won the USA Rugby Division II National Championship over Wisconsin-Whitewater and would add the USA Rugby College Sevens National Championship in 2019.
As the university's oldest active sports club, the NC State Sailing Club was founded in 1954, and since 1973 has fielded a competitive intercollegiate co-ed fleet racing team. The program added a women's sailing team in 2013, and an offshore yacht-racing program in 2016.[18] With their home facility at Lake Crabtree County Park, the "SailPack,"[19] as the club is known, competes in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association,[20] a division of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA). NC State is a Division 1/Cross-Regional classified team within the ICSA competing on par with varsity programs. The SailPack has qualified for SAISA conference championship regattas in coed fleet racing consecutively since the fall of 2012. NC State won the SAISA Conference Coed Fleet Racing title in 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 seasons. As of spring 2024, NC State Sailing is ranked 32nd nationally in coed fleet racing, while the program is ranked 16th nationally in women's fleet racing. NC State has qualified for ICSA College Sailing National Coed Fleet Racing Championships each year from 2021 through 2024, four years consecutively; while the women's program has qualified for the ICSA College Sailing Women's Fleet Racing National Championships for three years consecutively beginning in 2022. As of 2024 NC State is the highest ranking active program in North Carolina ahead of Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington, Wake Forest, UNC-Charlotte, ECU, and Davidson.[19] Lake Crabtree is also the home venue for NC State's annual Triangle Tango Regatta[21] which features college sailing teams from each active program in North Carolina and other regional states. Additional dinghy and offshore coastal training activities for the SailPack are located in Oriental, North Carolina where NC State Sailing hosts a major intercollegiate regatta each spring known as the SailPack Oriental Intercollegiate Regatta.[22] The 2018 edition of this event was the largest-ever one-design, collegiate regatta ever held in North Carolina.[23] NC State Sailing, together with the SailPack Foundation, host community sailing during the summer and teach sailing and racing skills to the public free of charge.
NC State ultimate frisbee was established in 1978 and currently participates in the USA Ultimate D-1 men's league. The men's team has had 8 national tournament appearances and won the national championships in 1999.[24]
The NC State men's and women's club hockey team participates in the ACCHL. The Wolfpack has been coached by Mike Gazzillo since 2010, and he has been assisted by Geoff Wing since 2015. The team calls the Raleigh IcePlex home. Each year, the Wolfpack hosts the Stephen Russell Memorial Tournament to kick off the season in memory of a goaltender for the team from 2006 to 2009. In 2018–19, NC State finished with an undefeated regular season capped off with an ACCHL title, regional championship and a Nationals appearance. The men's team won the ACCHL tournament 4 times (2001, 2019, 2020, 2021). The women's team has won the ACCHL tournament 1 time (2021).
NC State also boasts a growing men's lacrosse team, formerly an NCAA Division I program from 1973 to 1982. Under head coach Chris Demarest, the Wolfpack went 11–3 in 2017 and advanced to the SELC Tournament in Johns Creek, Georgia before falling to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who advanced to the semi-final round of the MCLA D1 national championship.
NC State college bass fishing team won the 2006 and 2012 Collegiate bass fishing series
NC State club sports and intramural championships are covered by PackTV, a division of the Office of Information Technology at the university. PackTV is a student-driven sport channel that is on channel 32.2 on campus as well as streamed online through Apple TV and Roku. Along with intramural championships, club soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and basketball among others, PackTV has also covered varsity-level men's and women's soccer, softball and swimming.
Championships
NCAA team championships
North Carolina State has won 5 NCAA team national championships.[25][26]
The Red and White Song is a popular song sung by fans and played by the band at many NC State athletic events, especially at football and basketball games. It was written by J. Perry Watson, a former director of music at NC State, and was introduced in 1961; students first sang the "Red and White" song at the NC State – Maryland game on February 13, 1961.[30] The song, although very popular, is in fact not the official Fight Song of NC State.[31] The colors mentioned in the song refer to NC State's main athletic colors, while "Caroline", "Devils", and "Deacs" refer to NC State's rivals: North Carolina, Duke, and Wake Forest.
The NC State Alma Mater
NC State's Alma Mater was written by two students in the early 1920s. Dr. Alvin M. Fountain, a class of 1922 alumnus and editor of The Technician, wrote the words, while Bonnie Norris, from the class of 1923, composed the music.[32]
In 2022, N.C. State changed the lyrics from "Where the winds of Dixie softly blow" to "Where the Southern winds so softly blow".[33]
Mascot
Mr. and Ms. Wuf with President Ronald Reagan in 1985
Since 1975, the NC State Wolfpack athletic teams have been represented at athletic events by its mascots, Mr. and Ms. Wuf, who were married on February 28, 1981, by the Demon Deacon at Reynolds Coliseum at halftime of a college basketball game between NC State and Wake Forest. The Demon Deacon presided over the wedding.[34] In print, the "Strutting Wolf" is used and is known by the name "Tuffy." In September 2010, a purebred Tamaskan dog became the new live mascot, "Tuffy".[35][36][37][38][39]
