Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University , a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference . Northwestern has eight men ' s and eleven women ' s Division I sports teams . The mascot is Willie the Wildcat . The athletic director is former Northern Illinois University Athletic Director Jim Phillips , who took office in April 2008 . Origin of the name . Northwestern ' s athletic teams are nicknamed the Wildcats . Before 1924 , they were known as " The Purple " and unofficially as " The Fighting Methodists . " The name Wildcats was bestowed upon the university in 1924 by Wallace Abbey , a writer for the Chicago Daily Tribune who wrote that even in a loss to the University of Chicago , " Football players had not come down from Evanston ; wildcats would be a name better suited to Coach Glenn Thistletwaite ' s boys . " The team was also referred to in the article as " a Purple wall of wildcats . " The name was so popular that university board members made " Wildcats " the official nickname just months later . In 1972 , the student body voted to change the official nickname from " Wildcats " to " Purple Haze " but the new name never stuck . History . Northwestern is a charter member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private institution in the conference . Currently , Northwestern fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams ( 8 men ' s and 11 women ' s ) in addition to numerous club sports . Current successful athletic programs include football , men ' s soccer , wrestling , men ' s swimming , men ' s golf , women ' s tennis , softball , fencing and women ' s lacrosse . The women ' s lacrosse team is the six - time NCAA national champion , and went undefeated in 2005 . The men ' s basketball team is recognized by the Helms Athletic Foundation as the 1931 National Champion . The Northwestern Athletics ' mascot is Willie the Wildcat . However , the team ' s first mascot was not Willie , but a live , caged bear cub from the Lincoln Park Zoo named Furpaw . In fall 1923 , Furpaw was driven to the playing field to greet the fans before each game . After a losing season , the team decided that Furpaw was the harbinger of bad luck and banished him from campus . Willie made his debut ten years later in 1933 as a logo , but did not actually come to life until 1947 , when members of the Alpha Delta fraternity dressed up as him during the Homecoming parade . The Northwestern University Marching Band ( NUMB ) performs at all home football and lead cheers in the student section and the alma mater at the end of the game . In 1998 , two former Northwestern basketball players were charged and convicted for sports bribery as a result of being paid to shave points in games against three other Big Ten schools during the 1995 season . The football team became embroiled in a different betting scandal later that year when federal prosecutors indicted four former players for perjury related to betting on their own games . In August 2001 , Rashidi Wheeler , a senior safety , collapsed and died during practice from an asthma attack . An autopsy revealed that he had ephedrine , a stimulant banned by the NCAA , in his system which prompted Northwestern to investigate the prevalence of stimulants and other banned substances across all of its athletic programs . In 2006 , the Northwestern women ' s soccer team was suspended and coach Jenny Haigh resigned following the release of images of alleged hazing . Traditions . During football games , students jingle their car keys before every kickoff and punt . When Northwestern is on defense , students extend their arms , make a claw with their hands , and growl . The " official " cheer at Northwestern sporting events is the chant " Go U ! NU ! " Students also commonly taunt opposing sports teams with " State - school , state - school , " referencing that all institutions of the Big Ten conference , except for Northwestern , are public universities . The Northwestern student section is led in their cheers by the Northwestern University WildPride Spirit Squad , who performs on the sidelines during all home games and accompanies the football team to all away games . The NUMB performs on the field and in the stands at all home games and follows the football team to one Big Ten away game per season . For many years , students would throw marshmallows at the kick - off of football games . Northwestern archivist Patrick Quinn says that students were likely " trying to get them into the tubas , and then started throwing them at each other , " leading to the tradition of throwing marshmallows at the field . While Gary Barnett was football coach , he banned marshmallows because they supposedly detracted from the serious level of football that he wanted for the school . Northwestern ' s fight song is " Go U Northwestern " A secondary fight song is " Rise Northwestern ( Push On Song ) , " the final 4 - measure tag ( ending with a shouted " Go , ' Cats ! " ) of which is often played after first downs . Football . The Northwestern University football team has evidence of organization in 1876 . Northwestern achieved an all - time high rank of # 1 during the 1936 and 1962 seasons , which has thus far not been duplicated . The football team plays at Ryan Field ( formerly known as Dyche Stadium ) . The football team has a history of mediocrity : Its all - time record is 468 - 614 - 44 ( 0 . 435 ) and until July 2012 , the program held the official record for Division I - A losses . Other dubious distinctions include being on the losing end of the greatest comeback in Division I - A history and holding the record for the longest losing streak in Division I - A - - 34 consecutive games between 1979 and 1982 . Until 2013 , the Wildcats had been to nine bowl games since 1995 - - 1996 Rose Bowl , 1997 Citrus Bowl , 2000 Alamo Bowl , 2003 Motor City Bowl , 2005 Sun Bowl , 2008 Alamo Bowl , the 2010 Outback Bowl , the 2011 TicketCity Bowl and 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas — but had not won a postseason contest since the 1949 Rose Bowl until the 2013 Gator Bowl . Following the sudden death of football coach Randy Walker in 2006 , 31 - year old and former All - American Northwestern linebacker Pat Fitzgerald assumed the position becoming the youngest Division I FBS coach at the time . Men ' s basketball . The men ' s basketball team has never earned a bid to the NCAA tournament , and its last conference championship came in 1933 , when it tied with Ohio State . However , it is recognized as the 1931 National Champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation . The team qualified for the 2009 NIT with a # 5 seed , but lost to Tulsa in the first round . The team plays its home games in Welsh - Ryan Arena , where it is cheered on by the Wildside student section . Bill Carmody is the current coach of the Wildcats . Under Carmody , a former head coach at Princeton , the team runs the Princeton offense . The basketball team ended the 2010 - 11 season at 20 - 14 , losing to the Washington State University in the quarterfinal of the NIT . Women ' s lacrosse . Northwestern has won the national championship in women ' s lacrosse five straight times , from 2005 to 2009 , and then again in 2011 and 2012 , giving them 7 championships in 8 years . In 2007 , the team joined Maryland as the only other school to three - peat . The run started in 2005 , when the team enjoyed a perfect season and defeated many long - established east - coast schools after only five years as a varsity sport to capture the school ' s first national championship since 1941 . In doing so , it became the westernmost institution to ever win the title . Soon after , the team made national news when members appeared in a White House photo with President Bush wearing thong sandals , or flip - flops , dubbed as the " White House flip - flop flap . " The 2009 season also was an undefeated run . In their five championship seasons , the Wildcats have a 106 - 3 record . In 2006 and 2007 , Kristen Kjellman received the Tewaaraton Trophy , which honors the best collegiate lacrosse player in the country . She was the first player from a non - East coast school to win the distinction , and the first player to be a two - time winner . Midfielder Hannah Nielsen received the award in 2008 and 2009 , the second player to be a two - time winner . Northwestern ' s Shannon Smith won the award in 2011 . Golf . Luke Donald , an Englishman who is currently number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings , attended Northwestern , winning the NCAA title in 1999 . Softball . The Northwestern softball program began in 1976 and has amassed 5 Big Ten championships , 10 NCAA Tournament appearances , and 5 appearances in the Women ' s college World series - including 2007 and their national runner - up performance 2006 . Swimming . In the NCAA Men ' s Swimming and Diving Championships held from 1924 through 1936 , no team points were officially awarded . Northwestern won four unofficial national team championships during these years , which were proclaimed in the newspapers of the time , second only to Michigan ' s seven . Matt Grevers , a Northwestern alum , won two gold medals ( 100 meter backstroke , 400 meter medley relay ) and a silver medal ( 400 meter freestyle relay ) at the 2012 London Olympic Games . Rivalries . Their chief Big Ten rival is the Illinois Fighting Illini . In football , the teams annually compete for the Land of Lincoln Trophy . This trophy replaced the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk Trophy in 2009 after the Tomahawk was deemed to be an offensive Native American symbol by the NCAA . Northwestern fans have also cultivated strong rivalries with many Big Ten Conference foes , including Iowa and , particularly , Wisconsin . The rivalry with Wisconsin , the Big Ten conference school geographically closest to the Evanston campus , has grown stronger in recent years , though there is currently no official trophy for the football game . Although the schools rarely play each other , there has been discussion of starting a rivalry game with Northern Illinois University to help boost attendance and interest during the non - conference schedule . 2005 – 2006 . The 2005 – 2006 academic year was one of the best athletic seasons in Northwestern University ' s history . The football team capped a 7 – 5 season and third place finish in the Big Ten with a bid to the Sun Bowl . Following the women ' s lacrosse team ' s second National Championship , the Women ' s doubles tennis team of Christelle Grier and Alexis Prousis won the National Championship as well . In addition , Men ' s tennis player Peter Rispoli captured the Flight B Singles Championship . The Women ' s Softball team made an incredible run to the finals of the Women ' s College World Series , finishing in second place . In May 2006 the website BadJocks . com republished photos a reader had found on Webshots of the women ' s soccer team hazing its freshmen . The whole team was suspended for a time as a result and in the wake of the incident Head Coach Jenny Haigh resigned . Since , Athletic Director Mark Murphy named Stephanie Erickson , the school ' s all - time leader in goals and points , as Haigh ' s replacement .