Southern Illinois Salukis

Infobox college athletics
name = Southern Illinois Salukis
| university = Southern Illinois University Carbondale
conference = Missouri Valley Conference
division = Division I
director = Mario Moccia
city = Carbondale
state = Illinois
stateabb = IL
teams = 16
arena = SIU Arena
stadium = McAndrew Stadium
mascots = Brown Dawg & Gray Dawg
nickname = Salukis
fightsong = Go Southern Go!
color1 = Maroon
color2 = White
hex1 = 800000
hex2 = FFFFFF
pageurl = http://www.siusalukis.com/
pagename = SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois Salukis are the varsity athletic teams representing Southern Illinois University. The nickname comes from the saluki, the royal dog of Egypt, 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 Sun Belt Conference.

The Salukis play their home basketball games at SIU Arena and football games at McAndrew Stadium.

Southern Illinois University was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1913-1962.

Mascot

SIU's sports mascot is the Saluki. A Saluki is one of the oldest dog breeds, and is an Egyptian hunting dog similar to a greyhound or whippet.cite web|url= http://siusalukis.cstv.com/ot/saluki-mascot.html |title=Saluki Mascot: What is a Saluki? |accessmonthday= 07-03 |accessyear=2007 |language=English] 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.

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 NIT 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 since 2004. Lowery has also been the youngest head coach in the tournament in each appearance.fact|date=March 2008

Football

SIU competes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. In 2007, the Salukis were victorious against Northern Illinois University. This marked the second consecutive year that SIU has beaten an FBS (Division 1-A) school in football. In 2006, the Salukis defeated Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. 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. [ Daily Chronicle [http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2007/09/08/sports/sports03.txt] ]

The Salukis are coached by Dale Lennon, who had previous success at the University of North Dakota.

SIU plays at McAndrew Stadium. The University is planning to build a new stadium south of the current one as part of the "Saluki Way" restructuring of the athletic campus. [ Saluki Way [http://www.siuc.edu/future/salukiWay/index.html] ]

The school reached the pinnacle of football accomplishment in 1983, when the Salukis won a national championship in NCAA Division I-AA.

Men's Gymnastics

SIU's also had a Men's Gymnastics team until the program was canceled in 1989.cite web|url= http://siusalukis.cstv.com/genrel/113004aaa.html |title=Bill Meade Memorial to be Held at Shryock Auditorium Saturday.: Former Saluki gymnastics coach passed away last Friday. |date =November 30, 2004 |accessmonthday= 07-03 |accessyear=2007 |language=English] From 1956 until the program was cancelled, 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.

Current and Future Developments

aluki Way

On September 9, 2005, the plans for Saluki Way were unveiled by Chancellor Walter Wendler [ [http://news.siu.edu/news/September06/091406sd6026.jsp SIU.edu] Saluki Way press release] . 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.

Troutt-Wittman Center

The Troutt-Wittmann Academic and Training Center [ [http://siusalukis.cstv.com/facilities/facilities-trouttwittmann.html SIUSalukis.com] article regarding Troutt-Wittmann Center] , a state of the art facility to give Saluki athletes the opportunity to gain help with their studies, as well as train and condition, was built with a donation by SIU alum and former Saluki football player Thomas Wittmann.

References