The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (often referred to as the UT–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros, Rio Grande Vaqueros or the UTRGV Vaqueros) is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The Vaqueros inherited the NCAA Division I status of the Texas–Pan American Broncs and compete in the Western Athletic Conference.
Conference affiliations
NCAA
Western Athletic Conference (2013–present)
Varsity teams
A member of the Western Athletic Conference, UTRGV sponsors teams in eight men's and eight women's NCAA sanctioned sports:
National championships
Team
Program history
Men's basketball
UTPA, then Pan American College, won the 1963 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament under Coach Sam Williams. Lucious "Luke" Jackson was one of the players on that championship team. Jackson was selected 4th overall during the 1964 NBA draft. He was selected to the 1964–65 NBA All-Rookie Team and played in the NBA All-Star Game that same year. He played his entire career with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The basketball program, during the mid-1970s was coached by Abe Lemons. Under Lemons, the program had very successful seasons but, lamentably, failed to get invited to any NCAA tournaments. Coach Lemons was later hired away by the University of Texas at Austin.
Upon Lemons' departure to the University of Texas at Austin, Bill White was named the head basketball coach. While at Pan American, Coach White led the Broncs to their first post-season tournament play at the Division I level. During the 1980–81 season, Pan American earned a berth to the 1981 National Invitation Tournament. The Broncs lost to the 1981 NIT champs, the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
The basketball program was also later coached by Lon Kruger, who later went on to coach at Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV, and Oklahoma. He also coached the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA.
Women's basketball
The Vaqueros began play for women's basketball in 1982. Their 10–5 record in NAIA play was their only winning season until 2014-15, when they finished 19–15 in their final season as the Broncs. They finished their season in the WAC title game, though they lost to New Mexico State 70–52. They were invited to the WBI, their first ever postseason appearance in school history. They lost to Louisiana-Lafayette 78–56 in the first round. The next year, they finished 18–13, marking the first time in program history that they had consecutive winning seasons. Though they lost in the WAC title game to New Mexico State again, they were invited to the WBI, where they lost to TCU 97–73.
Volleyball
On November 19, 2016, the UTRGV Women's Volleyball Team defeated the Utah Valley Woman's Volleyball team, making them the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Volleyball Champions of 2016.
Baseball
The UTPA baseball squad placed 4th in the 1971 College World Series under Coach Al Ogletree.
Tennis
The UTPA Tennis program won several NAIA championships (doubles and singles) from 1959 through 1962 under Coach Don Russell, who himself captured several championships while playing and coaching the team. Other prominent Bronc champions included John Sharpe and George Kon, with Sharpe and Russell winning three consecutive doubles titles together from 1959 to 1961.
Football
On January 14, 2021, news broke that UTRGV had explored to create a football program for NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level competition by 2024. At the time, it was believed that the program would compete as part of the newly reinstated football conference within the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The WAC announced the intended creation of this conference on the same day, as well as the addition of five new members to the conference in all sports, including football. The new members announced, effective July 1, 2022, include: Abilene Christian University, Lamar University, Sam Houston State University, and Stephen F. Austin State University, at that time all members of the Southland Conference (SLC), along with Southern Utah University, then of the Big Sky Conference. Shortly after the four SLC members announced their departure, that league expelled them, leading the WAC to move their arrival forward to 2021. Southern Utah joined on the originally planned 2022 schedule.
However, further conference realignment led the WAC to merge its football league with that of the ASUN Conference, with which it had a football-only alliance in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The new league, known as the United Athletic Conference, started play in 2023.