Averett University offers 14 intercollegiate sports that compete at the NCAA Division III level within the USA South Athletic Conference. Cougar student-athletes total more than 250 individuals and represent the University in the sports of baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball. Averett also has 18 athletes that have been recognized nationally as Division III All-Americans.

Averett’s department of athletics is headquartered in the 32,270 square foot, E. Stuart James Grant Convocation Center, which opened in the fall of 1998. The office building and our on campus competitive and practice venues are all located on the 70-acre Averett University North Campus, except tennis, which is played on the main campus.
The volleyball and basketball teams compete in the Grant Center, which seats over 1,500 fans.

The Cougar Den Stadium houses the football, lacrosse, and soccer teams, while the baseball team competes on Owen-Fulton Field. Averett’s North Campus also includes a softball stadium, where the 2004 USA South Champion Cougars play their home contests. Additionally, there is a practice soccer/lacrosse field, as well as a practice football facility and a 7,830 square foot football field house located on the North Campus.

The golf and the cross country teams compete at local facilities close to the campus. The cross country team often practices and competes at Danville’s Ballou Park, which is only blocks from Averett’s Main Campus. The Cougars golf team, who were the 2003 NCAA Division III Champions, practices and competes on the numerous courses located in the Danville area.

Averett won four conference championships during the 2006-07 season, with two teams advancing to NCAA Tournament play. AU’s football team shared the conference title, as did the Cougars men’s tennis team. Averett’s men’s basketball and volleyball teams both earned tournament championships and earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Heading Averett’s department of athletics is Director of Athletics Charles S. Harris. He arrived in Danville in April of 2004. In his three seasons guiding Averett Athletics, the Cougars have enjoyed seven conference championships and three NCAA appearances. In fact, the 2006-07 season was the most successful in the program’s history. In addition to winning championships, Harris has also emphasized sportsmanship to AU’s student-athletes. That emphasis has paid off, as Averett has won back-to-back USA South Overall Sportsmanship Awards in 2006 and 2007.

Arguably the institution’s most successful program, the women’s volleyball team is annually vying for the top spot in the USA South Conference. Led by head coach Danny Miller, Averett won their 12th conference championship in the last 15 seasons in 2006 and advanced to their fourth NCAA Tournament since 1999. Volleyball matches are always a popular draw for students, as they flock to the arena for an opportunity to watch one of the top teams in the region compete.

The men’s tennis team, which was guided to greatness by former head coach and former athletics director Vesa Hiltunen, has also enjoyed enormous program success. Today, Bobby Shields continues that tradition as AU’s head coach, leading Averett to their 10th men’s tennis championship in 2007. The Averett men’s tennis program also boasts 10 All-Americans that have been selected to All-America Teams 18 times.

The Cougar men’s basketball team returned to greatness over the last two seasons under the guidance of Jimmy Allen. A team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1990, but experienced some disappointing seasons since, has returned to the top. In 2004-05, Allen guided Averett to a 13-14 season, following a 0-25 record the prior year. That turned out to be just the beginning, because Allen and the Cougars followed that effort with back-to-back 20-win seasons and conference championships. AU shared the USA South title in 2005-06 and won the 2006-07 USA South Tournament and advanced to the NCAA for the first time in 17 years. Averett posted only one 20-win season in the first 18 years of the program. They have posted two 20-win seasons in Allen’s first three years, and the best is yet to come.

In only its seventh season of competition, the Averett football team turned heads all over the country in 2006. Not only did they face the toughest schedule in all of Division III, with two NCAA Playoff semifinalists on the schedule (Wesley and Mt. Union), but they also posted a school-best 7-3 record. In addition, they shared the USA South Conference Championship with a 5-2 conference mark. Head coach Mike Dunlevy inherited a program with only three wins during its first two seasons of existence and quickly turned the team into a contender. In 2003, Dunlevy’s second season, the Cougars posted the program’s first winning season with a 5-4 record. That season was followed with a 6-4 campaign in 2004, and 7-3 records in both 2005 and 2006. The four consecutive winning seasons is an impressive feat for a program that is still in its infancy.

The Cougars’ golf program became the first team at Averett to win a national title in 2003, when they came from nine shots behind to defeat Wesley College in the NCAA Championship Tournament’s final day. Three-time All-America selection Janne Mommo broke the four round tournament record with a 7-under par total, while claiming individual championship honors. The Cougars made three consecutive appearances to the NCAA Tournament from 2001 to 2003, and have placed golfers on the All-America Team four years in a row. Head golf coach Jim Gourlay was named the National Coach of the Year in 2003, after directing Averett to the national crown.

Danville is known for great baseball, as is Averett. In 2007 the Cougars enjoyed a school-record 31-12 mark. AU was the first team in the nation to reach 20 wins, and then became the first team to reach 30 victories. Averett has grown into one of the top programs in the South Region, and has won 22 or more games in six of the last eight seasons. In 2003, head coach Ed Fulton guided his squad to its first conference title and NCAA appearance. Fulton and the Cougar program have produced numerous professional ball players, two All-Americans, and a Division III National Pitcher of the Year.

Another program that has enjoyed recent success is the Averett softball team. The 2004 Cougars won their first USA South Conference Tournament title and made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Averett softball posted six consecutive 20-win seasons from 1999-2004 and was USA South Co-Regular Season Champions in 1995.

Other programs that have enjoyed championship success include the women’s tennis team, who has captured six conference titles in the program’s history. Additionally, they have produced an ITA Rolex Division III Champion. The men’s soccer team enjoyed success in the early 80’s and has captured three conference titles, as well as three NCAA Tournament appearances. Averett also owns a conference championship in women’s cross country.