While sports and recreation has long been a fixture at Averett since the 1920s, the university's official NCAA-sponsored athletics history began in the mid-1970s when it joined the USA South Athletic Conference (formerly known as the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference until 2003). Averett left the USA South following the 2021-22 academic year and joined the Old Dominion Athletic Conference on July 1, 2022.
Basketball, cross country, men's golf, men's soccer and tennis were among Averett's first varsity NCAA sports in the 1970s. Averett added softball, women's volleyball in the 1980s, women's soccer and baseball in the 1990s, as well as football and women's lacrosse in the 2000s. In 2017-18, Averett revived its women's lacrosse program and added men's lacrosse and men's wrestling. Since then, Averett added dance in 2018-19, women's golf in 2021-22 and men's and women's indoor/outdoor track and field in 2022-23. Averett announced the addition of men's volleyball, which will begin play during the 2023-24 academic year.
Averett currently fields 22 NCAA-sponsored varsity sports, along with competitive cheerleading, dance and esports programs.
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History of the Averett Athletics Logo
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History of the Cougar Mascot
