The university's sports teams are known as the Thunderbirds. The colors are red, white and black. Teams compete in The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly known as division I-AA) in the Big Sky Conference SUU also competes in The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, in the Rocky Mountain Region. The school became a full member of the
Big Sky Conference in 2012.
[26] With the move, SUU discontinued its baseball program and established a men's tennis team in its place. The most decorated program both athletically and academically is the prestigious "Bowerman Award" winning Cross Country and Track & Field programs at SUU. The SUU Gymnastic team competes within the
Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and in 2013 received a total of six academic all-WAC citations in 2013 with the list including two seniors and four sophomores. The group was made up of seniors Caitlin Kennedy and Michaela Chernoch and the four sophomores included Jamie Armijo, Rochelle Bernier, Ana Jaworski and Brittney Jensen. All six had GPA's higher than a 3.3 with three above a 3.8 cumulative grade point average.
[27] The team placed fifth at the 2013 NCAA regional competition
[28]