EVENING THE FIELD: Sisemore discusses future of NSU athletics; more sports coming

Northeastern State University’s athletic lineup is going to get a little bit bigger in the near future.

With the recent announcement of men’s tennis returning to NSU for 2025, more sports are on the horizon. The RiverHawks are also looking to add women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, track and field, and wrestling within the next three seasons.

NSU Athletic Director John Sisemore estimates 250 new student-athletes will attend NSU with the addition of seven new teams to the roster.

“We are going to have several hundred new athletes in Tahlequah, which will boost the economy like crazy,” Sisemore said. “We’ll almost double the size of our student athlete enrollment. Each year, we lose so many local great talents that go to our competitors in the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association or in the Great American Conference, or even lower Division 1 schools.”

The plans were first set in place over two years ago and approved in 2023. But they were put on the back burner when NSU went through a change in presidents in 2023.

Now that President Rodney Hanley and the rest of the administration are on the same page, it is full-steam ahead for NSU Athletics.

“We decided to wait to wait and make sure we’re all on the same page and now that we’ve got the blessing from the new administration, we are moving forward,” Sisemore said. “Now we trying to get funding procured for those other new sports. Once we get that funding, then we will solidify an announcement and a date will come.”

The inclusion of these sports widens the recruiting options for NSU, with local talent at all four schools in these sports. Right now, NSU is barely meeting the minimum to remain an official NCAA school, with just 10 sports – and most of the local recruiting talent is seemingly on the baseball field and basketball court.

cloud mug shot

Matt Cloud

“As you add sports with a regional college, that gives more of our high school athletes opportunities to further their careers,” Tahlequah High School Athletic Director Matt Cloud said. “There isn’t a lot of wrestling in the state, if they don’t go to Oklahoma State or University or Central Oklahoma. There are some junior colleges, so if they can stay home, that is great. Volleyball is growing exponentially. I think it would be great for NSU to start volleyball with the lack of opportunities close to home.”

As it stands, NSU is hoping to add both wrestling programs, cross country and volleyball in fall 2026. Then in spring 2027, Sisemore would like to have both track and field programs running. The official date is still pending the securement of funding.

“We’re a little behind in [recruiting]; we lose so much local talent. Volleyball and wrestling have become huge, especially on the women’s side,” Sisemore said.

Adding these programs will be a major move in the years to come for NSU.

Outside of racking up players for the specific teams, the new sports help recruit multisport athletes, according to Sisemore.

“Track helps us recruit other athletes for football that want to cross over and do several different things,” Sisemore said. “That will give us the opportunity to gain some high-elevated athletes who turned us down for schools that had that offering.”

Sisemore reflects on tennis

Bringing men’s tennis back to NSU has been a process over the past several years.

NSU originally had a program in the 1960s, but about 25 years ago, it went away. Sisemore isn’t sure why the program was discontinued, but he heard several conflicting stories.

With a desire to grow athletics, Sisemore and other NSU officials thought it would be natural to expand the tennis program. With a women’s program that has had some success and a coach who has led both men’s and women’s players, it was a natural fit.

McLane

Tim McLane

Tim McLane is set to lead the two teams.

“We had a good tennis coach in place who has coached on the men’s side as well,” Sisemore said. “So we knew the stars were aligning for that to be our first new sport. It was an easy startup for us since we had everything put in place.”

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