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December 1, 1969 – The Privateers men's basketball team plays their first game in school history at the Health and Physical Education Center on campus dropping a game 68-63 to Louisiana College. The Privateers would pick up the first win in school history one week later at West Florida during an 18-5 season under Ron Greene.
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February 27, 1971 – With a 78-66 win over St Thomas (Florida), the Privateers men's basketball team finished their regular season 23-1 with the lone loss coming on the road at Houston Baptist. For their accomplishment, the Privateers would be ranked #1 in the final Associated Press Division II poll. Head coach Ron Greene's (right) squad would lose two games in the Division II South Regional in Lafayette, La two weeks later to close out the season.
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May 1971 – Led by NCAA Division II medalist Stan Stopa (left), who shot 292 for the tournament, the LSU-New Orleans golf team captures the first of two consecutive Division II national championships in men's golf shooting a team score of 1,198 to defeat Cal St – Northridge by four strokes.
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May 1972 – Head coach Robert Brown leads LSU-New Orleans to the second national championship in school history in men's golf with a 24 stroke win over Williams to capture the Division II national championship.
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June 4, 1974 – Playing for the third time in a day, the Privateers baseball team played UC-Irvine in the school's first national title game appearance at the NCAA Division II World Series in Springfield, Ill. The Privateers fell to UC-Irvine 14-1 after defeating the Anteaters 7-6 earlier in the day. UNO won the South Regional at home defeating Nicholls State twice to advance to the World Series.
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March 15, 1975 – The Privateers would make it to the school's first basketball national title game, falling to Old Dominion 76-74 in Evansville, Indiana to finish as the Division II runner-ups. Wilbur Holland missed a jumper from the foul line that would have won the game. UNO would open tournament play winning two one-point games at the Health and Physical Education Center against West Georgia and Lincoln before heading to Evansville where they would defeat UC-Riverside and Assumption to advance to the championship game.
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July 1, 1975 – The University of New Orleans athletic department moves from Division II to Division I, competing as an Independent.
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August 4, 1976 – The Sun Belt Conference was founded on August 4, 1976 with New Orleans, South Alabama, Georgia State, Jacksonville, North Carolina-Charlotte and South Florida.
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February 26, 1978 – In the 1978 Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game in Charlotte, N.C, the Privateers defeated South Alabama 22-20 to win the conference tournament championship. This game, before the advent of the shot clock in NCAA basketball, was significant in the fact that USA coach Cliff Ellis instructed his team to hold the ball in effort to keep UNO's Wayne Cooper (left) from scoring. Many point to this low-scoring affair as one of the reasons the NCAA finally introduced the shot clock to the men's game a few years later. The Sun Belt Conference, under commissioner Vic Bubbas, was the first to adopt the shot clock, due to this game.
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June 1979 – Outfielder Randy Bush is selected with the 11th pick of the second round by the Minnesota Twins in the 1979 amateur draft. Bush would make his pro debut on May 1, 1982 and would go on to win World Series in 1987 and 1991 with the Twins during a major league career that would span 11 seasons. Bush would return to the Lakefront to coach the Privateers for five years starting in 2000.
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June 30, 1980 – Due to the Sun Belt requiring the University of New Orleans to play in the Superdome for men's basketball contests which the university refused to do due to the loss of money, the university left the league and became a Division I independent.
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June 1982 – Shortstop Augie Schmidt is selected with the 2nd overall pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1982 amateur draft. Schmidt, who would not make it to the majors represents the highest draft pick of a UNO player in any professional draft. To top off his collegiate career, Schmidt would also win the "Golden Spikes Award" given to the most outstanding college baseball player, the collegiate baseball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
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March 19, 1983 - The Privateers women's basketball team wins their third game in three days in Amarillo, Texas defeating Memphis 68-58 to win the Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Lady Privateers previously defeated Weber State (100-70) in the semifinals and Texas Tech (66-65) in the quarterfinals.
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November 26, 1983 – The Lakefront Arena hosted its first men's basketball game with LSU winning 67-59 over the Privateers. The first field goal was scored by UNO's John Harris. The first game in the arena was in fact, a women's basketball game as the Lady Privateers fell 104-88 to LSU earlier in the day.
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March 10, 1984 – Sandra Hodge, playing against Nicholls State, completes a career that included 2,828 points, an all-time career high in the category for a Lady Privateer. To date, no women's basketball player has come within 1,000 points of Hodge, who averaged 26.9 points per game over her career.
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June 3, 1984 – In their first and only NCAA Division I College World Series appearance, the Privateers would defeat the University of Michigan 11-3. The Privateers opened the CWS with a 6-3 loss to Texas before following the win over the Wolverines with a 8-7 loss to Oklahoma State. To advance to their first-ever CWS, the Privateers won the South II Regional in Starkville, Miss. defeating the host Mississippi State 6-3 in the regional championship game. UNO was the first Louisiana team to ever reach the Division I College World Series.
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March 3, 1987 - Making their first NCAA appearance, the women's basketball team, seeded sixth in the Midwest Regional, fell to third-seeded Iowa 68-46 in Iowa City, Iowa. The Lady Privateers won the UNO Pepsi Tournament and the Northern Lights Invitational (Anchorage, Alaska) as Joey Favaloro's squad racked up a 25-7 record.
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March 12, 1987 – In their NCAA Division I tournament debut, the Privateers men's basketball team tops Brigham Young 83-79 in Birmingham, Alabama. UNO would play #9 Alabama two days later, falling 101-76.
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July 1, 1987 – Joining Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana, Lamar and Texas – Pan American, UNO becomes a part of the American South Conference.
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March 31, 1991 – The Lakefront Arena and the University of New Orleans hosts the NCAA Division I women's basketball Final Four. In the first overtime championship game in the history of the women's Division I tournament, Tennessee with legendary head coach Pat Summitt on the sidelines defeated Virginia led by Dawn Staley, 70-67. Connecticut and Stanford also participated in the two day event.
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July 1, 1991 – The University of New Orleans rejoined the Sun Belt Conference when the Sun Belt merged with the American South Conference. Other ASC member institutions joining the SBC were Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana, Texas – Pan American, Lamar and Central Florida.
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October 29, 1992 - Javonne Brooks broke the collegiate women's volleyball record for career kills in a 3-0 win over UT-Pan American. The 5'10" senior from Wharton, Texas broke the old record 2,767 held by Long Beach State's Tara Cross. Brooks finished with 2,932 kills and in 2005 was named the Sun Belt's All-Time Volleyball Player.
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June 30, 1993 – Ervin Johnson is selected with the 23rd pick in the 1993 NBA draft by the Seattle Supersonics to mark the highest UNO player taken in an NBA draft. Ervin Johnson would play 12 seasons in the NBA playing 825 games between Seattle, Denver, Milwaukee and Minnesota
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January 11, 1997 – The Lady Privateers stun 4th ranked Louisiana Tech, 66-63 at Lakefront Arena to give the UNO women's basketball team, their highest win over a ranked opponent to date.
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February 13, 1999 – The Lady Privateers swat an NCAA-record 19 Western Kentucky shots with Vasso Bskaki leading the way with 11 blocks in a 70-63 home loss for the women's basketball team.
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November 16, 2007 – Athletic Director Jim Miller announces the addition of men's swimming and diving to the UNO athletic department. In the process, UNO becomes the first school since 1981-82 to add the sport. Additionally, Miller announces that men's and women's tennis will be restored for the 2008-09 calendar year after being suspended in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The UNO Aquatic Center, which was damanged in wake of Hurricane Katrina officially re-opens in Sept. 2009 in a UNO men's dual against Stanford.
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November 28, 2007 – Bo McCalebb scores his 2,000th point as a Privateer in a UNO win over Lamar at the Human Performance Center. McCalebb becomes the first male player in school history to score over 2,000 points. He would finish his career as the all-time leading scorer in both UNO and Sun Belt Conference history.
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November 11, 2009 - University of New Orleans Chancellor Tim Ryan announces the institution will explore a move to non-scholarship Division III. The announcement comes after the institution had removed general fund support for athletics and a failed student athletic fee referendum vote in late-April that would have replaced the funds. The announcement is followed by an exit from the Sun Belt Conference at the conclusion of the 2009-10 academic year. |
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February 20, 2010 - Mark Schindler caps two days of competition at the Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships by winning the 200 breast in 2:00.00. The event win is his second in two days, one day after he became the first Privateer to win a conference event (100 breast, 55.60). For Schindler's wins, he became the first UNO swimmer to receive SBC Swimmer of the Year recognition. At the end of the 2009-10 year, Schindler also earned the distinction as the UNO Male Student-Athlete of the Year. |
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April 28, 2010 - Oscar Zetterwall wins medalist honors in the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Golf Championships, the last appearance by a UNO squad in a SBC championship event. Zetterwall fires a 8-under par total over three rounds to win by five shots as the Privateers finish third in the team competition. |
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October 15, 2010 - The LSU Board of Supervisors names head women's basketball coach Amy Champion as athletic director. Champion - the first female athletic director in school history - was appointed to the position on an interim basis in April 2010 before removing the 'tag' in October 2010. At the same meeting, the LSU Board authorizes the UNO athletic department to re-visit the decision to reclassify to NCAA Division III. |
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March 4, 2011 - The LSU Board of Supervisors authorizes the University of New Orleans to proceed with moving to NCAA Division II. The NCAA Division II membership committee would approve UNO's application on Apr. 20, 2011 with a subsequent membership invitation to the University coming from the Gulf South Conference on Apr. 29, 2011. The GSC would formally admit UNO on June 21, 2011. |
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March 8, 2012 - University of New Orleans President Dr. Peter Fos announces that UNO will withdraw its NCAA Division II application and remain Division I. |
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August 23, 2012 - University of New Orleans President Dr. Peter Fos along Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett formally announce that the University of New Orleans will join the league in 2013-14. Earlier in the summer, the league announced that the men's tennis team will have affiliate membership in 2012-13. |
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Apr. 28, 2013 - The New Orleans Privateer men's tennis team became the first to reach a Southland Conference championship, falling 4-2 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Beaumont, Texas. The team went 4-1 during conference play to finish as runner-up behind TAMU-CC. UNO was an affiliate member of the Southland in men's tennis during the 2012-13 season, accumulating multiple honors including five different student-athletes that earned Player of the Week recognition. |
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July 1, 2013 - The University of New Orleans is officially admitted into the Southland Conference alongside fellow new members Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word. The additions allow the Southland to become a 14-member league for the first time in school history.
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