The North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team, representing the University of North Dakota, currently competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), having previously won a Division II national championship in 2001. The program, which began in 1894, was a charter member of the North Central Conference (NCC) in 1922 and has amassed 26 conference titles (14 outright) along with 19 postseason appearances, most recently in 2023. A pivotal era came under coach Charles A. "Jack" West (1928–1945), who posted an 89–35–6 record, won 8 NCC titles, and oversaw the team's adoption of the "Fighting Sioux" nickname in 1930. Later, coach Marv "Whitey" Helling revitalized the program in the late 1950s and 1960s, highlighted by a 25–4 record from 1964–1966, a 1965 Mineral Water Bowl victory over Northern Illinois, and a fierce rivalry with North Dakota State. After leaving the Big Sky Conference in 2018, the team played as an independent for two years before joining the MVFC in 2020, having been ineligible for postseason play during its Division I transition from 2008 to 2011.