Freshman Quinn Meyer dribbles the ball during a game against the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Oct. 26, 2024 at College Park Center.
Since 1976, UTA’s wheelchair basketball teams have called the Physical Education Building and the Maverick Activities Center home. The P.E. Building’s front-facing exterior, marked with the words “Home of The Movin’ Mavs,” is a modest testament to the dozens of banners earned over the years.
Now, the Movin’ Mavs’ and the Lady Movin’ Mavs’ accolades and success as the “winningest” teams at UTA will be boasted in the rafters of College Park Center.
On Jan. 20, UTA’s Division of Intercollegiate Athletics officially announced that the two teams would join the department as the first Division I wheelchair basketball teams at UTA.
While the teams have occasionally competed and hosted tournaments at the center, this move will solidify it as their home court to defend.
“They’re athletes. They’re an incredibly successful sports program, and it just makes more sense to have them be a part of Athletics,” Athletics director Jon Fagg said. “We want to elevate their student athlete experience so they can play tournaments and games in the CPC and just be part of the department, really exciting.”
The success in question comes from 12 national championships, multiple undefeated seasons, nine MVPs and 36 Paralympians, one of whom sits at the helm of the Movin’ Mavs.
Aaron Gouge, Movin’ Mavs head coach, said a big part of this move came from the support of Fagg and President Jennifer Cowley. He said this transition will be beneficial not only for the university and its program but for the sport itself, hoping that it will become a trend across the league.
The move to the UTA athletic department had been long-awaited, a dream of Jim Hayes, founder and head coach of the team, then called the Freewheelers, Gouge said.
Hayes’ program evolved with the help of the late Robert “Snake” LeGrand, UTA’s first Black men’s basketball head coach. It became the Movin’ Mavs in 1988, when it was formally recognized as an intercollegiate athletic program.
“When he [Hayes] started the team, he wanted the team to be seen as equal college athletes with the able-bodied teams, and it’s super exciting for that to happen,” Gouge said.
The Lady Movin’ Mavs team was founded in 2013 with the help of current head coach Morgan Wood and former Movin’ Mavs head coach Doug Garner. The team accounts for two of the national championships under the wheelchair programs’ belts.
Wood, who was the first Lady Maverick to join the team, reflected on the historical moments and changes over the past decade that the program has seen.
“It’s another step forward for our men and women’s programs, which is pretty amazing,” she said. “But the biggest thing that goes kind of unnoticed is how greatly it affects our student athletes, when they’re finally in a position to feel like they’re a student athlete on campus.”
College Park Center sits on the corner of West Second Street and Spaniolo Drive. Men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball will join the Athletics department as Division I teams.
Wood said the conversation she wants to have is about how they can help students plan for their future and how the university can propel the programs further.
“The stepping stones have been huge, so we can’t just sit here and stay at the same level forever, so I hope that this step will lead to what the athletes deserve,” she said.
Gouge said the majority of the teams’ spring season will likely continue to be played at the Physical Education Building and Maverick Activities Center, with many of the logistics still being worked out. The move looks to be finalized in the fall semester, he said.
“It’s a lot of moving parts to put together, but everybody’s really committed to making this happen and getting it moved as soon as possible,” Gouge said.
To get a first look at the teams in their new home, the wheelchair programs will host a tournament March 13 and 14 at College Park Center. The tournament will be the last of the regular season, with the 2026 Intercollegiate National Championships, hosted by The University of Arizona, taking place from March 31 to April 4 at the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona.
“Super excited about March. It’ll be good preparation for us going into nationals,” Gouge said. “We’ll be playing nationals at the University of Arizona in their big stadium there, so it’ll be nice to get that experience in the CPC and that kind of environment right before going into nationals.”
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