New turf going in at top 15 Division II program will feature perhaps the most interesting end zone design in college football

New turf is going in at Gable Field at Doc Wadley Stadium, the home of Division II Northeastern State in Tahlequah, OK and their end zones will look like nothing else in college football.

On Tuesday, RiverHawks head coach Darrin Chiaverini shared a flyover of the new turf going down on X, and he was asked what the end zones are meant to say.

At first glance, now living in the age of AI everywhere, it might come off as AI jargon not meant to be looked at closely, but it actually holds a a significant meaning, as Chiaverini would point out in his response.

"Northeastern State in Cherokee," Chiaverini replied. "Tahlequah is the Capital of Cherokee Nation!"

NSU began as the Cherokee National Female Seminary in 1846, and the university calls itself the oldest institution of higher learning in Oklahoma. The state legislature bought the seminary in 1909 and turned it into Northeastern State Normal School. Seminary Hall still anchors campus, a short walk from a bronze statue of Sequoyah, the Cherokee statesman who created the Cherokee syllabary.

Plenty of programs paint a slogan in the end zone. Northeastern State is putting its name there in the language of the nation that founded the school - a pretty darn cool tip of the cap.

Last December, Doc Wadley Stadium hosted the inaugural First Americans Bowl, one of three sanctioned Division II bowl games, built to pair programs with strong Native American connections that missed the playoffs. NSU beat East Central 56-21 in front of 4,977 fans.

That win capped a 9-3 season in Chiaverini's second year. The RiverHawks closed on a seven-game winning streak, finished No. 24 nationally and set school records for points (483), touchdowns (65) and scoring average (40.3 points per game). It was the program's most wins since 2000 and its largest year-to-year jump since the 1994 team won the NAIA national title. The CFB Network named Chiaverini its Division II Coach of the Year, and NSU signed him to a new three-year deal in December.

"We started our championship build two years ago, and we have developed a championship-level team," Chiaverini said at the time. "In 2026, our goal is to get into the NCAA playoffs and compete for a national championship."

Chiaverini, who also calls the offense, took a winding road to Tahlequah. The former Colorado receiver was a fifth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 1999 and set the franchise's rookie receiving record with 44 catches. He started coaching at Mt. San Antonio College in 2007, then worked at UCLA, Riverside City College and Texas Tech, where he was special teams coordinator and later added receivers. He spent six seasons (2016-21) back at Colorado as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach, returned to UCLA as an offensive analyst in 2022 and was head coach at Chaffey College in 2023 before NSU hired him.

In year three, the RiverHawks, a football independent since August 2024, opened with a 52-0 home win over Delta State, won 27-7 at Missouri S&T and beat Truman State 31-24 in overtime. They are currently ranked No. 15 in the AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll following Saturday's trip to FCS Northern Colorado, where they fell in a tight game, 23-17 in overtime.

NSU visits another FCS opponent, Stephen F. Austin (who made headlines yesterday after head coach Colby Carthel went off following a likely career-ending injury to his captain on what he called one of the dirtiest plays he's seen in 27 years), this Saturday. The next home game is Oct. 3 against Texas Permian Basin.

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