The Wolves compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for all 13 varsity sports.

[2] Northern State athletics are well supported by both the students and the community, as men's and women's basketball as well as football are consistently ranked in the top ten nationally for NCAA Division II attendance.

Thunder the Wolf serves as the official mascot of the Wolves and of Northern State University.

Northern's football team plays at Dacotah Bank Stadium and are led by head coach Mike Schmidt.

In 1999 Meyer accepted the head coaching position at Northern State, and in his first nine-plus seasons has a record of 201–81.

The Northern State men's basketball team had its best record in school history during the 2017–18 season.

Under coach Paul Sather, the Wolves finished 36–4, leading to the first NCAA Division II championship appearance in school history.

He is the only player in South Dakota amateur baseball history to win 200 games on the mound and hit 200 home runs in a career.