The story of OU Esports’ rise starts with a single question
Mike Aguilar wasn’t trying to change the academic world or flip established industries on their heads in November 2016. As a technology strategist for the University of Oklahoma’s Central IT department and the Honors College, he was simply trying to answer the questions his boss asked, including how OU could use it upon returning from a summit held by Amazon.
At the time, fewer than 25 universities across North America had groups dedicated to playing video games competitively with any kind of institutional support; the only Power Five Division I university in the mix was the University of Utah.
In Oklahoma, only two other higher learning institutions, Roger’s State and the Northeast Technology Center in Claremore, had an Esports club. Since there’s value in data, Aguilar talked to them.