Robert Morris Colonials football | |||
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First season | 1994 | ||
Head coach | Bernard Clark 5th season, 13–34 (.277) | ||
Stadium | Joe Walton Stadium (capacity: 3,000) | ||
Location | Moon Township, Pennsylvania | ||
NCAA division | Division I FCS | ||
Conference | NEC | ||
All-time record | 120–113–1 (.515) | ||
Playoff appearances | 1 | ||
Playoff record | 0–1 | ||
Conference titles | 6 | ||
Colors | Blue, white, and red [1] | ||
Website | rmucolonials.com |
The Robert Morris Colonials football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the Robert Morris University located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Formerly members of the Northeast Conference, the Colonials were originally intended to compete in the 2020 season as an FCS independent before becoming a football-only member of the Big South Conference in July 2021. [2] The Colonials would ultimately join Big South football several months ahead of schedule. After COVID-19 caused the Big South to move its fall 2020 season to spring 2021, with two teams playing in the fall and a third not playing at all in 2020–21, the conference brought RMU into its football league for its spring 2021 season. [3]
The school's first football team was fielded in 1994. [4] The team plays its home games at the 3,000 seat Joe Walton Stadium. They are currently led by fifth-year head coach Bernard Clark.
On June 15, Robert Morris Colonials announced leaving the Northeast Conference for the Horizon League in all sports except for football starting in 2020. The football program will join the Big South Conference in football 2021. For the 2020 football team, the Colonials were originally intended to play as an FCS independent. [6] The team's 2020 schedule was to have been played as originally set, but all games would have been considered non-conference. [7] However, this would change due to COVID-19 disruptions; the Big South brought RMU into its football league for its rescheduled spring 2021 season. [3]
On November 28, 2023, Robert Morris announced a return to the Northeast Conference effective with the 2024 season as an associate member for football only. [8]
Year | Coach | Conference | Overall record | Conference record | |
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1996† | Joe Walton | Northeast Conference | 9–2 | 3–1 | |
1997 | 8–3 | 4–0 | |||
1998† | 4–6 | 4–1 | |||
1999 | 8–2 | 8–0 | |||
2000 | 10–0 | 8–0 | |||
2010† | 8–3 | 7–1 | |||
Conference championships | 6 |
† Co-champions
The Colonials have appeared in the FCS playoffs one time with an overall record of 0–1.
Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | First round | North Dakota State | L 17–43 |
Notable alumni include:
Future non-conference opponents announced as of July 29, 2023. [9]
2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
at Air Force | at Utah State | at West Virginia | at Akron | at Youngstown State | Murray State | |
Saint Francis | at Lafayette | Lafayette | Towson | |||
at Youngstown State | at Eastern Kentucky | at Youngstown State | Norfolk State | |||
Virginia–Lynchburg | at Towson | |||||
Howard | at Norfolk State |
The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and began operating the Big South–OVC Football Association in partnership with the Ohio Valley Conference in 2023. The Big South, founded in 1983, is firmly rooted in the South Atlantic region of the United States, with full member institutions located in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Associate members are located in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.
The Horizon League is a collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in and near the Great Lakes region.
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and briefly rebranded as the ASUN Conference from 2016 to 2023. The conference still uses "ASUN" as an official abbreviation. The conference headquarters are located in Atlanta.
Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the American revolution." It enrolls nearly 5,000 students and offers 60 bachelor's degree programs and 35 master's and doctoral programs. Most students are from the Pittsburgh area, while 16 percent of freshmen in 2018 were from outside Pennsylvania.
NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division I level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.
The Robert Morris Colonials are the athletic teams for Robert Morris University, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The Colonials compete in NCAA Division I. In 2020, the school joined the Horizon League as a full member after leaving the Northeast Conference. Several RMU sports that are not sponsored by the Horizon League play in other conferences. Football plays in the Big South Conference, and men's and women's lacrosse respectively compete in the ASUN Conference and Mid-American Conference. The school colors are RMU Blue, RMU Red, and RMU Gray/Silver.
The Robert Morris Colonials men's lacrosse team represents Robert Morris University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's lacrosse. The Colonials became a varsity program in 2005.
The Robert Morris Colonials women's basketball team is the basketball team that represents Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League.
The 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level.
The 2020 Robert Morris Colonials football team represented Robert Morris University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Bernard Clark and played their home games at Joe Walton Stadium.
The 2020 James Madison Dukes football team represented James Madison University as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Curt Cignetti and played their home games at Bridgeforth Stadium.
The 2009 Robert Morris Colonials football team represented Robert Morris University in the 2009 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonials were led by 16th-year head coach Joe Walton and played their home games at Joe Walton Stadium. They were a member of the Northeast Conference.
The 2008 Robert Morris Colonials football team represented Robert Morris University in the 2008 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonials were led by 15th-year head coach Joe Walton and played their home games at Joe Walton Stadium. They were a member of the Northeast Conference.
The 2007 Robert Morris Colonials football team represented Robert Morris University in the 2007 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonials were led by 14th-year head coach Joe Walton and played their home games at Joe Walton Stadium. They were a member of the Northeast Conference.
The 2006 Robert Morris Colonials football team represented Robert Morris University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonials were led by 13th-year head coach Joe Walton and played their home games at Joe Walton Stadium. They were a member of the Northeast Conference.
The 2021 Robert Morris Colonials football team represented the Robert Morris University during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonials played their home games at the Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township, PA. The team was coached by fourth-year head coach Bernard Clark.
Beginning in the 2021–22 academic year, extensive changes occurred in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level.
The Big South–OVC Football Association is an association of football members of the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). The Big South–OVC covers the American Midwest and South with member institutions located in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.