Southern Utah Thunderbirds football | |||
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| |||
First season | 1963 | ||
Athletic director | Doug Knuth | ||
Head coach | DeLane Fitzgerald 1st season, 5–6 (.455) | ||
Stadium | Eccles Coliseum (capacity: 8,500) | ||
Year built | 1967 | ||
Field surface | Hellas Matrix Turf (since 2012) | ||
Location | Cedar City, Utah | ||
Conference | United Athletic Conference | ||
Past conferences | Independent (1963–1968) Rocky Mountain (1969–1985) Western Football (1986–1992) American West (1993–1995) Independent (1996–2003) Great West (2004–2011) Big Sky Conference (2012–2021) Western Athletic Conference (2022) | ||
All-time record | 237–299–10 (.443) | ||
Conference titles | 4 (1993, 2010, 2015, 2017) | ||
Division titles | 1 (1970) | ||
Rivalries | Northern Arizona (rivalry) Weber State (rivalry) Utah Tech (rivalry) | ||
Colors | Scarlet and white [1] | ||
Website | suutbirds.com |
The Southern Utah Thunderbirds football (also referred to as the SUU Thunderbirds) program is a college football team that represents Southern Utah University (SUU). With a history dating back to 1963, SUU currently competes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision [2] as a member of the United Athletic Conference.
The Thunderbirds play their home games on campus at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah, and have been led by head coach DeLane Fitzgerald since 2021. [3]
Southern Utah fielded its inaugural team in 1963 with Bruce Osborne as head coach, [4] remained an NAIA independent through 1968, then became a charter member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). [5] The Thunderbirds were members of the RMAC from 1969 to 1985, with an overall record of 86–73–3 (.540) during that time. [4] After 1985, Southern Utah moved up to NCAA Division II and joined the Western Football Conference (WFC). [6] While in the WFC from 1986 to 1992, the Thunderbirds' overall record was 41–34–1 (.546). [4]
In 1993, Southern Utah moved up to Division I-AA and joined the American West Conference (AWC) as a charter member. [7] The AWC folded after the 1995 season, and the Thunderbirds were 9–23–1 (.288) overall in those three years. They were an independent for eight years, [8] then became a charter conference member again in 2004 with the Great West Conference (GWC). [9]
In November 2010, Southern Utah announced its admission to the Big Sky Conference, effective in 2012. [10]
The Thunderbirds won their first Big Sky championship in 2015, defeating Northern Arizona 49–41 in the regular season finale at Cedar City. They had an 8–3 regular season, with losses to Utah State, South Dakota State, and Portland State; their eight wins were by mostly large margins. With the success, head coach Ed Lamb joined the staff at Brigham Young in Provo and defensive coordinator Demario Warren was promoted. [11]
In 2017, Southern Utah won their second Big Sky title, finishing the regular season at 9–2, with wins over four ranked (FCS) teams: Northern Iowa, Weber State, Eastern Washington, and NAU. The Thunderbirds earned the eighth seed in the FCS playoffs; Warren was the conference coach of the year and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
SUU joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), already home to regional rival Utah Tech, in 2022. [12] After the 2022 season, the WAC fully merged its football league with that of the ASUN Conference, creating what eventually became the United Athletic Conference, and SUU accordingly moved its football team to the new league. [13] [14]
Year | Coach | Conference | Overall record | Conference record | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Jack Bishop | American West Conference | 3–7–1 | 3–1 | |
2010 | Ed Lamb | Great West Conference | 6–5 | 4–0 | |
2015 | Big Sky Conference | 8–4 | 7–1 | ||
2017† | Demario Warren | 9–3 | 7–1 | ||
Conference Championships | 4 |
† Co-champions
Year | Coach | Division championship | Opponent | CG result | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1970† | Tom Kingsford | RMAC Mountain | N/A lost tiebreaker to Western New Mexico | ||
Division Championships | 1 |
† Co-champions
The Thunderbirds have appeared in the FCS playoffs three times with an overall record of 0–3.
Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | First Round | Sam Houston State | L 20–51 |
2015 | First Round | Sam Houston State | L 39–42 |
2017 | Second Round | Weber State | L 13–30 |
Coach | Tenure | Record | Pct |
---|---|---|---|
Bruce Osborne | 1963–1964 | 9–6–1 | .594 |
Bill Reeske | 1965–1966 | 8–8 | .500 |
Tom Kingsford | 1967–1977 | 49–53 | .480 |
Jack Bishop | 1978–1982 1986–1995 | 80–74–4 | .519 |
Don Conrad | 1983–1985 | 14–14–1 | .500 |
Rich Ellerson | 1996 | 4–7 | .364 |
C. Ray Gregory | 1997–2002 | 28–38 | .424 |
Gary Andersen | 2003 | 4–7 | .364 |
Wes Meier | 2004–2007 | 10–33 | .233 |
Ed Lamb | 2008–2015 | 45–47 | .489 |
Demario Warren | 2016–2021 | 21–42 | .333 |
DeLane Fitzgerald | 2022–present | 1–1 | .500 |
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington.
Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now has over 1,800 graduates each year with baccalaureate and other graduate degrees from its six colleges. SUU offers more than 140 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs. More than 10,000 students attend SUU.
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Eccles Coliseum is an 8,500-seat multi-purpose stadium in the western United States, on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah.It is the home venue of the Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team of the United Athletic Conference and track and field teams of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The Southern Utah Thunderbirds are the varsity athletic teams representing Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including six men's sports: basketball, cross country, football, golf, and track and field and nine women's sports: basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, track and field, and volleyball. The baseball program was dropped after the 2011–12 season. The Thunderbirds compete in NCAA Division I and joined the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2012, after departing from The Summit League.
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The 2021 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.
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