Cumberland Phoenix football
First season1894
Athletic directorRon Pavan
Head coachTim Mathis
3rd season, 11–10 (.524)
StadiumNokes-Lasater Field
LocationLebanon, Tennessee
ConferenceMid-South Conference
Past conferencesSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1895–1903)
Smoky Mountain Conference (1932–1941)
Conference titles2
ColorsCardinal and white[1]
   
Websitewww.gocumberlandathletics.com

The Cumberland Phoenix football team represents Cumberland University in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Mid-South Conference. The Phoenix formerly competed in the TranSouth Athletic Conference and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

History

Cumberland football began on October 26, 1894[2] with a 6–6 tie with Peabody and finished that first year with a 2–1–1 season record.

The early days of Cumberland football were very promising. The 1901 team played three games, with one recorded loss, but the following year, the 1902 team had a 3-5 record, with a victory over Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State University).

The pinnacle of the early days of CU football was the 1903 team. The season that began with a (6–0) win over Vanderbilt then a (0–6) loss to Sewanee and continued with a five-day road trip with victories over Alabama (44–0) November 14, 1903, LSU (41–0) November 16, 1903, and Tulane (28–0) November 18, 1903. Cumberland would play a postseason game against Coach John Heisman's Clemson team on Thanksgiving Day that ended in an 11–11 tie and a record of 4–1–1 [3] which gave Coach A. L. Phillips and Cumberland University the Championship of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.[4][5]

The 1904 team went 3-1, a victory over Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State University). The 1905 team had a 3-4 record, with victories over Georgia and Ole Miss.

The 1916 game against Georgia Tech is famous as the most lopsided-scoring game in the history of college football; Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland by a score of 222–0.[6]

In 2001, Jacksonville State University Gamecocks placekicker Ashley Martin became the first woman to play and score in an NCAA Division I American football game when she kicked an extra point in the first quarter of a game against Cumberland University.[7]

For the 2008 season, CU's football earned a share of the Mid-South Conference West Division.

In 2016, the team changed its name from Bulldogs to the Phoenix.[8]

Conference championships

Year Conference Coach Overall record Conference record
1903Southern Intercollegiate Athletic AssociationA. L. Phillips6–1–14–1–1
1935[9]Smoky Mountain ConferenceGus Morrow7–35–0

Notable individual achievements

Cumberland Athletics Hall of Fame

All-Southerns

References

  1. Cumberland University Graphic Standards Manual (PDF). Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  2. Winstead Paine Bone (1935). A History of Cumberland University, 1842–1935. The Author.
  3. "Cumberland Historical Scores". www.jhowell.net. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  4. "Champions of the South regardless of conference affiliation".
  5. Langum, David J (January 2010). From Maverick to Mainstream: Cumberland School of Law, 1847–1997. University of Georgia Press. p. 95. ISBN 9780820336183.
  6. "Makes a Record Score". The Washington Post. October 8, 1916. p. S3.
  7. "ESPN.com: NCF - Martin breaks gender barrier in Division I football". static.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  8. "Bulldogs out, Phoenix in as Cumberland sports nickname". tennessean.com. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  9. "Cumberland Completes Most Successful Gridiron Season". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. December 1, 1935. Retrieved March 25, 2017 via newspapers.com.
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