Cumberland Phoenix football

Not to be confused with Cumberlands Patriots football.
Cumberland Phoenix football
First season1894
Athletic directorRon Pavan
Head coachTim Mathis
6th season, 24–34 (.414)
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
1903 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association A. L. Phillips 6–1–1 4–1–1
1935[9] Smoky Mountain Conference Gus Morrow 7–3 5–0

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". ESPN. 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.