The 1971 Texas–Arlington Mavericks football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that represented the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of ...

in the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

during the

1971 NCAA College Division football season The 1971 NCAA College Division football season was the 16th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the NCAA College Division level. Conference standings Rankings College Di ...

. In their first year under head coach

John Symank John Richard Symank (August 31, 1935 – January 23, 2002) was an American college and professional American football, football player who was a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1950s and 1960s. S ...

, the team compiled a 2–9 record. In December 1970, former Arlington State

back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column runs ...

John Symank was hired as head coach from

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

. The 1971 season also marked the first UTA competed as the Mavericks after previously being known as the Rebels since 1951. The name Mavericks was selected by the student body over Toros and the name change was undertaken after the Rebels moniker became increasingly controversial due to its association with the Confederacy.

Schedule

References

Texas–Arlington Texas–Arlington Mavericks football seasons

Texas–Arlington Mavericks football The Texas–Arlington Mavericks football team represented the University of Texas at Arlington from the 1959 through 1985 season. Between 1919 through 1958, UTA competed as a junior college prior to moving to the NCAA College Division in 1959 an ...

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