The 2003 Towson Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Towson University during the

2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season The 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-AA level, began in August 2003, and concluded with the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA ...

. In its final year of

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

competition, Towson finished fifth. In their 12th year under head coach

Gordy Combs Gordy Combs (born April 3, 1950) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach of the Towson Tigers football team from 1992 through 2008. He had spent 19 seasons as an assistant coach to Phil Albert at Towson before taking over when A ...

, the Tigers compiled a 6–6 record. The Tigers were outscored 274 to 271. Their 3–4 conference record placed fifth out of eight in the Patriot League standings. This year marked Towson's seventh and final Patriot League campaign, as the Tigers had agreed in 2002 to join the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

for football, starting with the 2004 season. Though they remained in Division I-AA, this move gave Towson a higher level of competition, more similarly sized schools, and the opportunity to award athletic scholarships. By joining the A-10, Towson would also gain football matchups with Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison and William & Mary, all A-10 football members that competed with Towson in other sports in their primary conference, the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

. Towson played its home games at Johnny Unitas Stadium on the university campus in Towson, Maryland. The stadium had been built the previous year and started 2003 with the name Towson University Stadium; it was rededicated to honor the late

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...

on October 11, 2003. In addition to being a local celebrity from his tenure as quarterback of the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

, Unitas had also been the father of three Towson students and had led efforts to find a naming partner for the new Towson football stadium.

Schedule

References

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