The Air Force Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

, located in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. The athletics department has 17 men's and 10 women's

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

-sanctioned teams. The current

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

is Nathan Pine. The majority of Falcon teams compete as members of the Mountain West Conference.

Team name origin

The falcon mascot was selected by popular vote of the Academy's Class of 1959, the first class to graduate from the Academy. The team

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

is "Mach 1" name of the first falcon presented to the academy on October 5, 1955, however each performing falcon is given an individual name by its cadet falconer. The current mascot, a female white phase gyrfalcon named Nova, has been the official mascot since 2020.

Teams sponsored

As a primary member of the Mountain West Conference, the United States Air Force Academy sponsors teams in fifteen men's, nine women's, and two coed

sanctioned sports. As of the current 2022–23 school year, the fencing program competes as an independent, rifle program in the

Patriot Rifle Conference The Patriot Rifle Conference (PRC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle-only conference. The PRC was established in 2013 for schools that sponsor rifle teams, but do not have rifle as a sponsored sport in their primary confe ...

, gymnastics programs in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, ice hockey in the

Atlantic Hockey The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) is an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other c ...

, men's lacrosse program in the

ASUN Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisio ...

, men's soccer and swimming & diving programs in the

Western Athletic Conference 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, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

, water polo in the Western Water Polo Association, and wrestling in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. Men's water polo will move to the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

after the 2022–23 school year. Boxing is a member of the

National Collegiate Boxing Association The National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) is a non-profit college sports organization that organizes boxing fights for student athletes. The association falls under the auspices of USA Boxing. After 1960, the NCAA no longer sanctioned box ...

as the NCAA does not recognize boxing.

Baseball

Air Force enjoyed some success on the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

diamond in its early years and recently, earning seven berths to the NCAA Division I playoffs (1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969 and 2022). The Falcons, however, never advanced beyond the district/regional rounds. They finished as runner-up in 2000, when they lost to San Diego State in the MWC tournament championship game (which would have earned an automatic berth). The baseball program plays home games at

Falcon Baseball Field Falcon Baseball Field is a baseball Baseball field, venue located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, USA. It is home to the Air Force Academy, Air Force Air Force Falcons, Falcons college baseball team of t ...

on campus.

Basketball

Men's basketball

The men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team has had strong showings in the last several years, qualifying for the NCAA tournament and, most recently, making the final four of the 2007

National Invitational Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. The best player in Air Force history according to ESPN is

Bob Beckel Robert Gilliland Beckel (November 15, 1948 – February 20, 2022) was an American political analyst and pundit, and political operative. He was an analyst and commentator on Fox News. He had been a commentator on Fox News and was an original co ...

, who scored 50 points in a game against Arizona in 1959 and scored over 45 points on 3 other occasions. The best coach in Air Force history is Bob Spear, who coached for 15 years (1956–1971), had a career record of 177–175, and led the Falcons to two NCAA Tournament Appearances. *NCAA Tournament appearances: 1960, 1962, 2004, 2006 *NIT Tournament appearances: 2007 (semifinals) * Mountain West Conference champions: 2004 Regular Season

Women's basketball

The women's basketball team competed at the Division II level in both the AIAW and NCAA between 1976 and 1996. Since then, the team has competed at the Division I level. * NCAA tournament appearances: 1985, 1990 *

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

National Tournament appearances: 1979, 1980

Boxing

The Air Force men's boxing team has had astonishing success. Led for 31 years by Coach Ed Weichers, the team has won 18

championships, and until 2009, had never finished lower than second in the nation. In 2009, the team finished third in the nation. The women's team debuted in national-level competition during the 2015 NCBA championships. The 2017 NCBA tournament featured the first individual national boxing title for the women's team. On November 5, 2021, the men's and women's boxing teams took part in the first-ever boxing matches held at

Globe Life Field Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. It is located just south of Choctaw Stadium, the Rangers' former home ballpark. History Background On May ...

, as a pre-gameday event before the Army-Air Force football game the following day; Air Force won the matchup 6 bouts to 4.

Fencing

:''See:

List of NCAA fencing schools This is a list of colleges and universities with NCAA-sanctioned fencing teams. Fencing is a coed sport, with teams having men's and women's squads, although some schools field only a women's team. Schools of every division compete together regu ...

Football

Ice hockey

From 2007–2009, the men's hockey team won three straight

conference tournaments, and made three straight appearances in the NCAA Division I hockey tournament. Their 2007 appearance in the NCAA tournament was the first ever by a service academy. In the East Regional of the

2009 NCAA tournament The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament in which 65 schools competed to determine the national champion of the men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2008–09 basketball ...

, Air Force upset top seed

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

2–0, and just missed going to the

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

in a 3–2 double overtime loss to

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

Lacrosse

Air Force has fielded an NCAA men's lacrosse team since 1967. They appeared in the Division I Championship tournament in 1971, 1977, 1988, 2014, 2016, and 2017. The team competed in the Southern Conference as an associate member through the 2021 season and joined the

, also as an associate member, on July 1, 2021.

Rifle

In June, 2013, Air Force became a charter member of the

Wrestling

The Falcon

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

team began competition in 1957 and currently competes in the

(the Mountain West doesn't sponsor wrestling). In 1991 AF wrestling won the WAC championship, the first ever by any USAFA sports team. From 2006 to 2015, the Falcons had been a member of the

Western Wrestling Conference The Western Wrestling Conference (WWC) was an NCAA Division I wrestling-only conference that competed from 2006 through 2015. All of its past members are now associate members of the Big 12 Conference; all except Fresno State compete only in Big 1 ...

(WWC), but the conference chose to disband after the 2014–15 school year when all of its members accepted an offer of single-sport membership in the Big 12.

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

wrestling events are held at either the Cadet East Gym or at Clune Arena. The team is currently coached by former Olympian Joel Sharratt in his eighth season, and former national champion for the University of Iowa, under the tutelage of legendary coach Dan Gable. Falcons Wrestling Accomplishments: * WAC Team Championships: 1 (1991) * All-Academy Wrestling Championships: 4 (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002) * NCAA National Champions: 1 * NCAA All-Americans: 11 * WWC/West Regional Champions: 9 * WAC Champions: 18 * MIWA Champions: 18

Notable club sports

Rugby

The Air Force rugby program was created in 1968 and began competing in college rugby in 1980. Air Force competes in the west division of the

College Premier Division Division 1-A Rugby (formerly known as the College Premier Division) is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 67 D1-A ...

against rivals such as Colorado State and Wyoming. Air Force has been one of the most successful programs in college rugby. Air Force finished as one of the top 3 teams in the country 11 times from 1980–1995, including back-to-back national championships in 1989 and 1990. More recently, Air Force were national champions again in 2003 and third place in 2004. Several Air Force players have gone on to play for the US men's national rugby team. Air Force won the 2012 Rocky Mountain 7s tournament to qualify for the 2012 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships. Air Force also played in the 2013 USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships, reaching the quarterfinals.

Team handball

The Air Force team handball program was created in 1976. It's one of the must successful men's team handball college program in the country with 3 national titles. At the beginning they had also a women's team. They won a national title in 1988. The Air Force men's team is one of few colleges which has won an adults national title this was in the year 1978. They biggest and longest college team handball rivalry is against the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

History

Athletic Directors

Here's a list of previous

Athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

s: * Col

Robert V. Whitlow Robert V. Whitlow (November 7, 1918 – July 11, 1997) was an American military officer, football coach, university athletic director, and sports club executive. He served as the first head football coach and athletic director of the United States ...

, 1954–1957 * Col

George B. Simler George Brenner Simler (February 16, 1921 – September 9, 1972) was a United States Air Force general, who served as commander of the U.S. Air Force's Air Training Command. Background and education Simler was born in 1921, in Johnstown, Penn ...

, 1957–1960 * Col Maurice L. Martin, 1960–1963 * Col Edmund A. Rafalko, 1963–1967 * Col Francis E. Merritt, 1967–1975 * Col John Clune, 1975–1991 * Col Ken Schweitzer, 1991–1996 * Col Randall

Randy Spetman Randall William Spetman (born December 30, 1952) is an American college athletic director who was most recently athletic director at Florida State University from 2008 to 2013. Spetman has also been the director of athletics at Utah State Univers ...

, 1996–2004 * Dr.

Hans Mueh Hans Juergen Mueh (born January 8, 1944) was the director of athletics at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving in that position from 2004 until January 2015.''http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-footbl/spec ...

, 2004–2015 * Jim Knowlton, 2015–2018 * Col Jennifer Block, 2018–2019 * Nathan Pine, 2019–present

Facilities

* Cadet Fieldhouse *

Cadet Ice Arena The Cadet Field House is an indoor sports complex in the Western United States, western United States, located at the United States Air Force Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, near Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. The mul ...

(cap. 2,502) – part of the Cadet Fieldhouse * Clune Arena (cap. 5,939) – part of the Cadet Fieldhouse * Eisenhower Golf course *

(cap. 1,000) *

Falcon Stadium Falcon Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in the western United States, on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is the home field of the Air Force Falcons of the Mountain West Conference, and also h ...

(cap. 52,480) * Jacks Valley *

Soccer stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

Cadet Lacrosse Stadium A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Air Force Falcons, color=white , list1 = {{Mountain West Conference navbox {{ASUN Conference navbox {{Atlantic Hockey {{Big 12 Conference navbox {{Mountain Pacific Sports Federation navbox {{Patriot Rifle Conference navbox {{West Coast Conference navbox {{Western Athletic Conference navbox {{Western Water Polo Association navbox {{Colorado Sports