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 U ...

, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 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 an ...

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

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

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

, 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 conf ...

, gymnastics programs in the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

, 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 ...

, men's lacrosse program in the ASUN Conference, 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, and Texas. Due to mos ...

, water polo in the

Western Water Polo Association The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) is a single sport intercollegiate college athletic conference sponsoring men's and women's water polo. The WWPA is affiliated with the NCAA, and includes 15 member institutions, mostly in California, w ...

, 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 after the 2022–23 school year. Boxing is a member of the National Collegiate Boxing Association 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 t ...

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 venue located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. It is home to the Air Force Falcons college baseball team of the Division I Mountain West Conference. Opened in 1957,

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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

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 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 Eddie Weichers was the head boxing coach at the United States Air Force Academy from 1976 to 2014. He led the Academy's boxing team to 19 national collegiate boxing championships, making it the most successful collegiate program in the United State ...

, the team has won 18 National Collegiate Boxing Association 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 Ma ...

, 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 regul ...

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, Air Force upset top seed

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

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 The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

as an associate member through the 2021 season and joined the ASUN Conference, 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 (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 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 Danny Mack Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a world gold medalist, ...

. 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 College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States of America. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the ...

in 1980. Air Force competes in the west division of the College Premier Division 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 The USA Rugby Sevens Collegiate National Championships is an annual competition among the top college rugby teams in the country to decide a national champion in rugby sevens. USA Rugby organized the championship to capitalize on the surge in pop ...

. 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 an ...

s: * Col Robert V. Whitlow, 1954–1957 * Col

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

, 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, 1996–2004 * Dr. Hans Mueh, 2004–2015 *

Jim Knowlton James Arthur Knowlton (born 1960) is an American college athletics administrator and civil engineer who is the current director of athletics for the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, Knowlton served as the athletic director for the Un ...

, 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, located at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, near Colorado Springs. The multi-purpose facility was built in 1968, and is at an approximate elevation of abov ...

(cap. 2,502) – part of the Cadet Fieldhouse *

Clune 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. 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 hold ...

(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-p ...

* Cadet Lacrosse Stadium

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