The Christopher Newport Captains football team represents

Christopher Newport University Christopher Newport University (CNU) is a public university in Newport News, Virginia. It was founded in 1960 and is named after Christopher Newport, captain of Susan Constant, one of the ships which carried settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, Jam ...

in the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

, competing as football-only members of the

New Jersey Athletic Conference The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), formerly the New Jersey State Athletic Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. All of its full members are public universities in New Jersey. Affiliate members ...

(NJAC). Christopher Newport (CNU) plays its home games at the 4,200 seat TowneBank Stadium, which is located on-campus in

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Founded in 2001, the Captains were led by head coach

Matt Kelchner Matt Kelchner (born March 5, 1959) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia from 2001 to 2016. Kelchner was hired as Christopher Newport's first head coac ...

until 2016. Coach Art Link, only the second head coach in CNU football history took the helm starting with the 2017 football season. After 11 seasons with the

USA South Athletic Conference The USA South Athletic Conference (formerly the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or the Dixie Conference) is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member schools are located in North Carolina and Virginia. H ...

, the Captains shifted to the NJAC to start the 2015 season.

History

By the late 1990s, the prospect of bringing football to Christopher Newport was gaining momentum from both students and the administration alike. On December 16, 1999, the CNU Board of Visitors voted in favor of starting a football program to compete at the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

level by the 2001 season. By Spring 2000, the initial schedule was released for play in the

Dixie Conference The Dixie Conference was the name of two List of college athletic conferences, collegiate athletic leagues in the United States The first operated from 1930 until the United States' entry into World War II in 1942. The second conference to use the ...

in 2001, and on May 9, 2000, Matt Kelchner was announced as the program's first head coach. In the Captains history, the program has captured seven co-conference and three outright conference championship in addition to making ten appearances in the Division III playoffs.

Seasons

References

American football teams established in 2001 2001 establishments in Virginia {{Virginia-sport-team-stub

History

Seasons

See also

References