The Edinboro Fighting Scots are the athletic teams that represent Pennsylvania Western University Edinboro (known before July 2022 as Edinboro University of Pennsylvania), located in

Edinboro, Pennsylvania Edinboro is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. As home to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, it is a small college town, as well as a resort community. The population was ...

, in

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 ...

Division II

intercollegiate sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

. The Fighting Scots are members of the

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers C ...

(PSAC) for 15 of 17 varsity sports. The wrestling team competes in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC) as a member of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

and the wheelchair basketball team competes outside of NCAA governance in the NWBA Intercollegiate Division. The Fighting Scots have been a member of the PSAC since its foundation in 1951.

History

The men's and women's cross country and track programs won the only national titles in school history and the NAIA men's national championship in 1975 and 1976 and winning the NCAA men's national championship in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990. Edinboro added women's lacrosse for the 2008 season. In accordance with PennWest Edinboro's commitment to serving students with physical disabilities, it has one of the nation's best

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

teams.http://www.nwba.org/page/show/2842249-intercollegiate-men The team hosts an annual tournament, the Boro Shootout.

Conferences

Primary

*1908–1950: Independent *1951–present:

Single sport

*1988–2019:

Eastern Wrestling League The Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) was an NCAA Division I wrestling-only conference. It was made up mostly of schools from the northeastern United States whose primary conferences did not sponsor wrestling as an NCAA-qualifying event. The teams ...

(wrestling) *2019–present:

(wrestling) *1996–present:

National Wheelchair Basketball Association National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is composed of 181 wheelchair basketball teams within twenty-two conferences. Founded in 1949 by Timothy Nugent, the NWBA today consists of men's, women's, intercollegiate, and youth teams throug ...

Intercollegiate Division (wheelchair basketball)

Varsity teams

List of teams

Men's sports (8) *Basketball *Cross country *Football *Swimming *Tennis *Track and field *Wheelchair basketball *Wrestling ( Division I) Women's sports (9) *Basketball *Cross country *Lacrosse *Soccer *Softball *Swimming *Tennis *Track and field *Volleyball

National championships

Team

Individual sports

Cross Country

The cross country teams are the most successful athletic program at Edinboro and among the most consistent in Division II with 48 conference titles (30 men's & 18 women's). Formed in 1969 by legendary coach Doug Watts, the team quickly grew into a national powerhouse, winning 2 NAIA titles in 1975 and 1976. The program won 4 NCAA championships in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990. Under Watts, Edinboro would qualify the national meet for 31 straight years (1979-2009, a Division II record). He has also produced 4 individual national champions and multiple All-Americans. Watts served as head coach for 44 years before retiring in 2013. Since 2021, the program has been led by Nathan Meeuwenberg.

Wrestling

Edinboro has one of the premier Division I wrestling programs. Prior to moving to the Division I level in 1986, Edinboro was already a national power at the NAIA and NCAA Division II levels. Edinboro has been fortunate to be home of one of the greatest Olympic and amateur wrestlers in the world,

Bruce Baumgartner Bruce Robert Baumgartner (born November 2, 1960) is a retired American freestyle wrestler. He is the current assistant vice president for university advancement and former athletic director at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania near Erie, Pe ...

. Baumgartner came to Edinboro in 1984 as an assistant coach, and was promoted to head coach in 1991. He guided the Fighting Scots to three top 15 finishes in the

NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships have been held annually since 1928, except for a hiatus in 1943–45 during World War II and in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 1928 and from 1931–1933, there was only an unofficial team tit ...

. The team currently continues to excel as a top program. Baumgartner became the Director of Athletics in 1997. All in all, Edinboro's wrestling program has produced 120

champions, 59

champions, 60 NCAA All-Americans, 4 NCAA Division I champions, 9 NCAA Division II and NAIA national champions, 2 USA Olympic team members, 17 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament team championships, and 14 Eastern Wrestling League tournament team championships. Three former Edinboro wrestlers and former All-Americans have transitioned and found success in mixed martial arts. Former NCAA Division I champion

Josh Koscheck Edinboro Fighting Scots Josh D. Koscheck (born November 30, 1977) is an American retired mixed martial artist who fought at Welterweight for the UFC and Bellator MMA. Koscheck made his debut with the UFC on the first season of the realit ...

is a former

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC) title challenger and current Bellator fighter. Another former NCAA Division I champion

Gregor Gillespie Gregor Volz Gillespie (born March 18, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist and graduated collegiate wrestler who currently competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since ...

is a current UFC fighter. Former NCAA Division I runner-up Chris Honeycutt is a current Bellator fighter. The current Edinboro University wrestling head coach is Matt Hill, who previously served as an Assistant at Kent State. Hill wrestled collegiately at Edinboro. Former head coach Tim Flynn led the Fighting Scots from 1998-2018. Tim Flynn was an All-American himself while in the NCAA at Penn State University in 1987, winning the EWL title and finishing seventh at Nationals. Flynn has received numerous awards for his accomplishments with the program such as: *Twelve-time PSAC Coach of the Year *Seven-time EWL Coach of the Year *2014 NCAA Division I Coach of the Year

References

External links

* {{Eastern Wrestling League