The Florida Southern Moccasins (also shortened to Florida Southern Mocs) are the athletic teams that represent

Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

, located in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal ci ...

, in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

intercollegiate sports. The Moccasins compete as members of the Sunshine State Conference in 17 varsity sports. Florida Southern has been a member of the conference since its founding in 1975. Florida Southern also competes as independents six other sports.

Championships

Florida Southern's athletic program is one of the most prolific in Division II sports with 30 national championships, including in men's golf (13), baseball (9), women's golf (4), men's basketball (2), softball (1), and women's lacrosse (1). Moccasin athletes have also captured 22 individual NCAA National Championships, including 8 in men's golf, 6 in women's golf, 5 in women's swimming, and 3 in men's swimming. Florida Southern's most recent championship came in 2016 when the women's lacrosse team won its first NCAA title. The college competes in 20 sports, 9 for men, 10 for women, and 1 co-ed sport.

Varsity teams

Men's basketball

The men's basketball program has experienced significant success since the inception of the SSC in 1975. The Mocs have won the SSC regular season 22 times and have also been crowned SSC Tournament Champions 22 times. FSC, which won consecutive regular and postseason titles from 2012–2014, leads the SSC in conference wins (310), and owns the best winning percentage of any current member (.711). The men's basketball team made three straight trips to the Final Four from 1980 to 1982, finishing third in 1980, winning the 1981 national title with a 73–68 win over Mount St. Mary's, and finishing as national runner-up in 1982, falling to

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...

, 73–63. The Mocs took the national title again in 2015 with a 77–62 win over

Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) is a public research university in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. As of fall 2021, the university enrolled 7,044 undergraduates and 1,865 postgraduates, for a total enrollment of 9,009 students. The univ ...

, and

Kevin Capers Kevin Jerome Capers (born May 2, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Atomerőmű SE of the Hungarian League. He played college basketball for Florida Southern College before playing professionally in the NBA G League, Mexico, ...

was named tournament MVP and first team all-American.

Baseball

The Mocs baseball program has won 17 SSC baseball championships and nine national championships (1971, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1985, 1988, 1995, and 2005). The team has also finished as national runner up four times (1979, 1982, 1984, 1994). The Moccasins finished the 2014 season 35–19, and as runner-up at the NCAA South Regional Tournament. In addition to NCAA play, the baseball team traditionally plays an exhibition game against the Detroit Tigers, who conduct their Spring Training in Lakeland. The head coach since 2013 is former Florida Southern and MLB player

Lance Niekro Lance William Niekro ( ; born January 29, 1979) is a baseball coach and former first baseman, who is the current head baseball coach of the Florida Southern Moccasins. He played college baseball at Florida Southern for coach Chuck Anderson from 1 ...

, son of MLB pitcher

Joe Niekro Joseph Franklin Niekro ( ; November 7, 1944 – October 27, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of former Major League first baseman Lance Niekro. Niekr ...

and nephew of MLB pitcher

Phil Niekro Philip Henry Niekro ( ; April 1, 1939 – December 26, 2020), nicknamed "Knucksie", was an American baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball, 20 of them with the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves. Niekro's 318 career victor ...

. The Moccasins have had 13 MLB draft picks and many free agent MLB signees under Coach Niekro.

Golf

Men

The men's golf program has won 13 NCAA National Championships (1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2010, 2017), finished as national runner ups 3 times (1979, 1984, 1988), and produced nine individual national champions: 1979 (Tom Gleeton), 1981 (Tom Patri), 1986 (

Lee Janzen Lee McLeod Janzen (born August 28, 1964) is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S. Open twice in 1993 and 1998. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions, and was an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. Early yea ...

), 1999 (Matt Saglio), 2000 (

Jeff Klauk Jeffrey Michael Klauk (; born November 28, 1977) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Web.com Tour. Amateur career Klauk was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. He played golf at Nease High School. He played co ...

), 2013 (Tim Crouch), 2014 (Tim Crouch), 2018 (John VanDerLaan), and 2019 (Michael VanDerLaan). Among the more successful Moccasin alumni are PGA Tour members

Rocco Mediate Rocco Anthony Mediate (born December 17, 1962) is an American professional golfer who has won six times on the PGA Tour and three times on the PGA Tour Champions. In the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines South Course, he finished runner-up after ...

and

Women

The women's golf team has won four

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

(2000, 2001, 2002, 2007). From 1998 to 2004, the team played in the finals each year, winning three consecutive championships (2000, 2001, 2002). In the seven seasons between 1996 and 2002, the program produced three two-time individual national champions (five consecutive): Shanna Nagy 1996 & 1998, Lisa Cave 1999 & 2000, and Jana Peterkova 2001 & 2002.

Men's swimming

The men's swimming program has also experienced success at the national level placing third in 2012 and 2016 and runner-up in 2013 and 2014.

Esports

In November 2017, Florida Southern announced their journey into collegiate Esports — the first varsity program of its kind in Florida. Senior, Nathan Carson was selected to serve as the head coach for the Mocs in their inaugural year. In January 2018, the Moccasins announced rosters for Hearthstone and

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

. In August 2018, the Mocs Esports team introduced two additional teams competing in

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games f ...

and

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June ...

Football

The Florida Southern Moccasins football team represented the college in the sport of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

from 1912 to 1935, with a break during the 1918 season. The team's overall record was 57–70–8. From 1926 to 1930 it was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In 1913, Florida Southern lost to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

144–0. In 1919, Southern upset the Gators 7–0.

Notable alumni

Baseball

Brian Butterfield Brian James Butterfield (born March 9, 1958) is an American professional baseball coach, and a former minor league player, manager and infield instructor. He has coached for the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Bosto ...

, baseball coach * Ralph Citarella, baseball player *

Rob Dibble Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

, baseball player *

Eddie Gaillard Julian Edward Gaillard (born August 13, 1970) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball, playing for the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays between 1997 and 1999. He also played in the Japanese Central League, posting a total of 120 save ...

, baseball player *

John Hudek John Raymond Hudek (born August 8, 1966) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played all or part of six seasons in the majors, from until , for five different teams. He appeared in a total of 194 major league games, all in relief Re ...

, baseball player * James Hurst, baseball player * Matt Joyce, baseball player *

Andy McGaffigan Andrew Joseph McGaffigan (born October 25, 1956) is a former professional baseball player who pitched in Major League Baseball from 1981 to 1991. Amateur career A native of West Palm Beach, Florida, McGaffigan attended Twin Lakes High School, Pa ...

, baseball player *

, baseball player * Greg Pryor, baseball player * Carlos Reyes, baseball player * Gus Schlosser, baseball player *

Brett Tomko Brett Daniel Tomko (born April 7, 1973) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Los Ange ...

, baseball player

Men's basketball

Goof Bowyer Ernest J. "Goof" Bowyer (October 2, 1903 – May 19, 1988) was an American football and basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Florida Southern College from 1931 to 1932. Early years Bowyer ...

, basketball coach * Jessie Burbage, basketball coach *

Linc Darner Linc Mitchel Darner (born December 12, 1970) is an American basketball coach and former men's basketball coach of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball, Phoenix. Darner previously spent nine seasons as the hea ...

, basketball coach *

Jimmy R. Haygood James Raymond Haygood (July 20, 1882 – January 18, 1935) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and track and field, track, and college athletics administrator. He played for Dan McGugin's first Vanderbilt Commodores foot ...

, basketball coach *

Hal Wissel Hal Wissel (born February 8, 1939) is an American basketball coach who has worked at the professional and collegiate level in his career. Wissel was an assistant coach for player development with the Golden State Warriors (2006–07), an assist ...

, basketball coach *

, basketball player

Women's Basketball

Emma Cannon Emma Cannon (born June 1, 1989) is an American basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and for Elitzur Ramla of the Israeli League, previously played for the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun, Phoenix Mercury, and Indiana Feve ...

, basketball player

Men's golf

, professional golfer *

, professional golfer

Men's soccer

* Clay Roberts, former soccer player, current coach

References

External links

* {{Florida College Sports Sports in Polk County, Florida