The Furman Paladins football program is the intercollegiate

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 with ...

team for the

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

located in the state of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. The team competes in the

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

(FCS) as members of 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 ...

(SoCon). The school's first football team was fielded in 1889. The team plays its home games at the 16,000 seat

Paladin Stadium Paladin Stadium is a 16,000-seat stadium located near Greenville, South Carolina, USA. It was built in 1981 at a cost of $2 million, and originally seated 13,200 fans. It was expanded to its current capacity in 1985, and is currently home ...

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

. The 1988 Furman Paladins football team, coached by

Jimmy Satterfield James Satterfield (October 11, 1939 – May 6, 2019) was an American football coach. He served as head football coach at Furman University from 1986 to 1993, where he compiled a record of 66–29–3. Career Satterfield was named the AFCA Coach ...

won the NCAA Division I Football Championship. Clay Hendrix has served as the team's head coach since 2017.

History

Classifications

* 1937–1942:

NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

* 1946–1957:

NCAA University Division The NCAA University Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at the highest level of college sports. The University Division was first established as a basis fo ...

* 1958–1972: NCAA College Division * 1973–1977:

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

* 1978–1981: NCAA Division I–A * 1982–present: NCAA Division I–AA/FCS

Conference memberships

* 1889–1896: Independent * 1897–1899: No football team * 1900–1901: Independent * 1902:

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

* 1903–1912: No football team * 1913–1914: Independent * 1915–1929:

* 1930–1931: Independent * 1932–1935:

* 1936–present:

Championships

National championships

Conference championships

The Paladins have won 14 conference titles, all in the

, with seven shared and seven outright.

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS playoff results

The Paladins have appeared in the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs 19 times with a record of 20–18. They were national champions in 1988 and runner-up in 1985 and 2001.

Furman vs. in-state NCAA Division I schools

Notable former players

Braniff Bonaventure Braniff Bonaventure (born April 21, 1973) is a former American football quarterback who played two seasons in the Arena Football League with the Florida Bobcats and Orlando Predators. He played college football at Furman University and attended Dr ...

Luther Broughton Luther Rashard Broughton, Jr. (born November 30, 1974) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League who played for the Carolina Panthers and the Philadelphia Eagles. He graduated and played his high school football at ...

Ben Browder Robert Benedict Browder (born December 11, 1962) is an American actor, writer and film director, known for his roles as List of Farscape characters#John Crichton, John Crichton in ''Farscape'' and Cameron Mitchell (Stargate), Cameron Mitchell i ...

* Sederrik Cunningham * Dakota Dozier *

Jerome Felton Jerome Jean-Marie Felton (born July 3, 1986) is a former American football fullback. He previously played for the Minnesota Vikings, where he had been a fundamental part of Adrian Peterson's success, including Peterson's 2,097 rushing yards sea ...

Omari Hardwick Omari Latif Hardwick (born January 9, 1974) is an American actor known for his starring role as James "Ghost" St. Patrick, the protagonist of Starz's ''Power'' and his role as Vanderohe in Zack Snyder's ''Army of the Dead'' (2021). He is also kn ...

* Clay Hendrix *

Louis Ivory Louis Ivory (born February 6, 1980) is a former American college football running back. He played for Furman. Early life Ivory was born in Fort Valley, Georgia, where he attended Peach County High School. College career Ivory grew up 140 miles ...

* Stanford Jennings * Bob King * Bobby Lamb *

Ingle Martin Harry Ingle Martin IV (born August 15, 1982) is an American former college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons during the late 2000s. Martin played college football for ...

* William Middleton *

Billy Napier William Hall Napier (born July 21, 1979) is an American football coach currently serving as head coach at the University of Florida. From 2017 until 2021, he served as head coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, amassing a 40–12 rec ...

Bear Rinehart William Stanley "Bear" Rinehart III (born September 6, 1980; also known by the stage name Wilder Woods) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who is a founding member and lead singer of the rock band, Needtobreathe. In 2019, he ann ...

* Orlando Ruff * Terry Smith * James H. Speer * Ryan Steed * David Whitehurst *

Sam Wyche Samuel David Wyche (; January 5, 1945 – January 2, 2020) was an American football quarterback and coach. He was a quarterback and head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and a quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. As head coach, he ...

Players in the NFL Draft

Key

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 8, 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Furman Paladins Football American football teams established in 1889 1889 establishments in South Carolina