The Minnesota Morris Cougars football program represents the

University of Minnesota Morris The University of Minnesota Morris (UMN Morris) is a public liberal arts college in Morris, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and was founded in 1960 as a public, co-educational, residential liberal arts college offering ...

in college football at 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 st ...

level. The football program was founded in 1961, a year after the University of Minnesota Morris was established. Minnesota Morris first joined

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 ...

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

(NSIC) in 1966. With a conference record of 0–34 from 1999 to 2002, Minnesota Morris decided to join NCAA Division III

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) is a college-level athletic conference. The UMAC is a conference of NCAA Division III since the 2008–09 season. Prior to that, it was a non scholarship conference affiliated with National Associatio ...

(UMAC). Since joining the UMAC in 2003, Minnesota Morris' conference record is 55–77. The Cougars claim seven NSIC titles and one UMAC title: 1970, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1986, and 2006. Since 2006, the Cougars have played all their home games at Big Cat Stadium in

Morris, Minnesota Morris is a city in and the county seat of Stevens County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,105 at the 2020 census. Morris is surrounded by some of the nation's richest agricultural land, and agribusiness is important to the loca ...

. The team's current head coach is Marty Hoffman.

History

The Minnesota Morris Cougars football team played its first game in the fall of 1961, a 6–3 victory over

North Dakota State College of Science The North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) is a public college in Wahpeton, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. Founded in 1903 by provision of the state constitution, the State College of Science offers degre ...

under head coach Bruce Rolloff. Minnesota Morris has played against Bemidji State University 39 times, more than any other team in Cougar history. The two teams have not faced each other since 2002, Minnesota Morris' last year in Division II before dropping down. Head Coach Al Molde led the Cougars to more conference titles than any other head coach in Minnesota Morris history, winning four consecutively from 1975–1978. The Cougars were unstoppable from 1975–1981, posting a 61–12–3 record under head coaches Al Molde and Dick Smith. Minnesota Morris then experienced a painful decline from 1990–2002, after winning just 16 of 130 games, causing them to drop to Division III in 2003. A 2001 April Fool's issue of The University Register made fun of the losing streak in football by reporting that the recruitment of a multi-talented player named Jesus Christ had put the coach in a bind, "since they have 22 positions that need help."<

All-time record vs. UMAC opponents

This is the Cougars football record against current

opponents.

Conference titles

Nate Gehlan

Current Defensive Line Coach. Holds record at UMM as a player for most late hits and roughing the passer calls. Coach Gehlan was recently interviewed and said, "The best two players I have ever coached were Islam Shariff and Calvin Pearce. There is just nobody like them."

References

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