The Carson-Newman Eagles are the athletic teams that represent

Carson–Newman University Carson-Newman University is a private university in Jefferson City, Tennessee, United States. Carson-Newman is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Founded in 1851, the university enrolls about 2,500 students. Studies are offe ...

, located in

Jefferson City, Tennessee Jefferson City (originally named Mossy Creek) is a city in Jefferson County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Morristown Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 8,419. Histor ...

, in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II intercollegiate sports. The Eagles compete as members of the

South Atlantic Conference The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as ...

for all 21 varsity sports. Carson-Newman has been a member of the SAC since 1975, when the league was still part of the NAIA.

History

The Eagles previously competed in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA) as members of the

Smoky Mountain Conference The Smoky Mountain Conference – officially the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference – was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from December 1926 to October 1966. Most teams in the league were located in Tennessee, and there were ...

, the

Volunteer State Athletic Conference The Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) was a college athletic conference which was predominantly for smaller colleges in the U.S. state of Tennessee.Tennessee Valley Athletic Conference (TVAC). The football team joined the SAC in 1975 when it was still a football-only conference known as SAC-8.

Conference affiliations

NAIA *

(1927–1951) *

Volunteer State Athletic Conference The Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) was a college athletic conference which was predominantly for smaller colleges in the U.S. state of Tennessee.South Atlantic Conference The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as ...

(1975–present)

Varsity teams

National championships

Team

Individual

Facilities

The college's athletic facilities include Roy Harmon Field at Burke–Tarr Stadium, the Ken Sparks Athletic Complex, McCown Soccer Field, the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex, six tennis courts, a softball complex, swimming pool, and Holt Fieldhouse.

Sports sponsored

List of teams

Baseball

In 2007, the C-N baseball team won the South Atlantic Conference Tournament after defeating

Tusculum College Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college or university in the United States. In addition to its main campus, ...

, who had won more than 20 games in a row, twice in one day. The team traveled to

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, to compete in the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament. The baseball team returned to Tampa for the NCAA Regional Tournament in 2008 after receiving an at-large bid and finished third, again eliminating Tusculum College.

Football

In 2009, the C-N football team won the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the 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 environment ...

South Regional Championship in

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner, and had a population of 40,184 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Florence is l ...

to advance to the Final Four. Football coach

Ken Sparks Ken Sparks (February 25, 1944 – March 29, 2017) was an American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Carson–Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee from 1980 until his retirement at the end of the 2016 se ...

, a graduate of the school, coached the team from 1980 to 2016 and ranked fourth in most wins among

coaches upon his retirement. In 2023,

Ashley Ingram Ashley Ingram (born March 31, 1973) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for Carson–Newman University, a position he has held since 2024. He also coached for North Alabama, Temple, North Cobb High School, We ...

was hired as head coach. Ingram was an assistant coach at

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

for 16 years. In his first season, he guided the Eagles to a 9-3 record, culminating in an NCAA Playoff berth, losing in the first round to

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English f ...

Men's soccer

The men's soccer team appeared in the final game of the 2013 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship. They were defeated 2–1 by

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with ...

Men's swimming

Robert Griswold Robert Griswold (born November 27, 1996) is an American swimmer. He was a member of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Teams. He holds multiple American and world paralympic swimming records in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and i ...

competed for the men's swimming team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carson-Newman Eagles