The Edinboro Fighting Scots are the athletic teams that represent

Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro (abbreviated as PennWest Edinboro) is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. The campus had an enrollment of 2,259 as of fall 2024. History PennWest Edinboro was found ...

(PennWest Edinboro), located in

Edinboro, Pennsylvania Edinboro is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,920 at the 2020 census. It is a small college town, home to Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro. It is part of the Erie metropolitan area. Histor ...

, in

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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. ...

(NCAA) Division II

intercollegiate sports College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries. College sports trace t ...

. 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 collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) as a member of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division 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 athlet ...

, and the wheelchair basketball team competes outside of NCAA governance in the

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 ...

(NWBA) Intercollegiate Division. The Fighting Scots have been a member of 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. The men's cross country and track program also won NAIA men's national championship in 1975 and 1976, as well as the NCAA men's national championship in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990. Women's lacrosse was introduced in the 2008 season. It has one of the nation's best

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

teams.http://www.nwba.org/page/show/2842249-intercollegiate-men

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 ha ...

(wrestling) *2019–present:

(wrestling) *1996–present:

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 among the most consistent in Division II with 48 conference titles (30 men's, 18 women's). Formed in 1969 by Doug Watts, the team won 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 consecutive years (1979–2009, a Division II record). Watts served as head coach for 44 years before retiring in 2013.

Wrestling

PennWest Edinboro has one of the premier

collegiate wrestling Collegiate wrestling, commonly referred to as folkstyle wrestling, is the form of wrestling practiced at the post-secondary level in the United States. This style of wrestling is also practiced at the high school, middle school, and elementary ...

programs. Prior to moving to the Division I level in 1986, Edinboro was already well-known in NAIA and NCAA Division II levels.

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

, Olympic wrestler, began instructing at PennWest 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 Men's Wrestling Championships have been held since 1928. In addition to determining the national champion in each weight class, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships also determines All-American wrestlers for each weight ...

. Baumgartner became the director of athletics in 1997. PennWest Edinboro's wrestling program has produced 120 PSAC champions, 59 EWL champions, 60 NCAA All-Americans, 4 NCAA Division I champions, 9 NCAA Division II and NAIA national champions, 2 USA Olympic team members, 17 PSAC tournament team championships, and 14 EWL tournament team championships. Three former PennWest Edinboro wrestlers and former All-Americans have transitioned and found success in mixed martial arts. Former NCAA Division I champion

Josh Koscheck Josh 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 reality television show, ''The Ultimate ...

is a former

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

(UFC) title challenger and

Bellator Bellator, warrior in Latin, may refer to: * Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States * Bishop Bellator of Sufetula (5th century) Taxonomy * ''Bellator'' (fish), a fish genus in the family Triglidae (sea robins) ** ...

fighter. Another former NCAA Division I champion, Gregor Gillespie is a former UFC fighter. Former NCAA Division I runner-up

Chris Honeycutt Chris Honeycutt (born July 25, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division of the Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA). Background Born in Brook Park, Ohio, Honeycutt began wrestling at the age of four. Hon ...

is a former Bellator fighter and current

Absolute Championship Akhmat Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA), formerly known as Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB), is a Chechen mixed martial arts, kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu organization and one of the leading promotions in Europe. To date, most events have been h ...

(ACA) fighter. The current PennWest Edinboro wrestling head coach is Matt Hill, who previously served as an assistant at Kent State Univsersity. Hill previously wrestled collegiately at PennWest Edinboro. Former head wrestling coach Tim Flynn led the Fighting Scots from 1998 to 2018. Tim Flynn was an All-American himself while in the NCAA at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

in 1987, winning the EWL title and finishing seventh at Nationals. Flynn has received numerous awards for his accomplishments with the program, including: *12-time PSAC Coach of the Year *Seven-time EWL Coach of the Year *2014 NCAA Division I Coach of the Year

References

External links

* {{Mid-American Conference navbox