The Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs football program is the intercollegiate

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

team for Gardner–Webb University in the U.S. state of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The team competes in the Division I FCS and are members of the

OVC–Big South Football Association The OVC–Big South Football Association is an association of football members of the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). The OVC–Big South covers the American Midwest and South with member institutions located in Illinois, ...

. Gardner–Webb's first football team was fielded in 1970. The team plays its home games at the 9,000-seat Ernest W. Spangler Stadium in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. The Runnin' Bulldogs are coached by Cris Reisert.

History

Classifications

*1970–1992: NAIA Division I *1993–1999: NCAA Division II *2000–present: NCAA Division I-AA/FCS

Conference affiliations

* NAIA Independent (1970–1974) *

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 ...

(1975–1999) * NCAA Division I-AA Independent (2000–2001) *

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

(2002–2022) * Big South–OVC Football Association (2023–present)

Conference championships

† denotes co-championship

Playoff results

NAIA

The Runnin' Bulldogs appeared in the NAIA playoffs two times, with an overall record of 3–2.

Division I FCS

The Runnin' Bulldogs have appeared in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs two times, with an overall record of 1–2.

Notable former players

* Dobson Collins NFL wide receiver * Woody Fish American football player and coach * Terry Guess NFL wide receiver for

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

* Bobby Hopkins American football offensive guard and World champion arm-wrestler *

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

NFL linebacker for

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

* Todd Knight American football player and coach * T. J. Luther NFL wide receiver * Jim Maxwell NFL linebacker for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

, and

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

* Carroll McCray American football player and coach * Gabe Wilkins NFL defensive tackle for

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

and

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

champion

Future non-conference opponents

Future non-conference opponents announced as of March 9, 2025.

References

External links

* American football teams established in 1970 1970 establishments in North Carolina {{Americanfootball-team-stub