The USC Upstate Spartans are the athletic teams that represent the

University of South Carolina Upstate The University of South Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate) is a public university in Valley Falls, South Carolina, United States. It has a Spartanburg postal address. Founded in 1967 and formerly known as University of South Carolina Spartanburg, ...

, located in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...

, in intercollegiate sports at the Division I level of the

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), primarily competing in the

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), ...

since the 2018–19 academic year. USC Upstate competes in fifteen intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and track and field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track and field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball. Men's and women's tennis were discontinued at the end of the 2019–20 school year. From 1971 to 2004, the school teams were known as the University of South Carolina Spartanburg Rifles in reference to a militia unit that won a victory at the Battle of Cowpens in the Revolutionary War. The move was quoted as being done to "allow the University to maintain a reference to the heritage of our community."

Conference affiliations

NCAA

Peach Belt Conference The Peach Belt Conference (PBC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The 10 member institutions are located in the South Atlantic states of South Caroli ...

(1990–2007) *

ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

(2007–2018) *

(2018–present)

Varsity teams

USC Upstate also sponsored both men's and women's tennis until 2019–20 when the programs were discontinued.

Notable alumni

Baseball

Chad Sobotka Chad Nicholas Sobotka (born July 10, 1993) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves. Early life Chad Sobotka was born in Sarasota, Florida, on July 10, 1993, to parent ...

Men's basketball

Torrey Craig Torrey Craig (born December 19, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the USC Upstate Spartans, where he was named an honorable m ...

Ty Greene Ty Greene (born June 6, 1992) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of South Carolina Upstate, where in 2015 he was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year. High school ...

Men's soccer

Joel Bunting Joel Bunting (born December 2, 1997) is an American professional soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use thei ...

Calon Minors Calon Minors (born 11 July 1996) is a Bermudian international footballer who plays for BAA Wanderers, as a left back. Career Minors played college soccer for the USC Upstate Spartans between 2014 and 2017. He has played club football for BAA W ...

* Troy Simon *

Jorge Valenzuela Jorge Valenzuela Jr. is a retired American soccer goalkeeper who played professionally in the United States during the late 1980s and 1990s. He competed outdoors in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers ...

References

External links

* {{SouthCarolina-sport-team-stub