The Towson Tigers, formerly the ''Towson College Knights'', are the athletics teams of

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its foundin ...

. All of the major athletic teams compete in the

Coastal Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

with 19 Division I athletic teams (13 in women's sports, 6 in men's sports). Gymnastics competes in the EAGL conference, having rejoined the league in the Spring of 2012. Since joining the CAA in 2001–02, the Tigers have won 16 league championships; the Tigers have won titles in football, baseball, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, men's soccer, men's golf, women's swimming and diving, and volleyball. In addition, the women's gymnastics program has captured six ECAC Championships over the last eight years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). During an athletics history that traces its roots to the 1920s, Towson has sent teams and individual student-athletes to NCAA post-season competition in baseball, basketball, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, track & field and volleyball. In May 2011, the department broke ground on the

TU Arena TU Arena, formerly SECU Arena, is a 5,200-seat multi-purpose arena on the Towson University campus in Towson, Maryland, United States. The arena was completed and opened in 2013, and now hosts the Towson Tigers men's basketball, men's and women's ...

, a 5,000-seat, state-of-the-art arena for basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. The arena was completed in May 2013 and opened in June of that year.

Varsity teams

Towson University sponsors teams in six men's and thirteen women's

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. ...

sanctioned sports: * * = The gymnastics team competes in the

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from ...

. Changes since 2000 to the men's programs include the elimination of several varsity sports in the 2003–04 school year: indoor track, outdoor track, cross country, tennis. Changes to the women's programs include the additions of golf in 2007. Men's soccer was eliminated in 2013.

Football

The Tigers won the 2011 CAA Championship with a 7–1 conference record. Towson became the first team in NCAA history to compete in the playoffs at all three levels of competition in football (DI, DII and DIII). Following the 2011 season, Head Coach

Rob Ambrose Rob Ambrose (born July 30, 1970) is an American college football coach. From 2009 to 2022, he was head coach of the Towson Tigers football team of Towson University. Ambrose was formerly the offensive coordinator of the UConn Huskies before bei ...

won the

Eddie Robinson Award The Eddie Robinson Award is awarded annually to college football's top head coach in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). The award was established by The Sports Network, since merged into Stats Perfor ...

as the top college football coach in Division I

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

(formerly Division I-AA), and Towson freshmen

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Terrance West won the inaugural

Jerry Rice Award The Jerry Rice Award is awarded annually in the United States to the most outstanding freshman player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports in ...

as the most outstanding freshman player in Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

Basketball

Lacrosse

Towson's men's lacrosse team is a nationally known program, regularly appearing in the NCAA tournament with two NCAA finals appearances to their credit. In 1974, the Tigers finished with a 14–1 record and won the Division II national title with an 18–17 overtime win over Hobart. The team also reached the finals of the

1991 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 1991 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 21st annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of men's college lacrosse among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 19 ...

, and reached the semifinals of the

2001 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 2001 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 31st annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of men's college lacrosse among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 20 ...

. The Tigers maintain an annual rivalry with the

Loyola Greyhounds The Loyola Greyhounds (also called the Loyola Maryland Greyhounds) are the athletic teams that represent Loyola University Maryland. The teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, and te ...

(see

Loyola–Towson lacrosse rivalry The Loyola–Towson lacrosse rivalry is an intercollegiate lacrosse rivalry between Baltimore's Loyola Greyhounds of the Patriot League and Towson Tigers of the Colonial Athletic Association. The teams first met in 1959 and competed at the NCAA ...

Notable non-varsity sports

Rugby

Founded in 1975, Towson University men's rugby club plays

college rugby College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the auspices of ...

in Division 1AA in the MARC against local rivals from Maryland, DC, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Towson rugby has been led by head coach Tony De Cesare, with assistance coach Tim Cahill. In 2012, Towson reached the Division 2 national playoffs, defeating Boston University in the round of 16 and Colgate in the quarterfinals, before losing to Salisbury in the semifinals. Towson finished the 2012 season with a 14–5 record, ranked #5 in the nation in Division 2, with flyhalf Christian Lowe named to the All Division 2 team. In the 2013 season, Towson again reached the Division 2 national playoffs. Towson defeated Illinois State 34–19 in the round of 16, and defeated UNC-Wilmington 30–5 in the quarterfinals, before once again falling to rival Salisbury 23–10 in the semifinals.Rugby Mag, DII College Playoff Bracket Updated, May 11, 2013, http://www.rugbymag.com/men's-dii-college-/7779-dii-college-playoff-bracket-set.html

CAA Championship teams

Men's

*Baseball: 2013 *Football: 2011, 2012 *Golf: 2010 *Lacrosse: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 *Soccer: 2006 *Swimming & Diving: 2021

Women's

*Basketball: 2018–19 *Lacrosse: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 *Swimming and Diving: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 *Track & Field (outdoor): 2017 *Volleyball: 2004, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 *Soccer: 2023

Notable athletes

Football

Sean Landeta Sean Edward Landeta (born January 6, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a punter in both the United States Football League (USFL) and the National Football League (NFL). Landeta played 22 seasons in the NFL for ...

* Dave Meggett *

Jermon Bushrod Jermon Terrell Bushrod (born August 19, 1984) is a former American professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Towson TigersTaft Coghill, Jr.,"Saints' Bushrod set to mar ...

Terrance West Terrance West (born January 28, 1991) is an American former professional American football, football running back. He played college football at Towson Tigers football, Towson and was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 20 ...

* Jordan Dangerfield *

Tye Smith Tye Smith (born May 3, 1993) is an American professional football cornerback for the Massachusetts Pirates of the Indoor Football League (IFL). He played college football for the Towson Tigers and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fi ...

Baseball

* Chris Nabholz * Casper Wells

Basketball

* Tamir Goodman *

Gary Neal Gary Neal (born October 3, 1984) is an American former basketball professional player and coach. He played college basketball for the La Salle Explorers and Towson Tigers. Neal began his professional career abroad with teams in Turkey, Spain an ...

Jerrelle Benimon Jerrelle Benimon (born August 1, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. In college, he was the 2012–13 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year as a redshirt junior after leading the Towson Tigers to the greatest s ...

Men's soccer

Phil Greatwich Philip Carlo Barbon Greatwich (born 21 January 1987) is a former footballer who played as a full-back. Born in England, he played for the Philippines national team internationally. Club career Greatwich was born in Brighton, and began his fo ...

Machel Millwood Machel Millwood (born 28 June 1979) is a Jamaican soccer player who most recently played for Crystal Palace Baltimore in the USSF Second Division and the Syracuse Silver Knights of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Millwood is best known for hi ...

* Nigel Marples

Gymnastics

Kacy Catanzaro Kacy Esther Catanzaro (born January 14, 1990) is an American professional wrestler and a former gymnast and obstacle racer. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Katana Chance. Alongside Kayden Carter, ...

* Julija Kovaliova

References

External links

* {{Maryland Sports