Cumberland University - Athletics

Athletics

Cumberland University teams, nicknamed athletically as the Bulldogs, are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Mid-South Conference. The Bulldogs formerly competed in the TranSouth Athletic Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.

Cumberland football began on October 26, 1894 with a 6-6 tie with Peabody and finished that first year with a 2-1-1 season record. The early days of Cumberland football were very promising. The pinnacle of the early days of CU football was the 1903 season that began with a (6-0) win over Vanderbilt then a (0-6) loss to Sewanee and continued with a five day road trip with victories over Alabama (44-0) November 14, 1903, LSU(41-0) November 16, 1903, and Tulane (28-0) November 18, 1903. Cumberland would play a postseason game against Coach John Heisman's Clemson team on Thanksgiving Day that ended in a 11-11 tie and a record of 4-1-1 which gave Coach A.L. Phillips and Cumberland University the Championship of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. That game was the first invitational post-season championship football game in the South. Cumberland also won the Smoky Mountain Conference Championships in 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935. The 1916 game against Georgia Tech is famous as the most lopsided-scoring game in the history of college football, which was a 0-222 loss for Cumberland University.

Cumberland's baseball program is probably its best-known athletic team, especially those of the 2004 and 2010 baseball seasons, which won the World Series of the NAIA; the 2006 team was runner-up in this event. The football team is a member of the Mid-South Conference. In 2008 the Football team won a share of the Mid-South Western Championship.

In addition, Cumberland achieved a top-ten finish at the National Collegiate Cycling Association's National Championship, its women's basketball team finished as NAIA National Tournament Runner-Up in 2007, and Cumberland achieved a National Tournament appearance for the No. 17-ranked Men's Tennis Team in 2007. The men's basketball team also earned success in the 2008-2009 basketball season earning another trip to the National Tournament.

For the 2008 season, CU's football earned a share of the Mid-South Conference West Division.