The 2002 Towson Tigers football team was an

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 that represented

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 ...

during the

2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season The 2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I-AA level, began in August 2002, and concluded with the 2002 NCAA Divi ...

. Towson finished fifth in the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

. In their 11th year under head coach Gordy Combs, the Tigers compiled a 6–5 record. The Tigers outscored opponents 315 to 255. Their 3–4 conference record placed fifth out of eight in the Patriot League standings. In August 2002, as the Tigers prepared for their Patriot League football season, the university announced that it would play just two more Patriot seasons before joining the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

for football in 2004. The new conference would give Towson a higher level of competition, more similarly sized rivals, and the opportunity to award

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

s. By joining the A-10, Towson would also gain football matchups with

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Hofstra Hofstra University is a private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, including the Zucker Scho ...

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

and William & Mary, all A-10 football members that competed with Towson in other sports in their primary conference, the

Colonial 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' ...

. Towson remained a Patriot League football member for 2002 and 2003. Between the 2001 and 2002 seasons, Towson renovated and expanded its longtime home field, Minnegan Stadium, and renamed it Towson University Stadium. Towson played its home games at this facility on the university campus in

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

Schedule

References

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Towson Towson () is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is t ...

Towson Tigers football seasons

Towson Tigers football The Towson Tigers football team represents Towson University in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a member of the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference, ...