The Florida Tech Panthers are the athletic teams that represent the

Florida Institute of Technology Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. Approxim ...

, located in

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

, in intercollegiate athletics at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

ranks, primarily competing in the

Sunshine State Conference The Sunshine State Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its member institutions are located in the state of Florida, which is popularly k ...

since the 1981–82 academic year. Sports currently offered by the program include baseball, softball, men's cross country, men's track and field (both indoor and outdoor), women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's lacrosse, men's rowing, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's swimming. Due to financial difficulties, the women's golf and the men's and women's tennis programs were canceled in the spring of 2019. The men's football program was also canceled in the spring of 2020. Other sports formerly offered by the program include men's golf, men's and women's cross country, women's rowing, and women's track field (both indoor and outdoor).

Varsity sports

Baseball

Florida Tech has had nine

Major League Baseball Draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

selections since the draft began in 1965.

Basketball

Florida Tech's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

teams compete in the

. They compete in a very competitive NCAA DII Conference with schools like

Florida Southern Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. It offers undergraduate, gradua ...

that have won National Championships. Due to this Florida Tech occasionally plays higher caliber Florida D1 Schools such as

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, Florida Gulf Coast, and

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The university is a member of the State University System of Florida and has s ...

. In 2011–12 the Men's team would win the SSC Regular Season Championship with a record of 21–5 (12–4 SSC) and reach the NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Tournament, where they would advance to the second round of the South Regional. That year they would play two DI schools

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...

and

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

, losing to both. The Panther women's team has been playing since the 1986–87 season and have been coached by John Reynolds since 1987–88. The Panther women have reached the

NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament (officially styled as "Championship" instead of "Tournament") is an annual tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II women's college basketball nati ...

nine times, won six regular season Sunshine State Conference Championships, four SSC Tournament Championships, one NCAA Division II South Region title and appeared in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in 2002. Entering the 2018–19 season, Reynolds' 559 wins ranks him at No. 8 among active D-II women's coaches and 20th all-time. Clemente Center is Florida's basketball venue.

Football

The

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

program was 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

located in the U.S. state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The team competed in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

and were members of the

Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) 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. History Originally known as the ...

. Florida Tech's first football team was fielded in 2013. They played at the

Florida Tech Panther Stadium Florida Tech Panther Stadium is an American football stadium located in Melbourne, Florida. The facility served as the home field for the NCAA Division II Florida Tech Panthers football team representing the Florida Institute of Technology, and i ...

. The football program closed after the 2019 season.

National championships

Team

References

External links

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