The Furman Paladins football program is 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 the

Furman University Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

located in the state of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. The team competes in the

NCAA 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 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...

(FCS) as members of the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

(SoCon). The school's first football team was fielded in 1889. The team plays its home games at the 16,000 seat

Paladin Stadium Paladin Stadium is a 16,000-seat stadium located near Greenville, South Carolina, US. It was built in 1981 at a cost of $2 million, and originally seated 13,200 fans. It was expanded to its current capacity in 1985, and is currently home t ...

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

. The 1988 Furman Paladins football team, coached by Jimmy Satterfield, won the

NCAA Division I Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was ca ...

. Clay Hendrix, who was a member of that championship team, has served as the team's head coach since 2017.

History

Classifications

* 1937–1942:

NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

* 1946–1957:

NCAA University Division The NCAA University Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at the highest level of college sports. The University Division was first established as a basis ...

* 1958–1972: NCAA College Division * 1973–1977:

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 ...

* 1978–1981: NCAA Division I–A * 1982–present: NCAA Division I–AA/FCS

Conference memberships

* 1889–1896: Independent * 1897–1899: No football team * 1900–1901: Independent * 1902:

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

* 1903–1912: No football team * 1913–1914: Independent * 1915–1929:

* 1930–1931: Independent * 1932–1935:

* 1936–present:

Championships

National championships

Conference championships

The Paladins have won 15 conference titles, all in the

, with seven shared and eight outright.

Postseason

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS playoffs

The Paladins have appeared in the

playoffs 20 times with a record of 21–19. They were national champions in 1988 and runner-up in 1985 and 2001.

Furman vs. in-state NCAA Division I schools

Notable former players

* Braniff Bonaventure * Luther Broughton *

Ben Browder Robert Benedict Browder (born December 11, 1962) is an American actor, writer and film director, known for his roles as John Crichton in '' Farscape'' and Cameron Mitchell in '' Stargate SG-1''. Early life Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Browder ...

* Sederrik Cunningham * Dakota Dozier * Jerome Felton * Omari Hardwick * Clay Hendrix * Louis Ivory * Stanford Jennings * Bob King * Bobby Lamb *

Ingle Martin Harry Ingle Martin IV (born August 15, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) during the late 2000s. Martin played college football for the Florida Gators and Furm ...

* William Middleton * Billy Napier * Bear Rinehart * Orlando Ruff * Terry Smith * James H. "Speedy" Speer * Ryan Steed * David Whitehurst *

Sam Wyche Samuel David Wyche (; January 5, 1945 – January 2, 2020) was an American professional football quarterback and coach. He was a quarterback and head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and a quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. As hea ...

Players in the NFL Draft

Key

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of March 24, 2025.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Furman Paladins Football American football teams established in 1889 1889 establishments in South Carolina