The North Florida Ospreys are the athletic teams of the

University of North Florida The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public university, public research university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. The Ospreys compete in the

ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

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 ...

. UNF became a full-fledged member of Division I in 2009; previously, the Ospreys were members of 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 ...

and

Peach Belt Conference The Peach Belt Conference (PBC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The 10 member institutions are located in the South Atlantic states of South Caroli ...

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 ...

. UNF fields teams in seven men's sports and ten women's sports.

History

The University of North Florida's intercollegiate athletics program began in 1983, originally as a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA). The Ospreys joined

in 1993, the same year the

UNF Arena UNF Arena is a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. It is home to the North Florida Ospreys men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball teams. It is also used for other e ...

opened. Initially, UNF competed in the

, and then in 1997 moved to the

. In 2005, the Ospreys began the transition to Division I, joining the

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

. The transition's final year was the 2008–09 season, with UNF becoming tournament eligible beginning in the 2009–10 season. UNF is a non-football school. However, the prospect of an Osprey football team is a popular topic among students and the community. In 2013, UNF President John Delaney revealed the school would begin preliminary discussions about adding the sport. UNF won the Sunshine State Conference's all-sports title four times and won four NAIA national titles—men's golf in 1991 and 1993, and women's tennis in 1986 and 1994. UNF's first Division I conference title came in 2008 when the men's golf team captured the Atlantic Sun crown. In February 2009, UNF hired

Lee Moon Lee Moon is an American former college football coach and athletics administrator. Following the resignation of Jim Dickey, Moon served as the interim head football coach at Kansas State University during the 1985 football season, posting a recor ...

to be the new athletic director. He is UNF's sixth athletic director and previously worked at the

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 ...

, the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

, and

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

. Since taking over UNF athletics, he has made many staff changes to move the program forward. On July 16, 2014, UNF released updated logos and a custom font to represent the Ospreys across all sports.

Future

On September 2, 2008, the university announced plans for UNF Varsity Village. The project cost an estimated $30 million which provides two new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities. The two new facilities are a student wellness and sports education center, and a baseball stadium with a seating capacity of 3,000. The existing stadium, Harmon Stadium was renovated to include 1,200 seats and used for softball. Other improvements included upgrades to the Arena and Hodges Stadium.

Conference affiliations

NCAA *

(1992–1997) *

(1997–2005) *

(2005–present)

Sports sponsored

A member of the

(ASUN), the University of North Florida sponsors teams in eight men's and eleven 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.

Baseball

North Florida's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

program was founded in 1988. They play their home games at

Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium, generally known as Harmon Stadium, is the baseball stadium at the University of North Florida (UNF), and the home field of the North Florida Ospreys baseball team. It is located on the university's campus in ...

. The team was established under the leadership of

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

, who served as head coach from 1988 to 2010. Since its inception, the Ospreys baseball team has won thirteen conference titles: six in the NAIA, six in

, and one in

and has made a total of sixteen playoff appearances: six in the NAIA and ten in NCAA Division II. They went to the NAIA World Series in 1989 and 1991 and the NCAA Division II World Series in 2000, 2001, and 2005, advancing to the final in 2005. The team's current head coach is Smoke Laval, who took over from Rhodes after the 2010 season. The Ospreys won their first Atlantic Sun regular season championship in 2015. Notably, the team's former logo is similar to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

logo. It was designed in 1986 at the urging of Dusty Rhodes and continued, and brought extra attention to the baseball program. It was discontinued after Rhodes' retirement in 2010 and replaced with a new logo for the 2011 season.

Men's basketball

The

North Florida Ospreys men's basketball The North Florida Ospreys represent the University of North Florida (UNF) in men's college basketball. The Ospreys compete in the ASUN Conference (A-Sun) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). They play home games ...

team began play in the 1992–93 season as members of the NAIA.

Matthew Driscoll Matthew John Driscoll (born February 7, 1958) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation from 2015 until 2017. He served as the 52nd Mayor of Syracuse, New Yor ...

is the current and fourth overall head coach of the men's basketball team. He was hired in 2009, just before UNF's completion of their transition into Division I play. In the 2010–11 season, they advanced to the Atlantic Sun tournament championship game, where they were defeated by Belmont. The 2014–15 team won the program's first

regular season championship and Atlantic Sun Tournament title, earning them their first ever bid to the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

. The program's all-time record through the 2014–15 season is 268–403.

Women's basketball

The Ospreys women's basketball team is currently led by head coach Darrick Gibbs, who is in his first season in 2015–16. Mary Tappmeyer was the head coach from the program's inception in 1992 until 2015 when her contract was not renewed. North Florida made the NCAA Division II Tournament twice, in 2003 and 2004, and were the 2009–10 Atlantic Sun Conference runner-up. However, they began to struggle in the following years, posting two last-place finishes in the Atlantic Sun and a combined conference record of 4–28 over the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.

Cross country

The men's cross country team has earned 4 conference titles in Division II, 3 of which came while UNF was in the

(1994–1996), and the fourth came in 2000 during their time in the

. The women's cross country team has earned 5 conferences title in Division II, 3 in the Sunshine State Conference (1994–1996), and two in the Peach Belt Conference (2001, 2003). They won their first A-Sun conference title in 2010.

Men's golf

The men's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

team earned UNF's first Division I conference title in 2008. They added conference titles in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2019. They use UNF's on-campus Hayt Golf Learning Center, which has a three-hole course and driving range. Team honors: *NAIA National titles (2): 1991, 1993 *NCAA Division II Regional appearances (5): 1999–2002, 2008 *NCAA Division II Championship appearances (1): 2000 *NCAA Division I Championship appearances (4): 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019

Men's soccer

North Florida

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

's home matches are held at Hodges Stadium. As of 2009, men's soccer's all-time record is 149–138 and the women's record is 151–88–15. Men's soccer won their first Atlantic Sun Conference tournament title in 2015 by defeating USC Upstate 7–0 at Hodges Stadium. They earned their first bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship (College Cup) with a record of 10–6–1.

Softball

Osprey

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

competes at home at the UNF Softball Complex, next to Harmon Stadium. They have a 619–24 all-time record as of 2009. Team honors:
''NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances (7):'' 1999–2005

Tennis

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

at UNF began in 1983, and the women's team has earned two national championships (1984–85 and 1993–94). Both men's and women's tennis has won seven conference championships each.

Volleyball

Women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

at UNF began in 1991, and have an overall record of 401–178 (as of 2008). They play their home games at UNF Arena. They won eight

championships between 1997 and 2004. In the first year ever for UNF Women's Volleyball, the team progressed through the NAIA playoffs and qualified for the NAIA National Championship.

Other sports

UNF

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

hosted the 2009 Atlantic Sun Conference Championships at

Hodges Stadium Hodges Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the University of North Florida (UNF), and the home field for the North Florida Ospreys soccer, track and field, and cross country teams. It is located on the university's campus in Jacksonville, F ...

, the first Division I Conference Championship hosted at UNF. The UNF women's golf team began play in 2012. A women's

sand volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

team was added in 2012; The current head coach is Samantha Dabbs. Women's swimming and diving competes in the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association.

Traditions and rivalries

"The Swoop" is a key UNF tradition, similar in principle to UF's Gator Chomp or FSU's Tomahawk Chop as the recognized gesture to show school spirit. It simulates the movement of an Osprey flying through the "swooping" of a fan's arms. "Swoop" is also an acronym that stands for Students With Outstanding Osprey Pride. Osprey basketball and baseball games can be heard on 1010 XL in Jacksonville. Most varsity sports can be watched on

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

River City Rumble

North Florida's most notable rivalry is with crosstown opponents the

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Located in the city's Arlington (Jacksonville), Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonvill ...

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

. The two universities contest the "River City Rumble", in which the school with the most wins over the other across all sports receives a

trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

, the

SunTrust SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...

Old Wooden Barrel. The teams are awarded one point for each victory throughout the season. In individual sports, the team that finishes higher at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship earns one point. If the contest results in a tie, whichever team won the previous season retains the trophy.

National championships

Team

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, North Florida Ospreys, color=white , list = {{ASUN Conference navbox {{Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association navbox {{Florida College Sports {{Divison1floridacolleges 1983 establishments in Florida Sports clubs and teams established in 1983