Middle Tennessee State University

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Athletics

Middle Tennessee State University's colors are Royal Blue (PMS Uncoated 300) and White.

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Nickname

Its nickname is the Blue Raiders. Female teams are known as the Lady Raiders. The nickname's origin goes back to a 1934 newspaper contest. An MTSU football player, Charles Sarver, won $5 from The (Murfreesboro) Daily News Journal with his winning entry "Blue Raiders", which he later admitted borrowing from Colgate University, whose teams were known as "Red Raiders" at the time. No official nickname existed prior to 1934, when teams were called "Normalites," "Teachers," and "Pedagogues". Contrary to popular belief, the "Blue Raiders" nickname is not related to the American Civil War, in which Union soldiers, wearing blue, raided Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1863.

Related Topics:
1934 - Colgate University - American Civil War - Union - 1863

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The university's athletic teams simply refer to the school as "Middle Tennessee" or "MT", abandoning the words "State University". This is being done to save another logo change should the university changes its name to "University of Middle Tennessee", as has been long-rumored.

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Mascot

MTSU's mascot is a blue pegasus named "Lightning". MTSU's original mascot was a student dressed as Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate General who later formed the Ku Klux Klan. Due to sensitivities within the African-American community, the mascot was changed to a blue-colored scent hound dog named "Ole Blue" in the 1970s. The current "Lightning" mascot was adopted in 1998, when the athletics department updated its image in preparation for the 1999 upgrade to Division I-A football and subsequent transfer to the Sun Belt Conference.

Related Topics:
Pegasus - Nathan Bedford Forrest - Confederate - Ku Klux Klan - African-American - Scent hound - Dog - 1998 - 1999

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Competition

MTSU athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I (I-A for football) in the Sun Belt Conference. MTSU competed in the Ohio Valley Conference until 2000.

Related Topics:
Football - Sun Belt Conference - Ohio Valley Conference - 2000

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NCAA-sanctioned athletic teams include:

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MEN:

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• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Football
• Golf
• Tennis
• Track

WOMEN:

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• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Golf
• Soccer
• Softball
• Tennis
• Track
• Volleyball

MTSU also fields teams in club sports such as rugby, ice hockey and inline hockey. These "club sports" are not sanctioned by the university, though each team does receive funding as a student organization. They are also authorized to use school logos, wordmarks, and identities. These teams do not compete at the NCAA level, though they do compete against other colleges and universities within unofficial intercollegiate organizations.

Related Topics:
Rugby - Ice hockey - Inline hockey

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MTSU has won only one national championship in a team sport: golf, 1965. However, seven individuals have won national championships. All were in golf or track. The most recent was in 2003.

Related Topics:
Golf - 1965 - 2003

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MTSU won the highest-scoring NCAA Division I-A football game in history, 70-58 over the University of Idaho Vandals on October 6, 2001 at Floyd Stadium.

Related Topics:
University of Idaho - October 6 - 2001

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In 2003-04 and 2004-05, the Lady Raiders basketball team won the Sun Belt Conference championship and was given a berth in the NCAA Women's Tournament. Each of those two years, the team was victorious in its first-round game, only to lose in the second round.

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Facilities

The university's main athletics building (which houses the basketball arena and athletic department offices and was built in 1973) is named in honor of Charles M. Murphy, standout MTSU athlete in the 1930s. The basketball arena is named in honor of local sports writer and broadcaster Monte Hale, though it is more commonly called "Murphy Center", the name of the building that houses it. The football stadium is named in honor of Johnny "Red" Floyd, former MTSU football coach.

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The athletic facilities, including Murphy Center and Floyd Stadium, are located in the northwest corner of campus.

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Murphy Center features an indoor track, and is regularly home to the Sun Belt Conference indoor track championships.

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Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium features 31,788 seats and an AstroTurf playing surface. The stadium has never been filled to capacity since its expansion (from approximately 15,000 seats) in 1997.

Related Topics:
Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium - AstroTurf - 1997

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Rivals

MTSU's chief football rivals are the University of North Texas Eagles. The chief basketball rivals are the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers.

Related Topics:
University of North Texas - Western Kentucky University

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Media coverage

MTSU operates the "Blue Raider Sports Network," a radio network syndicating its sporting events to several stations across the area. Also, some of the football games are recorded onto video by students from the College of Mass Communications and are run on University-controlled cable channel 10, MTTV. Occasionally, football games will be broadcast on ESPN Plus, and can either be seen locally or on ESPN's pay-per-view "Gameplan" service.

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MTSU football and men's basketball games can be heard on 1450 AM WGNS (flagship), 104.9 FM WBOZ, 105.1 FM WVRY, and 89.5 FM WMOT.

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MTSU women's basketball, plus occasional baseball and softball games, can be heard on 88.3 FM WMTS.

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