Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium is a football stadium located at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds in the Midtown area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The stadium is the site of the annual Liberty Bowl, the annual Southern Heritage Classic, and is the home field of the University of Memphis Tigers football team of the American Athletic Conference. It has also been the host of several attempts at professional sports in the city, as well as other local football games and other gatherings.
The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic Conference, except for the rifle team, which is a member of the single-sport Great America Rifle Conference.
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Golden Eagles compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level mainly as a member of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). USM's newest sport of women's beach volleyball, a sport not currently sponsored by the Sun Belt, was added in the 2018–19 school year and competes in Conference USA. The school's earliest nickname was Tigers. Thereafter came such nicknames as Normalites, Yellow Jackets, Confederates, and Southerners. Golden Eagles was selected in a student/alumni vote in the early 1972. Seymour d'Campus is the name of the modern-day mascot eagle.
Ricky Cardell Hunley is an American football coach and former professional player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1980s and early 1990s. Hunley played college football for the University of Arizona, and was twice recognized as a consensus All-American. He was selected in the first round of the 1984 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Raiders of the NFL. He is currently the defensive line coach at the University of Arizona in Tucson, his alma mater.
Darrell Ray Dickey is an assistant American football coach at Texas A&M University. Before joining the Texas A&M staff he was the offensive coordinator at Memphis from the 2012 to 2017 seasons, the offensive coordinator at Texas State for the 2011 season, and at the University of New Mexico for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He was head coach of the University of North Texas from 1998 to 2006. During the 13 years prior to his stint at North Texas, Dickey was an assistant at SMU, UTEP, LSU, Mississippi State, Memphis, and Texas A&M. Subsequent to his tenure at North Texas, he was an assistant at Utah State and New Mexico.
The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers have competed in the American Athletic Conference since 2013. As of 2020, the Tigers had the 26th highest winning percentage in NCAA history. While the Tigers have an on-campus arena, Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the team has played home games off campus since the mid-1960s. The Tigers moved to the Mid-South Coliseum at the Memphis Fairgrounds in 1966, and then to downtown Memphis at The Pyramid, initially built for the team in 1991 and later home to the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. In 2004, both teams moved to a new downtown venue, FedExForum. ESPN Stats and Information Department ranked Memphis as the 19th most successful basketball program from 1962 to 2012 in their annual 50 in 50 list.
Peter Lembo is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at the University of South Carolina. Prior to that, he was the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator at the University of Memphis, a position he assumed in January 2019. Prior to Memphis, he was the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at Rice University. Before joining the coaching staff at Rice University, he was the head coach at Lehigh University from 2001 to 2005, at Elon University from 2006 to 2010, and at Ball State University from 2011 to 2015. He was also the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator at the University of Maryland for two seasons. Lembo enjoyed success in each of his three stops as a head coach and accumulated a 112–65 career record over a 15-year period. His 79–36 record in ten seasons at the FCS level makes him one of the winningest coaches in the history of that classification.
Sports in Memphis, Tennessee are supported in the city by Memphis Park Services, which offers a wide range of public facilities, including 17 swimming pools, 8 public golf courses, 48 athletic fields hosting a range of 510 youth and 269 adult teams, 130 basketball courts, 7 tennis centers and a soccer complex.
The Memphis Tigers football team represents the University of Memphis in college football in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The Tigers play in the American Athletic Conference as an all-sports member. They play home games at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. The team's head coach is Ryan Silverfield.
Larry Porter is a college football coach. He currently serves as special teams coordinator and running backs coach and at the University of North Carolina. Porter is a former head coach of the Memphis Tigers football team. He was named to the position on November 29, 2009 replacing Tommy West. A former running back for the school when it was known as Memphis State University, Porter was formerly an assistant head coach, chief recruiter, and running backs coach at Louisiana State University under Les Miles. On November 27, 2011, Porter was fired after completing a 2–10 season with only having won three games during his two-year tenure.
Justin James Fuente is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech from 2016 to 2021. He was the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year. Fuente was the head football coach at the University of Memphis from 2012 to 2015. He was an assistant at Texas Christian University from 2007 to 2011 and previously at Illinois State University from 2001 to 2006. Fuente attended the University of Oklahoma before transferring to Murray State University after his redshirt sophomore season. He played quarterback for both schools. Fuente played a single season with the Oklahoma Wranglers of the Arena Football League.
The 2001 Memphis Tigers football team represented the University of Memphis in the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season. Memphis competed as a member of the Conference USA. The team was led by head coach Tommy West. The Tigers played their home games at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Michael Kelly Norvell is an American college football coach who is currently head coach at Florida State. Norvell was previously the head coach at Memphis. He has coached at Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, and Central Arkansas. He played wide receiver at the University of Central Arkansas from 2001 to 2005 and is the school's all-time receptions leader.
The 2014 Memphis Tigers football team represented the University of Memphis in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tigers were coached by third-year head coach Justin Fuente and played their home games at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. The Tigers competed as a member of the American Athletic Conference. Memphis began the year with low expectations since they finished at the bottom of the American Athletic Conference and posted a 3–9 record in 2013. However, the Tigers turned completely around. First, they finished in a three-way tie with Cincinnati and UCF for the conference title by posting a 10–3 record. It was their first conference championship (shared) since 1971 when Memphis was part of the Missouri Valley Conference. The 2014 10-win season equaled the total number of wins Memphis posted over the 2010–2013 seasons. Also, the 10-win season was the first time Memphis had posted double digit wins in a season since 1938. The Tigers also won their first bowl game since 2005 by beating BYU 55–48 in double OT in the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl. Memphis also finished #25 in the final AP Poll for the first time since 2004.
The 2014 Miami Beach Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 22, 2014, at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The first edition of the Miami Beach Bowl, it featured the American Athletic Conference co-champion Memphis Tigers against the BYU Cougars. It began at 2:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that comprised the conclusion of the 2014 FBS football season.
Barry Stephen Odom is an American football coach and currently the defensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas. He is the former head football coach of the Missouri Tigers football team.
The Cincinnati–Memphis rivalry is a college sports rivalry between the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and the University of Memphis Tigers. The rivalry between these two schools dates to their first men's college football game in 1966, and has continued across all sports, with the basketball series gaining attention as well, having started in 1968. The schools have also shared conferences historically, with the rivalry stretching over the span of five conferences from the Missouri Valley Conference, to the Metro Conference, Great Midwest Conference, Conference USA, and more recently in the American Athletic Conference.
The 1971 Memphis State Tigers football team represented Memphis State University as an independent during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In its 13th and final season under head coach Billy J. Murphy, the team compiled a 5–6 record, tied for second place out of seven teams in the MVC, defeated San Jose State in the Pasadena Bowl, and outscored all opponents by a total of 255 to 202. The team played its home games at Memphis Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee.
The 1980 Memphis State Tigers football team represented Memphis State University as an independent during the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season. In its fifth and final season under head coach Richard Williamson, the team compiled a 2–9 record and was outscored by a total of 255 to 115. The team played its home games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee.
