Detroit Mercy Titans | |
---|---|
University | University of Detroit Mercy |
Conference | Horizon League (primary) ASUN (men's lacrosse) MAC (women's lacrosse) |
NCAA | Division I |
Athletic director | Robert Vowels |
Location | Detroit, Michigan |
Varsity teams | 17 |
Basketball arena | Calihan Hall |
Baseball stadium | Buysse Ballpark |
Soccer stadium | Titan Field |
Mascot | Tommy Titan |
Nickname | Titans |
Colors | Red, white, and blue [1] |
Website | detroittitans |
The Detroit Mercy Titans (formerly known as the Detroit Titans) are the athletic teams of University of Detroit Mercy. The university is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The school primarily competes in the Horizon League, but competes in other conferences for fencing and lacrosse, sports not sponsored for either men or women by the Horizon League. Fencing, a co-ed sport, competes in the Midwest Fencing Conference. Men's lacrosse moved from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to the ASUN Conference in July 2021. [2] Women's lacrosse joined the Mid-American Conference for that league's first women's lacrosse season in 2021. [3] [4]
A member of the Horizon League, Detroit Mercy sponsors 17 NCAA varsity teams (seven men's, eight women's, and one co-ed NCAA-sanctioned sports). [5] Previously the Tigers, in either 1919 [6] or 1924 [7] the school adopted the Titans nickname.
Men's sports | Women's sports |
---|---|
Basketball | Basketball |
Cross country | Cross country |
Golf | Golf |
Lacrosse | Lacrosse |
Soccer | Soccer |
Track and field† | Softball |
Track and field† | |
Co-ed sports | |
Fencing | |
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor |
On June 13, 2018, Detroit Mercy named Mike Davis the 22nd head coach in men's basketball program history. [8] The NCAA tournament-tested Davis previously coached at Texas Southern University, where he led the team to four regular season titles, four conference tournament championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances. He led Indiana University to the 2002 NCAA Championship game.
Starring for the Titans is Davis’ son, Antoine Davis. In his debut season in 2018–19, Antoine Davis broke the NCAA Division I freshman record for 3-point field goals made in a season, previously held by NBA star Stephen Curry. [9]
Former head coach Ray McCallum led Detroit Mercy to the Horizon League Championship during the 2011–12 season, granting the Titans an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Detroit Mercy received a 15 seed and lost to the University of Kansas in the tournament's second round.
McCallum's predecessor Perry Watson led a successful program at Detroit's Southwestern High School and served as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan before coming to Detroit Mercy and maintained strong recruiting ties within the city's public league. After 14 seasons Watson stepped down as head coach at the end of the 2007–2008 season. Watson guided Detroit Mercy to 10 winning seasons, three league titles, two NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT Final Four. The Titans two NCAA appearances also included victories over St. John's and UCLA. Between 1997–98 and 2000–01, the Titans had four straight 20-victory seasons.
Dick Vitale, ESPN's most well-known college basketball commentator, was the Detroit men's basketball head coach for four seasons (1973–1977) before becoming the school's athletic director in 1977. The following year he left to coach the Detroit Pistons. In his final year as a college head coach, "Dickie V" led the Titans to the Round of 16 in the 1977 NCAA tournament before losing 86–81 to Michigan.
On June 15, 2021, LaTanya Collins was named interim head coach for the 2021–22 season, replacing AnnMarie Gilbert. [10] The program went through turmoil in what proved to be Gilbert's only season.
During the 2020–21 season, extensively affected by COVID-19, Detroit Mercy was one of several Division I programs that canceled its season early, but the only one that did so for reasons unrelated to the pandemic. On January 17, 2021, the parents of all 14 players on the roster sent a letter to athletic director Robert Vowels Jr. alleging NCAA rules violations, as well as rampant emotional and physical abuse, by Gilbert. [11] After an internal investigation, Detroit Mercy retained Gilbert, but after all 14 players on the 2020–21 roster left the program, [a] Gilbert resigned on June 15, with assistant Collins taking over on an interim basis.
Gilbert's predecessor, Bernard Scott, led the Titans to 33 wins in his first two seasons, including a trip to the Horizon League championship game at Joe Louis Arena in 2016–17. His contract was not renewed following the 2019–20 season. [13]
Scott took over for Autumn Rademacher, a former star guard at Detroit Mercy. Rademacher coached the Titans from 2008 to 2015, guiding the team to 89 victories, including a 20-win season in 2011–12 and appearances in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) and Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) National Tournament. In 2010–11, Rademacher led Detroit Mercy to a win over in-state rival and Big Ten member Michigan. The victory not only ended a six-game losing streak to Michigan, it was the first triumph over the Wolverines – as well as against the Big Ten – since 1994.
The Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse team, coached by Matt Holtz, won the 2013 MAAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament, where they were downed in the fourth quarter by Notre Dame. [14] [15]
The first attempt at a football team for the University of Detroit was known as the Detroit Heralds. That team was disbanded after the 1904 season, and most of the players formed an amateur team of the same name in 1905. Although the university team returned in 1906, the amateur team remained, eventually evolving into a semi-professional team, then a professional team, ultimately joining the National Football League as a charter member in 1920. The Heralds folded in 1921.
In 1928, the Detroit Titans under Gus Dorais finished with a record of 9–0–0. Several years later Parke H. Davis, considered to be a "major selector" by the NCAA, named the 1928 team to a share of the national championship [16]
John Idzik was the head coach for the final three seasons of the football program, from 1962 until 1964. His coaching record at Detroit was 6 wins, 21 losses and 1 tie. [17] The school then disbanded the football team after the 1964 season due to cost.
Since 1996–97, Detroit Mercy athletic teams have won 26 league championships and made 13 NCAA postseason championships. The most recent team to do so was Detroit Mercy's softball team, which won the Horizon League Championship in 2019 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
Detroit Mercy has been a host institution for several NCAA Tournament men's basketball games. The university hosted the 2008 Midwest Regional and 2009 Final Four, played at Ford Field, as well as the 2018 First and Second Round games, played at Little Caesars Arena. In 2021, Detroit Mercy and Oakland University were scheduled to co-host the 2021 First and Second Round games at Little Caesars Arena, but the entire tournament was moved to Indianapolis due to COVID-19 concerns. Detroit Mercy and Oakland are scheduled to co-host the 2024 Midwest Regional at Little Caesar's Arena.
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Established in 1921, the Southern Conference ranks as the fifth-oldest major college athletic conference in the United States, and either the third or fourth oldest in continuous operation, depending on definitions.
The Horizon League is a collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in and near the Great Lakes region and in part of the Southern United States.
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level 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 athletic powers, with large budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Division II and Division III as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.
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. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and briefly rebranded as the ASUN Conference from 2016 to 2023. The conference still uses "ASUN" as an official abbreviation. The conference headquarters are located in Jacksonville. On May 8, 2024, the conference announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida in the fall of 2024.
The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic university in Michigan. It has four campuses where it offers more than 100 academic degree programs.
The Cleveland State Vikings, or Vikes, are the athletic teams of Cleveland State University. Before as Fenn College they were known as the Fenn College Foxes or Fenn Foxes. Cleveland State competes in NCAA Division I. The Vikings have competed in NCAA Division I since 1972. They were previously members of the NCAA College Division, a precursor to NCAA Division II. The university is a member of the Horizon League (1994–present), the Mid-American Conference (2019–present) for wrestling, and the Northeast Conference (2024–present) for men's lacrosse. Cleveland State was formerly in the Mid-Continent Conference (1982–1994) and North Star Conference (1989–1992). Cleveland State previously fielded baseball, men's cross country as well as men and women's track and field. As Fenn College they fielded men's ice hockey and rifle. Cleveland State has a number of club sports as well.
The Central Michigan Chippewas are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Central Michigan University (CMU), located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The school fields sixteen men's and women's intercollegiate teams that compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level.
College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is sponsored by the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) and Maritime University Field Lacrosse League (MUFLL), while in the United States, varsity men's and women's lacrosse is governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There are also university lacrosse programs in the United Kingdom sponsored by British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) and programs in Japan.
The Youngstown State Penguins are the athletic teams of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. The university is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, and the Penguins compete in football as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Most other sports compete as members of the Horizon League.
The Jacksonville Dolphins are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Jacksonville University, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The Dolphins participate in NCAA Division I athletics, and are primarily members of the ASUN Conference. Some teams in sports that are not sponsored by the ASUN play in other conferences; specifically, the men's and women's rowing teams are in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The men's lacrosse team had played in the Southern Conference (SoCon) from 2015 to 2022, but that sport will return to the ASUN for the 2023 season.
The Mercer Bears are the athletic teams of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia with an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and nine women's sports. The university competes in the Southern Conference for most sports. In 2013, the football team competed in the Pioneer Football League.
The Northern Kentucky Norse men's basketball team represents Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky, United States. The school's athletic program began a transition to NCAA Division I in the 2012–13 school year. For the first three seasons of the transition, it was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. In the final season of the transition in 2015–16, the Norse joined the Horizon League. The Norse were coached by John Brannen until April 14, 2019, when he left to take a job with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Before him the Norse program's coach was Dave Bezold, who had an overall record of 138 wins and 72 losses. On April 23, 2019 Darrin Horn was hired as head coach by Northern Kentucky. Since joining Division I in 2012–13, the Norse have made three NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2023.
The Detroit Mercy Titans women's basketball team is the college basketball team that represents the University of Detroit Mercy in Detroit, Michigan, and competes in NCAA Division I women's basketball as a member of the Horizon League.
Autumn Rademacher is an American college basketball coach who was most recently a women's basketball assistant coach at Omaha. Previously, Rademacher was head coach at the University of Detroit Mercy from 2008 to 2015. She came to the Titans after serving as an assistant coach at Green Bay for four seasons and Western Michigan for seven seasons. In her second season, she led the Titans to a second-place finish in the Horizon League, its best finish since the 1998–99 season. In her fourth year she led the Titans to the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) Championship with a win over the McNeese State Cowgirls, 73–62. She was hired as an assistant coach for the Arkansas State Red Wolves on June 8, 2015.
The Bellarmine Knights are the teams representing Bellarmine University, located in Louisville, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) for most sports, as of the 2020–21 academic year. The Knights previously competed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) of the NCAA Division II ranks from 1978–79 to 2019–20.
The Detroit Mercy Titans men's soccer program represents the University of Detroit Mercy in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. Founded in 1987, the Titans compete in the Horizon League. The Titans Coach is Nate Kopunek, who joined the team on March 6, 2023, replacing Coach Deren. Titans plays their home matches at Titan Field, on the Detroit Mercy campus.
Antoine Davis is an American professional basketball player for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Detroit Mercy Titans. He was twice named the Horizon League Player of the Year, a five-time All-Horizon League First Team selection, and finished his career as NCAA Division I's second all-time leading scorer with 3,664 points and all-time three-point shot maker.
The Detroit Mercy Titans Men's Lacrosse team is a college lacrosse team that represents the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The school's teams are typically members of the Horizon League, but the men's lacrosse team is an associate member of the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Titans joined that league after the 2024 season, following three seasons in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). Before that, the Titans has been men's lacrosse members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The 2021–22 Detroit Mercy Titans men's basketball team represented the University of Detroit Mercy in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Titans, led by fourth-year head coach Mike Davis, played their home games at Calihan Hall in Detroit, Michigan as members of the Horizon League. They finished the season 14–15, 10–7 in Horizon League play to finish in sixth place. They defeated Green Bay in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament before losing to Northern Kentucky in the quarterfinals. They received an invitation to The Basketball Classic postseason tournament, formerly known as the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost to Florida Gulf Coast in the first round.
The 2022–23 Detroit Mercy Titans men's basketball team represented the University of Detroit Mercy in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Titans, led by fifth-year head coach Mike Davis, played their home games at Calihan Hall in Detroit, Michigan, as members of the Horizon League. They finished the season 13–18, 9–11 in Horizon League play to tie for eighth place. They defeated Purdue Fort Wayne in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament before losing to Youngstown State in the quarterfinals.
Until 1919, the U-D teams were known as the Tigers. In the fall of 1919, Detroit Free Press' sportswriter Stan Brink, who was covering football for the paper, thought that a good nickname for the team would be the Titans.
In 1924 the Tigers changed their nickname to the more unique 'Titans.'