UNC Pembroke Braves | |
---|---|
First season | 1946[a] |
Athletic director | Dick Christy |
Head coach | Mark Hall 1st season, 7–3 (.700) |
Stadium | Grace P. Johnson Stadium (capacity: 4,000) |
Field surface | Grass |
Location | Pembroke, North Carolina |
Conference | Mountain East |
All-time record | 89–74 (.546) |
Colors | Black and gold [1] |
Website | UNC Pembroke Braves Football |
The UNC Pembroke Braves football team represents the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in college football, competing in the Mountain East Conference. Pembroke plays its home games at the 4,000 seat Grace P. Johnson Stadium at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Field, which is located on-campus in Pembroke, North Carolina. Although only fielding a modern team since the 2007 season, Pembroke previously fielded teams between the 1946 and 1950 seasons as Pembroke State. [2]
Pembroke State fielded their first team in 1946. [3] Having played only five games in the inaugural season, James Sampson served as head coach. [3] Sampson served as head coach through the termination of the football program following the 1950 season.
Without sanctioned football since the 1950 season, on December 1, 2004, the UNC Pembroke Board of Trustees voted unanimously to proceed with the development of a football program to begin play by the 2007 season. [4] With stadium expansion complete by summer 2005, Pembroke announced the hiring of Pete Shinnick as the reinstated program's head coach on December 13, 2005. [5] With the team in place, the Braves lost their inaugural game on the road to the Davidson Wildcats 31–21 on September 1, [6] and notched their first win in their first home game after they defeated Greensboro College 26–20 on September 8 en route to completing the 2007 campaign with a 4–7 record. [7]
Pembroke improved upon their 2007 record through and finished the 2008 season with a record of 9–1. The 2008 squad featured a defense that lead all of Division II in scoring defense that only allowed 11.20 points per game; was second in total defense with 226.60 yards per game; and was fourth in rushing defense with 71.60 yards per game. [8]
In 2017, Pembroke entered into a scheduling alliance with the South Atlantic Conference. The agreement was originally set to run through the 2020 season, [9] but Pembroke ended the agreement a year early after reaching a larger agreement on associate membership with the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Under the MEC agreement, Pembroke became an associate member in all five of the school's varsity sports that are not sponsored by its full-time home of the Peach Belt Conference, including football. [10]
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UNC Pembroke Braves(Independent)(2007–2019) | |||||||||
2007 | Pete Shinnick | 4–7 | |||||||
2008 | Pete Shinnick | 9–1 | |||||||
2009 | Pete Shinnick | 9–2 | L 41–13 vs. Arkansas Tech (Division II First Round) | ||||||
2010 | Pete Shinnick | 5–5 | |||||||
2011 | Pete Shinnick | 8–3 | |||||||
2012 | Pete Shinnick | 6–4 | |||||||
2013 | Pete Shinnick | 9–2 | L 37–13 vs. North Alabama (Division II Second Round) | ||||||
2014 | Shane Richardson | 2–8 | |||||||
2015 | Shane Richardson | 6–4 | |||||||
2016 | Shane Richardson | 10–2 | L 41–17 vs. North Alabama (Division II Second Round) | ||||||
2017 | Shane Richardson | 2–8 | |||||||
2018 | Shane Richardson | 2–8 | |||||||
2019 | Shane Richardson | 4-7 | |||||||
UNC Pembroke Braves(Mountain East Conference)(2020–2023) | |||||||||
2020 | Shane Richardson | 2-2 | 2-2 | 3 (South) | |||||
2021 | Shane Richardson | 6-5 | 6-4 | 4 | |||||
2022 | Shane Richardson | 5-6 | 5-5 | 8 | |||||
2023 | Mark Hall | 7-3 | 6-3 | 3 | |||||
Total: | 96–77 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
|
While Pembroke was not a football member of any conference before 2020, they do share a rivalry with geographically close schools, such as the Fayetteville State University and Wingate University.
Fayetteville State and Pembroke are separated by only 47 miles (76 km), with the rivalry named for the Lumber River near Pembroke and the Cape Fear River near Fayetteville, NC. Both schools square off for bragging rights, as many of the players on both teams come from the surrounding Robeson, Cumberland, Richmond, Scotland, Hoke and Moore counties. [11]
One of Pembroke's first games in 2007 was against Wingate, and they have played every year since. With both schools located just off of US-74, and a little over 80 miles (130 km) apart, these two schools have experienced a close rivalry over the past years.
Name of rivalry | Rival | Games played | First meeting | Last meeting | UNCP Won | UNCP Lost | Ties | Streak | Latest win |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Two Rivers Classic | Fayetteville State Broncos | 4 | 2009 | 2012 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 wins | 2012, 31-21 |
Battle for 74 | Wingate Bulldogs | 6 | 2007 | 2012 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 win | 2012, 49-35 |
Totals | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke is a public university in Pembroke, North Carolina. UNC Pembroke is a master's level degree-granting university and part of the University of North Carolina system. Its history is intertwined with that of the Lumbee nation.
Tobacco Road is a term used in college sports, mainly basketball, for the four rival universities of North Carolina that play in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The term refers to the area's history as a major tobacco producer. The Tobacco Road teams represent the following universities:
Kelvin Dale Sampson is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the University of Houston of the Big 12 Conference.
The Duke–North Carolina rivalry refers to the sports rivalry between the Duke University Blue Devils and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, particularly in the sport of basketball. It is considered one of the most intense rivalries in all of US-sports; a poll conducted by ESPN in 2000 ranked the basketball rivalry as the third greatest North American sports rivalry, and Sports Illustrated on Campus named it the #1 "Hottest Rivalry" in college basketball and the #2 rivalry overall in its November 18, 2003 issue. The intensity of the rivalry is augmented for many reasons. One reason is the proximity of the two universities—they are located only ten miles apart along U.S. Highway 15–501 or eight miles apart in straight-line distance. In addition, Duke is a private university whereas Carolina is a public school; the vastly different funding structures and cultures between the two further contribute to the intensity of the rivalry. One of the biggest reasons for this rivalry lied in the success of their respective basketball programs; almost every year, at least one of the schools is a contender to win the national championship.
The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the sport of American football or Gridiron Football. The Tar Heels play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Athletes and sports teams from North Carolina compete across an array of professional and amateur levels of competition, along with athletes who compete at the World and Olympic levels in their respective sport. Major league professional teams based in North Carolina include teams that compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The state is also home to NASCAR Cup Series races. At the collegiate and university level, there are several North Carolina schools in various conferences across an array of divisions. North Carolina also has many minor league baseball teams. There are also a number of indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, and minor league ice hockey teams based throughout the state.
The Charlotte 49ers are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 49ers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
Herbert Lawrence Fedora is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and general manager for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL). He previously served as head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2008 to 2011, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2012 to 2018, and the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baylor University in 2020.
Steven Russell Saulnier is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the assistant head coach and offensive line coach at the University of West Florida located in Pensacola, Florida. Saulnier has previously served as assistant head coach and offensive line coach at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke from 2006 to 2014 as well as head football coach at Malone College—now known as Malone University—in Canton Ohio from 1999 to 2001.
Grace P. Johnson Stadium at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Field is a 4,000-seat college football stadium located in Pembroke, North Carolina. The stadium, located inside the Irwin Belk Athletic Complex, is the home field of the UNC Pembroke Braves. The Braves compete as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Independent.
Pete Shinnick is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the Towson University in Towson, Maryland. As the head coach of West Florida, Shinnick won the school's first football national championship in 2019. The football team began play in 2016. 2017 was a big year for Shinnick, as he led the University of West Florida Argonauts to the NCAA Division II playoffs, making them the fastest team to do so. He broke the record he held at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, that being three years. Shinnick also won the 2017 AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year. He later won the 2017 AFCA Division II Coach of the Year. On December 21, 2019, Shinnick won the NCAA D-II National Championship with the UWF Argos in just the program's 4th year of existence.
The Charlotte 49ers football program represents the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in college football. The UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees officially voted to add a football program on November 13, 2008, after a unanimous recommendation by the Football Feasibility Committee. It was made possible by Student Government initiatives starting in 2006 by then-student body president Benjamin Comstock and student body vice president Jordan Van Dyne, namely the first step of organizing a transparent student vote on football that disclosed possible hikes in tuition fees as a result of football. The online poll was approved by the Student Senate and administered in collaboration with the University's IT Department. Despite the possibility of potential rises in student fees, the vote clearly displayed a student interest in a football team. The program began play during the 2013 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
The UNC Pembroke Braves are the athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, located in Pembroke, North Carolina, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports.
The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 11 schools, mostly in West Virginia with other members in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The 2013 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a member of Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was led by second-year head coach Larry Fedora and played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium. The Tar Heels finished the season 7–6 overall and 4–4 in ACC play to place fifth in the Coastal Division. They were invited to the Belk Bowl, where they defeated Cincinnati.
Brad Allen is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2014 NFL season, wearing uniform number 122.
Shane Richardson is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for Northern Michigan University, a position he has held since 2023. He served as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke from 2014 to 2022. He was hired as head coach of the Braves on February 21, 2014. His contract was not renewed following the 2022 season.
Chris Little is a Scottish-born football coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids. He was previously head coach of Tacoma Defiance, the second-division affiliate of Seattle Sounders FC. He played professionally for the Wilmington Hammerheads of the USL Second Division and previously coached various amateur and college teams in North Carolina and Kentucky.
Drake Lee Maye is an American professional football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he was named the 2022 ACC Football Player of the Year after leading the NCAA in total yards and setting single-season school records in passing yards and touchdowns. Maye was selected third overall by the Patriots in the 2024 NFL draft.