East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was historically part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee under the Tennessee Board of Regents, but since 2016, the university has been transitioning to governance by a separate institutional Board of Trustees. As of May 2017, it is the fourth largest university in the state and has off-campus centers in nearby Kingsport, Elizabethton, and Sevierville.
ETSU/Mountain States Health Alliance Athletic Center, previously known as the Memorial Center, and popularly referred to as the "Mini-Dome", is an 8,539-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. Until 2014, it hosted ETSU's men's and women's basketball teams. It also serves as the indoor venue for tennis and track. At one time, the facility also hosted ETSU's football team, but the school discontinued its football program at the end of the 2003 season as a cost-cutting measure. The football team was reinstated in 2015, but did not return to the facility; the Buccaneers played the 2015 and 2016 seasons at Kermit Tipton Stadium, a local high school facility, before opening the new William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in 2017. It was the host of the 2006 and 2007 Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball tournaments, and the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships from 2001 to 2011. The Mini-Dome has also hosted non-athletic events that could not be housed in an indoor setting on most American college campuses, such as national indoor championships for free flight model aircraft.
Murry Linn Bartow is an American college basketball coach who most recently was the interim head coach for the UCLA Bruins. As the head coach of the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, he was twice named the conference coach of the year, first in the Southern Conference in 2004 and later in the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2007.
Randy Sanders is a former American football coach.
The East Tennessee State Buccaneers are the 16 intercollegiate athletics teams that represent East Tennessee State University (ETSU), located in Johnson City, Tennessee. ETSU's teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, and track and field; women's-only softball and volleyball; and men's-only baseball and football. The Buccaneers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon).
The East Tennessee State Buccaneers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for East Tennessee State University (ETSU) located in Johnson City, Tennessee. The team was dormant from the end of the 2003 season until being reinstated for the 2015 season. They played all of their 2015 home games and all but one of their 2016 home games at Kermit Tipton Stadium before the opening of the new William B. Greene Jr. Stadium for the 2017 season. The remaining 2016 home game, against Western Carolina on September 17, was played at nearby Bristol Motor Speedway, which was already set up for football due to a game the prior week between the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech. Before ETSU dropped football, it competed in NCAA Division I as a Southern Conference (SoCon) football program. The revived program played as an independent in 2015 before returning to the SoCon in 2016.
The East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball team represents East Tennessee State University (ETSU), located in Johnson City, Tennessee, in men's college basketball. East Tennessee State is coached by Brooks Savage and currently competes in the Southern Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2017. In March 2020 the Buccaneers won the SoCon championship.
The 2015 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Carl Torbush. The 2015 season was their first season since 2003, when the program was discontinued. They played their home games at Kermit Tipton Stadium, located on the campus of Science Hill High School. For the 2015 season, the Buccaneers were classified as an FCS independent school, meaning they had no athletic conference affiliation in football for the season. However, they will become football members of the Southern Conference in 2016, a league that ETSU rejoined for non-football sports in 2014 after a nine-year absence. They finished the season 2–9 with wins over Warner and Kentucky Wesleyan.
The East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's soccer team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, United States. The team is a member of the Southern Conference, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. ETSU's first men's soccer team was fielded in 2008. The team plays its home games at Summers-Taylor Stadium on the ETSU campus. The Buccaneers were coached by Bo Oshoniyi until he was hired away by Dartmouth College. In March 2018, ETSU announced the hiring of former University of Kentucky assistant coach David Casper. Following his dismissal in 2021, David Lilly assumed the post of head coach.
The 2016 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season and were in the first year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). ETSU had originally joined the SoCon in 1978, with football joining in 1979, but dropped the sport after the 2003 season and left the conference entirely in 2005. ETSU returned to the SoCon as a full but non-football member in 2014, at that time announcing that the school would reinstate football with play beginning in the 2015 season. The Buccaneers played that season as an FCS independent.
The 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The FCS Championship Game was played on January 6, 2018, in Frisco, Texas. The North Dakota State Bison beat the James Madison Dukes, 17–13, to capture their sixth title in seven years.
The 2017 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season and are in the second year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They are led by third-year head coach Carl Torbush and, for the first time, play all their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium. They finished the season 4–7, 2–6 in SoCon play to finish in eighth place.
Kenneth Wayne Simonds was an American businessman and philanthropist.
The 2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season and were in the third year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They were led by first-year head coach Randy Sanders and played their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium. They finished the season 8–4, 6–2 in SoCon play to win a share of the SoCon championship. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they lost to Jacksonville State in the first round.
The 2019 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represents East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season and are in the fourth year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They are led by second-year head coach Randy Sanders and play their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium.
The 2020 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season and were in the fifth year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). They were led by third-year head coach Randy Sanders and played their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium.
The 2021 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University in the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The Buccaneers were led by fourth-year head coach Randy Sanders and played their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, Tennessee. On November 20, 2021, the Buccaneers defeated SoCon rival Mercer, clinching the Southern Conference championship. The Buccaneers also finished their regular season with an overall record of 10–1, making only the third time in program history to have won 10 games. They also beat FBS Vanderbilt in a 23-3 blowout win.
The 2022 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Buccaneers were led by first-year head coach George Quarles and play their home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The 2023 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Buccaneers were led by second-year head coach George Quarles and played home games at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, Tennessee.
The 2024 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team will represent East Tennessee State University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2024 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Buccaneers will be coached by first-year head coach Tre Lamb and play at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, Tennessee.
