Charleston Southern Buccaneers football
| Charleston Southern Buccaneers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
 |
|||
| First season | 1991 | ||
| Athletic director | Hank Small | ||
| Head coach |
Mark Tucker 1st year, 0–0 (–) |
||
| Stadium | Buccaneer Field | ||
| Seating capacity | 5,000 | ||
| Field surface | Artificial Turf | ||
| Location | Charleston, South Carolina | ||
| NCAA division | Division I FCS | ||
| Conference | Big South Conference | ||
| All-time record | 117–171 (.406) | ||
| Conference titles | 3 | ||
| Colors | Blue and Gold |
||
| Mascot | Bucky the Buccaneer | ||
| Rivals | |||
| Website | CSUSports.com | ||
The Charleston Southern Buccaneers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Charleston Southern University located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Big South Conference. Charleston Southern's first football team was fielded in 1991. The team plays its home games at the 4,000 seat Buccaneer Field in North Charleston, South Carolina and are led by head coach Mark Tucker.
The Charleston Southern football team began as a club football team in 1989 before moving to NCAA Division 3 status in 1991, which is a non-scholarship division. After NCAA rule changes required all sports to be in the same division, the Buccaneers moved from Division 3 to Division 1 in 1993, literally overnight, as the other campus programs were Division 1. This caused some challenges for the new program, as they faced off with more established and better funded programs. In 1996, the Bucs went 1–10 with a lone win vs West Virginia State. Wins were scarce, and in 1997, Head Coach David Dowd hired defensive coordinator Todd Knight from Gardner-Webb University. The two coaches oversaw a slow improvement that began with a large recruiting class in 1997, and move to 34 scholarships being offered. That team would struggle to a 1–9 record, with a lone win vs Tusculum College. The opening game was a 30–7 loss to top 10 ranked East Tennessee State, followed by a heart-breaking loss at then No. 22 ranked South Carolina State. In that game, the Buccaneers led 12–6 with less than 1:30 to play, with SC State driving inside the 40 yard line. On a 4th and short, CSU hit the SC State QB to cause a fumble which the Bucs recovered and began to run with, only to then fumble the ball back, and SC State would score the game winning TD on the ensuing drive. The 1997 team struggled to recover from that loss. A tragic loss was part of that season, as freshman running back Kevin Keyes was murdered near his hometown of Goose Creek, SC.
1998 3–8 In 1998, the Buccaneers featured QB Brooks Combs and a fast, hard hitting defense that would garner the nickname "Blue Collar Defense" for their work ethic and physical style of play. Free safety Antonio Simmons would be named honorable mention All American. While posting only a 3–8 record, the Bucs were competitive with several teams in loss, such as an overtime loss to Liberty University, and last minute losses to Morehead State and Newberry, as well as a hard fought home loss to SC State 17–7, which at the time set the school attendance record for a home game at approximately 6,500. The 1998 season was also marked by the tragic death of defensive lineman Scott Wehnes, who collapsed on the field during practice and would not recover.
...
Wikipedia