Southern Oregon Raiders football
| Southern Oregon Raiders football | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First season | 1927 |
| Head coach |
Craig Howard 4th year, 34–14 (.708) |
| Stadium | Raider Stadium |
| Seating capacity | 5,000 |
| Field surface | Turf |
| Location | Ashland, Oregon |
| League | NAIA |
| Conference | Frontier Conference |
| All-time record | 349–351–15 (.499) |
| Claimed nat'l titles | 1 (2014) |
| Conference titles | 13 |
| Consensus All-Americans | 23 (NAIA) |
| Colors | Red and Black |
| Mascot | Red-Tailed Hawk |
| Rivals | Montana Tech, Carroll College, Western Oregon |
| Website | SOURaiders.com |
The Southern Oregon Raiders football team represents Southern Oregon University in the sport of American football. The Raiders team competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as an associate member of the Frontier Conference. Southern Oregon University has fielded an official football team since 1927 and has an all-time record of 349–351–15 (a .499 winning percentage). The Raiders play in Raider Stadium in Ashland, Oregon, which has a capacity of 5,000. Southern Oregon has played in two NAIA national championship games and won thirteen conference championships in multiple conferences.
While not historically a relevant program, the Raiders have been successful in the twenty-first century, participating in the NAIA championship tournament four times. Twenty-three Raiders players have been named first-team NAIA All-Americans and two were named to Academic All-America teams. There have been two Southern Oregon players selected in the NFL Draft, one of which, Jeff Beathard, was the 1988 draft's Mr. Irrelevant. Thirty-eight Raiders players have been inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame, as have three individual football teams. The primary colors for the program are black and red. The school's mascot is a red-tailed hawk. Southern Oregon has long-standing rivalries with three of their current conference opponents: Montana Tech, Carroll College, and Western Oregon.
The first iteration of football at Southern Oregon University came in 1896, when the school was a small teachers' college known as Southern Oregon State Normal School (SONS). A student at the school, John Berry, set up a game between a group of people from the school and the Ashland Athletic Club, a team he set up for the match. In front of a large crowd, the SONS team won, 18–0. The sport developed at the school over the next few years. Games were played against nearby high schools, primarily Ashland High School. In 1899 and 1900, contests were set up with the University of Oregon Webfoots, a major regional team; SONS was shut out in both contests. In 1900, a school professor organized the program and led it to relative success. However, funding for the school was stopped and it closed in 1909.
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