The Blue Raiders are the men's and women's athletic teams at Middle Tennessee State University. MTSU athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I (Bowl Subdivision in football) in the Sun Belt Conference. MT competed in the Ohio Valley Conference until 2000.

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Nickname

The nickname 'Blue Raiders' was coined by an MTSU football player, Charles Sarver, in 1934 Daily News Journal contest. No official nickname existed prior to 1934, when teams were called "Normalites," "Teachers," and "Pedagogues". ^[1]

The university's athletic teams simply refer to the school as "Middle Tennessee" or "MT", abandoning the words "State University".

Mascot

MTSU's original mascot was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate General. Because of Forrest's ties to the Ku Klux Klan, the mascot was later changed to a blue-colored scent hound dog named "Ole Blue" in the 1970s.

MTSU's current mascot is a blue winged horse named "Lightning," adopted as the mascot in 1998, when the athletics department updated its image in preparation for the 1999 upgrade to Division I-A football and subsequent transfer to the Sun Belt Conference. ^[2] Lightning symbolizes the university's aerospace program and the region's heritage in the walking horse industry. It also symbolized the university "taking flight" as part of its "Soarin' To The Sun" public relations campaign when the school joined the Sun Belt.

Sanctioned sports

NCAA-sanctioned athletic teams include:

MEN:

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Football (See also: Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football)
• Golf
• Tennis
• Track

WOMEN:

• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Golf
• Soccer
• Softball
• Tennis
• Track
• Volleyball

MT also fields teams in club sports such as rugby union, ice hockey and inline hockey. These "club sports" are not sanctioned by the university, though each team does receive funding as a student organization. They are also authorized to use school logos, wordmarks, and identities. These teams do not compete at the NCAA level, though they do compete against other colleges and universities within unofficial intercollegiate organizations. MT also has a very active equestrian team which competes in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association in both huntseat and western division. Though a club team, the members have won several individual national championships and were as a team the 2003 National Western Reserve Champions.

MT has won two NCAA national championships in team sports: golf (1965) and men's tennis doubles (2007). However, seven individuals have won national championships. All were in golf or track. The most recent of these came in 2003 when sprinter Marty Scales captured the NCAA Men's 100 meter sprint title.

MTSU Track has a storied history including 43 conference titles, 18 NCAA top-25 finishes and 80 All-American awards. The program has been led since 1965 by legendary coach Dean Hayes.

The MTSU Baseball program has enjoyed a storied history as well. The Blue Raiders have won 16 conference titles. For the last 35 seasons the Blue Raiders have been coached by two men. The last 21 of those years it has been Steve Peterson at the helm. The Blue Raiders have made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. Their best turnout was in 1982 when the Blue Raiders fell one game short of making the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. In 2009, Rawley Bishop, Nathan Hines, and Bryce Brentz all broke several team and league records to lead the Blue Raiders to the 2009 Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles.

MTSU's football program is possibly not as storied as some of the others. But the Blue Raiders have won 12 conference titles, the most recent being in 2006. That year, the Blue Raiders won their second Sun Belt Conference championship and received a bid to play in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit, Mich., the programs first major Division 1-A bowl game. MTSU has had 13 head coaches including Johnny "Red" Floyd, the man who the football stadium is named after. Floyd has the highest winning percentage of any of the MTSU head football coaches. Also possibly the most famous coach in MTSU history was Charles Murphy. Murphy has the longest tinure of any Blue Raider football coach and also has the most wins. In fact in one four year period from 1956-1959, Murphy's teams won four straight Ohio Valley Conference championships. The Blue Raiders are currently led by Rick Stockstill.

The MTSU Women's Basketball program, currently coached by Rick Insell, has a long record of success including a number of appearances in the NCAA and WNIT basketball tournaments dating back to the 1970s. The Blue Raiders won the Sun Belt Conference championship in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009, receiving the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Women's Tournament. In 2008, the team lost in the Sun Belt Championship game, and received a bid to play in the WNIT. The MTSU Women's team has been home to the NCAA's leading scorer for the past two consecutive seasons: Amber Holt in 2008, and Alysha Clark in 2009.

The MTSU Women's Volleyball program has developed into a national power with consecutive Sun Belt Conference championships and NCAA tournament bids in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 the Blue Raiders advanced to the NCAA tournament second round and followed that up in 2007 with a "sweet 16" appearance to conclude the best season in team history.

The 2008 Blue Raider Men's Golf team advanced to the NCAA tournament final round (16 teams) and finished ranked 15th in the nation.

Facilities

The university's main athletics building, the Charles M. Murphy Center, lies on the northwest corner of MTSU's campus. Inside the Murphy Center is Monte Hale basketball arena, which seats 11,520. The Murphy Center also features athletic offices, classrooms, axillary gyms, and an indoor track.

Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, named after a former MTSU football coach, lies adjacent to the Murphy Center. The stadium features 31,788 seats and a playing surface, installed in 2006.

MTSU also features many smaller stadiums for various other sports. MTSU's baseball stadium, Reese Smith, Jr. Field, was recently renovated in 2008. It holds 3,000 seats. ^[3] The MTSU softball stadium, located next to the Recreation Center, was renovated in 2006. The stadium seats over 1,000 fans. ^[4] The Dean Hayes Track and Soccer Field, named for the very successful former MTSU track coach, lies on the northern edge of campus. Seating capacity is 1,500. ^[5]

Because of MTSU's central location in the state, the athletic facilities at MTSU are the site of many Tennessee state high school championship games and matches.

Rivals

MT's chief football rivals are the Troy University Trojans and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The chief basketball rival are the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

Media coverage

MTSU operates the "Blue Raider Sports Network", a radio network syndicating its sporting events to several stations across the area. Also, some of the football games are recorded onto video by students from the College of Mass Communications and are aired on the student run TV station, MTTV Channel 10. Occasionally, football games will be broadcast on ESPN Plus, and can either be seen locally or on ESPN's pay-per-view "Gameplan" service. The Blue Raiders have also had at least four football games televised on ESPN or ESPN2, including an October 6, 2006 game against the eighth-ranked Louisville Cardinals at Nashville's LP Field, the 2006 Motor City Bowl against Central Michigan, a September 6, 2007 game at Louisville, and a September 2008 game at home against Florida Atlantic.

MTSU men's basketball games can be heard on 1450 AM WGNS, and 89.5 FM WMOT.

MTSU women's basketball, plus occasional baseball and softball games, can be heard on 88.3 FM WMTS-FM.

Cumulus Media's ESPN 106.7 The Fan WNFN in Nashville became the flagship station for MTSU football in August 2006. The football games also remain on WMOT.

MTSU also provides live audio and video broadcasts of women's soccer through their website www.GoBlueRaiders.com, with David Powell providing commentary since the 2006 season.

References

1. The Blue Raider Nickname
2. Legend of Lightning
3. Building It So They Will Come
4. Softball field
5. Track and Soccer Stadium opens at MTSU