Army's
football program began on November 29, 1890, when
Navy challenged the cadets to a game of the relatively new sport. Navy defeated Army at West Point that year, but Army avenged the loss in
Annapolis the following year. The academies still clash every December in what is traditionally the last regular-season Division I college-football game. Army's football team reached its pinnacle of success during the Second World War under coach
Earl Blaik when Army won three consecutive national championships in 1944, 1945 and 1946, and produced two
Heisman Trophy winners:
Doc Blanchard (1945),
Glenn Davis (1946). From 1944 to 1950, the Cadets had 57 wins, 3 losses and 4 ties. During this time span, Army won three national championships. Army produced a third Heisman trophy winner in 1958 when
Pete Dawkins took the honors. Past NFL coaches
Vince Lombardi and
Bill Parcells were Army assistant coaches early in their careers. The football team plays its home games at
Michie Stadium, where the playing field is named after Earl Blaik. Cadets' attendance is mandatory at football games and the Corps stands for the duration of the game. At all home games, one of the four regiments marches onto the field in formation before the team takes the field and leads the crowd in traditional Army cheers. Two of the regiments are tasked with performing the morning parade while the last regiment is tasked with ancillary stadium duties. For many years, Army teams were known as the "Cadets." In the 1940s, several papers called the football team "the Black Knights of the Hudson." From then on, "Cadets" and "Black Knights" were used interchangeably until 1999, when the team was officially nicknamed the Black Knights. Individual cadets as well as groups of cadets to include the entire team are still often referred to as "Cadet" or "The Cadets" with regard to athletic events. Between the 1998 and 2004 seasons, Army's football program was a member of
Conference USA, but starting with the 2005 season Army reverted to its former independent status. Army competes with Navy and
Air Force for the
Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. In 2024, Army began competing in the American Athletic Conference, renamed in 2025 to American Conference. While Air Force plays in the
Mountain West Conference, Navy has been a football member of the American since 2015. The regular season matchup between Army and Navy is contested as a non-conference matchup after the conference championship game and therefore does not affect conference standings. ==Championships==