Early years The competitive sports of cricket and rugby-football held annual matches as early as 1873, School (Bishop's College School) vs. Old Boys (University of Bishop's College, later known simply as Bishop's University). The College teams also played against local teams who were able to hold their own against despite the college's small enrolment. Bishop's first fielded a football team in
1884 and played in the
Quebec Rugby Football Union, while also competing in
1885,
1889, and
1891. The team then joined the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union in 1898 and competed in the intermediate series until 1955. Upon the dissolution of the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union Central, which had kept the senior program membership to just four schools, Bishop's was a member of the independent Ottawa-St. Lawrence Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1955, which had programs competing at the senior level. The national
Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union was formed in 1961 where the Gaiters program was an inaugural member.
Bruce Coulter era It wasn't until the early 60's that Principal Ogden Glass gave the university the direction that athletics needed to provide the necessary moral and financial support that ultimately shaped the modern day success of the Gaiters football program. Principal Glass hired
Bruce Coulter as director of athletics and head football coach in 1961. This hiring would help Bishop's develop a full-fledged athletic program with teams that could compete on the senior intercollegiate level. Coulter's team won their first championship in 1964 after defeating the
Ottawa Gee-Gees 32–12 in the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Athletic Association championship. The Gaiters joined the newly formed Quebec University Athletic Association (QUAA) in 1971 and finished the season with a 6–0 record and were QUAA champions that year. With the introduction of national playoffs and the
Vanier Cup in 1965, the Gaiters played in their first semi-final bowl game, the
Churchill Bowl, in 1971, but lost to the
Alberta Golden Bears. The QUAA and merged in 1974, meaning that the Gaiters were now a member of the
Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference (OQIFC) East Division. The Gaiters played in the
Yates Cup East Finals in 1976 and 1977, but would lose both games. The OQIFC reverted to a two-conference system, rather than two divisions of one conference, in 1980 so the West Division became the
Ontario University Athletics Association and the Gaiters remained in the OQIFC. Coulter was elected to the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1997 based on his 29-year head coaching career at Bishop's.
Recent years The program remained competitive shortly after Coulter's departure, with four consecutive appearances in the Dunsmore Cup game, with the one victory in 1994 over the McGill Redmen. The OQIFC was renamed the Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference (QIFC) in 2001 after all teams were based in
Quebec at that point and the QIFC was formally renamed the Quebec University Football League in 2004. during a game in 2007 In 2007, running back
Jamall Lee and then-head coach
Leroy Blugh were honoured as major award winners by the Quebec University Football League. Lee was awarded the Jeff Russel Trophy, given to the league's most outstanding player, while Blugh was named QUFL Coach of the Year. Under Blugh, the program saw a marked improvement, finishing with two winning records and three playoff appearances from 2007 to 2010 as well as having several players
drafted into the
Canadian Football League. After a winless season in 2012, Mackey and the Gaiters had an outstanding season in
2013 by posting a 6–2 record, which was their most wins in a season since 1993. The team was led by
quarterback Jordan Heather who became the first Gaiters player to be awarded the
Hec Crighton Trophy after he had a CIS record 3,132 passing yards in a single season. Mackey also won the
Frank Tindall Trophy as Coach of the Year in Canadian Interuniversity Sport in 2013.
Atlantic University Sport On December 15, 2016, the Gaiters announced that their football program would compete in the
Atlantic University Sport (AUS) football conference starting in the 2017 season. Being a smaller school, Bishop's felt that they could no longer compete with the
Laval and
Montreal programs which operated more as private businesses with much larger budgets. The move expanded the AUS to five teams and halted interlock play with the RSEQ. On December 22, 2016, it was announced that Chérif Nicolas had been hired as the 10th head coach in the modern era of the Bishop's football team. The Gaiters finished their first AUS season with a fourth consecutive 1–7 season in 2017. After a winless 2018 season, the Gaiters broke through in the
2019 season by finishing with a 4–4 record and hosting a playoff game for the first time since 1993. After a semi-final win against the
Mount Allison Mounties, the team appeared in the
Loney Bowl, which was a loss to the
Acadia Axemen. After the cancelled
2020 season, the Gaiters regressed in
2021 and finished 2–4, but still finished in third place and qualified for another Loney Bowl, but lost to the
St. Francis Xavier X-Men 25–17. After a second place finish and a semi-final loss to the Mounties in
2022, the Gaiters finished with a 6–2 record in
2023, but lost the Loney Bowl to the X-Men again. In the
2024 season, the Gaiters finished in first place with an 8–0 record and won their first Loney Bowl championship which was their first conference championship in 30 years. In the subsequent
Uteck Bowl appearance, the Gaiters lost to the
Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 48–24 to end their season. In a competitive
2025 season, the team finished 5–3 and in third place as their season came to and end in the AUS Semi-Final.
Return to RSEQ On November 24, 2025, it was announced that the Gaiters would be returning to the
RSEQ for the 2026 season. The move was made as of November 30, 2025, due to all teams in the AUS facing financial constraints and travel costs travelling to and from Bishop's. ==Rivalries==