A member of the
Southern Conference, Furman sponsors teams in eight men's and ten women's
NCAA sanctioned sports:
Football In 1988 Furman won the
NCAA I-AA National Football Championship. Furman was also a runner-up in the 1985 and 2001 NCAA I-AA National Football Championship game losing to
Georgia Southern and
Montana respectively, and a semifinalist in 1983, 1989 and 2005. Furman,
Colgate,
Lehigh, Fordham,
Richmond and
Villanova remain the only private universities that have appeared in the I-AA Football Championship game, and Furman was the first private school to win it, with Richmond becoming the second 20 years later. Furman also ranks 5th in
NCAA Division I FCS playoff appearances with 18 appearances. Over the past few years, Furman's football team has been consistently ranked in the top three spots in the NCAA I-AA polls, and has climbed to no. 1 in the nation in the
Sports Network polls. The Paladins have also claimed 15 Southern Conference football titles, more than any school in league history. Furman has only won one national championship in football.
Men's basketball The men's basketball team is currently led by head coach
Bob Richey and play their home games at the
Timmons Arena. Furman's best decade has been 1970–1980 when the team made 6 appearances to the
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and made the Sweet Sixteen round in the
1974 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament. In 2018, the Paladins entered the College Basketball AP Poll for the first time in program history, ranking #23 in the nation in the
2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings on December 10. The Paladins appeared in the
2023 NCAA Tournament after a 43-year tournament absence, advancing to the second round after winning their first tournament game in 49 years.
Women's basketball The Paladins began play in 1969. As of the end of the 2015–16 season, they have an all-time record of 535–577. In their two NCAA Tournament appearances, they lost in the first round each time, 90–52 to Louisiana Tech and 90–38 to Tennessee, respectively. They lost 74–68 to Auburn in their only WNIT appearance in 2014.
Golf Women's golf Few collegiate woman golf programs have produced more professionals than Furman, which has 11 former Lady Paladins on the
LPGA Tour, including two
World Golf Hall of Fame inductees (
Betsy King and
Beth Daniel). Furman has claimed 18
Southern Conference championships: 1994–2002, 2004–05, 2008–09, 2015–2019. Furman won the
AIAW national championship (which became the NCAA Championship in 1983) in 1976 and finished 3rd in 1974, 5th in 1975 and 3rd in 1977. Since 1983 it has made 19 appearances in the
NCAA Women's Golf Championship, placing 2nd in 1987 and finishing 10 times in the top 12. In recent years, Furman's women's golf has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation by
Golfweek In the 2019–20 season, Furman's Natalie Srinivasan ended as the top ranked collegiate golfer in the nation according to Golfstat and was the recipient of the 2020
Annika Award.
Men's golf The men's golf team has won 13 Southern Conference championships: 1970, 1973, 1975–1977, 1984–86, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2004, 2010. PGA Tour players
Brad Faxon and
Bruce Fleisher played for the Paladins. The program nearly faced extinction in 2014 until a group of alumni led by Faxon helped keep the program going.
Soccer Coached by
Doug Allison, the men's soccer team has been ranked as high as no. 3 in the nation and has produced a share of professional players. Former star
Clint Dempsey, who now plays club soccer for
Seattle Sounders FC in
Major League Soccer, is the #1 all-time leading goal scorer for the US team and, including goals scored at the
2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the
2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the
2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil; and the all-time American scorer in the European league.
Ricardo Clark, a member of the
United States Men's National Soccer Team and
Houston Dynamo also played soccer for Furman. Current MLS players
Shea Salinas of the
San Jose Earthquakes,
Chris Klute of the
Colorado Rapids,
Jonathan Leathers of
Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and
Walker Zimmerman of
FC Dallas and member of the United States National Soccer team also played for the Paladins.
Tennis Men's tennis Furman men's tennis coach Paul Scarpa is the all-time winningest coach in American college tennis history, with a record spanning over 850 wins. A Florida State alumnus, he is a member of the ITA Men's Collegiate Hall of Fame, South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame and USTA Southern Section Hall of Fame. He also developed the current dual-match scoring system adopted by the NCAA since 1993 and is the inventor of the clay-court line Tenex tape used to mark clay courts throughout the world. Scarpa captured coached 108 All-Southern Conference players in his career at Furman. Notably, one of the founders of
Yik Yak, Tyler Droll, was a product of Furman Tennis. He also led Furman to 14 Southern Conference Championships, the most in league history, a consistent Top 50 NCAA Div 1 ranking and to the Quarterfinals in both the
1987 NCAA Division I Men's Individual Tennis Championships and the
2002 NCAA Division I Men's Doubles Tennis Championships. Since 2012, Furman men's tennis team has been coached by former world no. 1 in doubles
Kelly Jones. During the 2019–2020 season Furman was ranked in the top 10 in the nation in doubles.
Women's tennis Furman women's tennis team has won 19 Southern Conference Championships since 1987, the most in league history, and has been ranked as high as no. 24 in the nation. Since 1999, the women's tennis team has appeared in 12
NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships. Furman has had 2 players ranked in the top 10 in the nation in recent years in the individual rankings. During the 2019–2020 season Furman had 2 doubles teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation.
Women's lacrosse Started in 2015, the Women's lacrosse team was a member of the
ASUN Conference from 2015 to 2017. In their three years as a member, they reached the semifinals of the ASUN Conference Lacrosse Championships 3 times. They became part of the relaunched SoCon women's lacrosse league in 2018, reaching the final of the Southern Conference Lacrosse Championships both in 2018 and 2019. After the SoCon disbanded its women's lacrosse league after the 2021 season, Furman moved that sport to the
Big South Conference.
Cross country and track and field In the recent years, both Furman's men's and woman's track and field teams have been ranked in the top 15th in the nation in
NCAA DI
Cross Country National Poll. In 2018, Furman finished 2nd in the
5,000 meters NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships event. Furman finished 6th in the
2017 Women's 5,000 meters NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Furman finished 9th in the
2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Women's Team Championships and 7th in the
2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Women's Team Championships. Furman finished 5th in the
2018 NCAA Division I Cross Country Men's Individual Championships. From 2013 to 2022 the Furman men's and women's cross country team has both won 10 consecutive Southern Conference Championships Furman's Cross Country/Track and Field programs has been under the guidance of former Olympian and former Ohio State head coach
Robert Gary since 2012. Furman hosted the NCAA Southeast Regional Cross Country championships for over a decade, and hosted the
1997 NCAA Cross Country national championship and the
2001 NCAA Cross Country national championship.
Rugby Started in 1998, Furman's Rugby Club team won the
East Coast Collegiate Division III Championship three years in a row from 2003 to 2005 and was runner-up in 2007 and 2008. In 2011, Furman joined Division II and has appeared in the Division II Rugby Championships final four a record of 8 times in the last 10 years, placing 2nd in
2016 Division II Rugby Championships. Furman ranked no. 6 in the nation in the Division II combined rankings from 2015 to 2019. Furman built a rugby stadium John S. Roberts Field on campus in 2008, with strong financial backing from alumni and friends. Furman has made a commitment to its rugby program, promising $100,000 annually in scholarships and financial aid to rugby players. Furman rugby is led by head coach John Roberts. ==Nickname==