| Teamname: | Southern Utah Thunderbirds football |
| Currentseason: | 2024 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team |
| Firstyear: | 1963 |
| Athleticdirector: | Doug Knuth |
| Headcoach: | DeLane Fitzgerald |
| Headcoachyear: | 1st |
| Hcwins: | 5 |
| Hclosses: | 6 |
| Stadium: | Eccles Coliseum |
| Stadiumbuilt: | 1967 |
| Stadcapacity: | 8,500 |
| Stadsurface: | Hellas Matrix Turf (since 2012) |
| Location: | Cedar City, Utah |
| Conference: | United Athletic Conference |
| Pastaffiliations: | Independent (1963–1968) Western Football (1986–1992) American West (1993–1995) Independent (1996–2003) Great West (2004–2011) Big Sky Conference (2012–2021) Western Athletic Conference (2022) |
| Atwins: | 237 |
| Atlosses: | 299 |
| Atties: | 10 |
| Conftitles: | 4 (1993, 2010, 2015, 2017) |
| Divtitles: | 1 (1970) |
| Websitename: | suutbirds.com |
| Websiteurl: | http://www.suutbirds.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=20100&SPID=11715&SPSID=95828 |
The Southern Utah Thunderbirds football (also referred to as the SUU Thunderbirds) program is a college football team that represents Southern Utah University (SUU). With a history dating back to 1963, SUU currently competes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision[1] as a member of the United Athletic Conference.
Southern Utah fielded its inaugural team in 1963 with Bruce Osborne as head coach,[2] remained an NAIA independent through 1968, then became a charter member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).[3] The Thunderbirds were members of the RMAC from 1969 to 1985, with an overall record of during After 1985, Southern Utah moved to and joined the Western Football Conference While in the WFC from 1986 to 1992, the Thunderbirds' overall record was
In 1993, Southern Utah moved up to and joined the American West Conference (AWC) as a The AWC folded after the 1995 season, and the Thunderbirds were overall in those three years. They were an independent for then became a charter conference member again in 2004 with the Great West Conference (GWC).[4]
In November 2010, Southern Utah announced its admission to the Big Sky Conference, effective
In 2017, Southern Utah won their second Big Sky title, finishing the regular season at with wins over four ranked (FCS) teams: Northern Iowa, Weber State, Eastern Washington, and NAU. The Thunderbirds earned the eighth seed in the FCS playoffs; Warren was the conference coach of the year and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
SUU joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), already home to regional rival Utah Tech, in 2022.[5] After the 2022 season, the WAC fully merged its football league with that of the ASUN Conference, creating what eventually became the United Athletic Conference, and SUU accordingly moved its football team to the new league.[6] [7]
| 1993 | 3–7–1 | 3–1 | ||
| 2010 | 6–5 | 4–0 | ||
| 8–4 | 7–1 | |||
| 2017† | 9–3 | 7–1 | ||
| Conference Championships | 4 |
| 1970† | RMAC Mountain | N/A lost tiebreaker to Western New Mexico | ||
| Division Championships | 1 | |||
The Thunderbirds have appeared in the FCS playoffs three times with an overall record of 0–3.
| First Round | Sam Houston State | L 20–51 | ||
| First Round | Sam Houston State | L 39–42 | ||
| Second Round | Weber State | L 13–30 |
| 1963–1964 | 9–6–1 | |||
| 1965–1966 | 8–8 | |||
| 1967–1977 | 49–53 | |||
| 1978–1982 1986–1995 | 80–74–4 | |||
| 1983–1985 | 14–14–1 | |||
| 1996 | 4–7 | |||
| 1997–2002 | 28–38 | |||
| 2003 | 4–7 | |||
| 2004–2007 | 10–33 | |||
| 2008–2015 | 45–47 | |||
| 2016–2021 | 21–42 | |||
| 2022–present | 1–1 |
Announced schedules as of August 10, 2024.[9]