Get to Know the OVC - Tennessee Tech Edition

If you want to talk about Monmouth University Football, Quincy University Basketball, Notre Dame Men's Soccer, or whatever, this is the place.
Post Reply
User avatar
ST_Lawson
Site Admin
Posts: 8247
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:15 pm
Location: Macomb, IL
Contact:

Image

Tennessee Technological University (Tennessee Tech) is in Cookeville, TN, a town of ~35k about 70 miles east of Nashville. They originally began operations part of the University of Dixie in 1912, but was given over to local government after struggles with funding and enrollment, and in 1915 was renamed Tennessee Polytechnic Institute. In 1965, they became a full university and underwent the name change to Tennessee Technological University. Their current enrollment is just over 9.9k students.

Notable non-athletic alumni of TTU include: NASA Astronauts Roger Crouch and Barry Wilmore; Former Commander in Chief of the US Special Operations Command, Carl Stiner; former CEO of Boing, McDonnel Douglas, and Sundstrand, Harry Stonecipher; and country singer Dottie West.

Athletics

Image

The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles have been playing in the OVC since a year after the league's founding in 1948. With Murray State leaving for the MVFC this year, TTU will be the longest-tenured football team in the conference and second-longest for other sports after Morehead State (who joined when the league was founded but moved football out of the OVC in the '90s and currently play in the Pioneer League).

They have won three D1 national championships in Rifle (in '80, '81, and '82) with three athletes winning individual Rifle championships in that span. Sports taht they currently sponsor are:
Men - Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Tennis
Women - Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Track & Field, and Volleyball

Football

Last year, the Golden Eagles finished the season with a 4-7 overall record and 2-3 in the OVC. They are led by HC Alexander Dewayne, himself a TTU graduate (played there '85-'87, degrees in '89 and '98) and had previously coached there in lower coaching positions in '97-'98, '02-'03, and '13-'16, before being named HC in December of 2017. Coach Alexander has a 16-36 record in his 5 seasons at TTU with the best result being in 2019 when they went 6-6 overall. TTU last won the OVC in 2011, which was also their last FCS playoff appearance, where they lost to Central Arkansas in the first round.

Tennessee Tech plays football on Overall Field at Tucker Stadium, a 16,500 seat, on-campus stadium that was opened in 1966. Their largest home crowds came mostly in the '70s, when they had a few crowds of over 16k fans. Last season they averaged just under 7k per game in attendance.

The Golden Eagles play every year for the Sgt. York Trophy, which is a traveling trophy awarded to the team with the best head-to-head record against the other OVC football schools in Tennessee (TN State and UT Martin). Austin Peay was also included until they left the OVC a few years ago. TTU last won the Sgt. York Trophy in 2020.

Notable former players include: 1979 Pro-Bowler Jim Youngblood (played 12 years with mostly the Rams, but also a bit on the Redskins), Frank Omiyale (played 8 years for the Falcons, Panthers, Bears, and Seahawks), Elois Grooms (12 seasons with the Saints, Cardinals, and Eagles), John Tanner (played 4 years with the Chargers, Patriots, and 2 seasons in the CFL), Larry Schreiber (6 years with the 49ers and Bears), Davenport, Iowa native Mike Hennigan (played 6 years with the Lions and Jets, coached college football, including 9 years as HC at TTU), and Lonnie Warwick (10 years with the Vikings and Falcons, starting in Super Bowl IV).

WIU has played TTU in football twice. Once in 2017 at TTU where WIU won 41-14 (that's the game where Khalen Saunders had a rushing TD), and then in 2019 when TTU came to Macomb and beat us 38-24.

Basketball

The TTU basketball (and volleyball) teams play in the 9,280 seat Hooper Eblen Center (nicknamed "The Hoop"), which was opened in 1977. It is the second-largest arena in the conference and was once known as the "Temple of Doom". They have drawn more than 10k fans three times between '85 and '90.

The men's team is led by John Pelphrey, who will be entering his 5th season as HC this fall. He has a 41-82 record in his first 4 years, but last year was the most successful at 16-17 overall and 11-7 in the OVC, which was good for 2nd place in the conference. TTU last won the conference in '04/'05 and have appeared in the NCAA tournament twice ('58 and '63). They've also appeared in 2 NITs ('85 and '02) and 2 CITs ('11 and '12). They have a 1-1 record against our Leathernecks, playing a H&H series during the '88/'89 season, and with home teams winning each game.

The women's team is led by HC Kim Rosamond who is heading into her 8th season. She has a 115-97 record in that span, leading the team to a WBI Quarterfinals appearance in 2019, the second round of the WNIT in 2022, and to a NCAA tournament appearance this last season where they beat Monmouth (NJ) in a "First Four" game, then fell to #1 Indiana in the first round. Last season, the Golden Eagles had a 23-10 overall record, 13-5 in the OVC, and won the conference tournament. They have won the OVC regular season championship 18 times since 1978, has won 9 OVC conference tournaments, appeared in 10 NCAA tournaments, 5 WNITs, and 2 WBIs. The TTU women's team hasn't yet faced off against WIU.

Other Sports

Last season for the Golden Eagles:
Men's Tennis - 3-1 in the OVC, 8-13 overall
Women's Soccer - 5-0-3 in the OVC, 8-5-5 overall
Volleyball - 14-4 in the OVC, 17-14 overall
Baseball - 10-14 in the OVC, 21-34 overall
Beach Volleyball - 4-6 in the OVC, 7-12 overall
Softball - 2-21 in the OVC, 6-44 overall
Scott Lawson - Board Admin
Western Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
may know
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue May 05, 2020 4:16 pm

Tennessee Tech has a very nice basketball arena. 

They set the record for biggest loss in NCAA Tournament history in 1963 against the National Champions Loyola. They haven’t been back to March Madness since.
User avatar
sealhall74
Posts: 5770
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:18 pm
Location: Wherever, Windblows

I dont really understand how you drop the sport (rifle) which you had national championship success in.  Probably has something do with the NCAA only counting it as a men sport even though women usually participate as well.  So to keep the Title Niners happy, it might have been the right choice.  Is it a high budget sport?  Maybe, depending on how much computerization you have in your rifle range.  Rifles can also go for up to $5000 per if you want the best in the business.  But you don't generally have to travel to many matches during the season.
Embrace the pace of the race.
Post Reply