The North Alabama Lions are the athletic teams of the University of North Alabama, located in Florence, Alabama. The Lions are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and compete within the ASUN Conference for all sports except football, in which they play in the United Athletic Conference. The university has a total of 14 varsity sports teams, six men's teams and eight women's teams. The fall of 2018 marked the Lions first year of their transition into Division I. They have a storied tradition in Division II and have earned numerous national titles competing in NCAA Division II's Gulf South Conference.
Conference affiliations
NCAA
Gulf South Conference (1971–2018) ASUN Conference (2018–present)
Varsity teams
The UNA Athletic Department sponsors the following sports:
Men's athletic teams
Baseball
Basketball
Cross country
Football
Golf
Tennis
Women's athletic teams
Basketball
Cross country
Soccer
Softball
Tennis
Track & Field (indoor and outdoor) Volleyball
Football
Since the rebirth of football at the University of North Alabama in 1949, UNA has been one of the most consistently successful programs in the state of Alabama and on a regional and national level.
As an NCAA Division II member, UNA was nationally ranked in the Top 25 of the final Division II poll 21 times from 1980 to 2017, with 15 Top Ten Rankings. UNA's 21 all-time playoff appearances are the second most in Division II history. In addition, UNA's 35 playoff wins are the second most in DII history and the Lions' 12 Gulf South Conference football crowns are by far the most in league history.
In 2018, the Lions began a new chapter with a transition to Division I and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) status. The Lions played as an independent in the FCS in 2018 and finished with a 7–3 record. In 2019, UNA played its first season as a member of the Big South Conference and went 4-7 overall, losing three games by a touchdown or less. The Lions were not eligible to rank in the conference standings due to the transition but would have finished fourth with a 3-4 league mark. During the season, the Lions faced four nationally ranked FCS teams, all on the road.
The University of North Alabama fielded football teams from 1912 to 1928, but with little or no success.
Following a miserable showing in 1928, football was dropped at the university. For the next 21 years there were several efforts made to return football to the Florence campus by writing letters to the administration and gathering names on petitions. Those efforts finally proved successful on March 30, 1949, when President Dr. E.B. Norton held a student assembly to announce that football would return to campus that September.
Since that September day, the university has reaped 67 years worth of benefits from a football program that has helped put UNA on the map as one of the nation's premier collegiate powers. As an example, North Alabama boasts the highest winningest percentage since 1990 of any collegiate football program from the football tradition rich state of Alabama at 72.29.
UNA's football success has come through the combined efforts of eight different head coaches, more than 80 assistant coaches and more than 1,200 student-athletes.
Since Hal Self guided the first Lion squad onto the field on Sept. 29, 1949, through UNA's playoff loss that ended the 2009 season, the North Alabama program has made a name for itself like few others in the nation.
The 2008 season, UNA's 60th since football returned to campus, was emblematic of the Lions’ current position in college football. The Lions posted a 12–2 record and came within one game of playing for the Division II National Championship on its home field. That's because UNA had served as the host for the Division II Football Championship since 1986, and is the only school to have had the chance to claim a Division II title on its home field. Following a record-setting season of his own, North Alabama quarterback A.J. Milwee was the runner-up for the Division II National Player of the Year Award. That award is the Harlon Hill Trophy, named for the former Lion standout end whose name has been on the player of the year award since its creation in 1986.