The UMass Dartmouth Corsairs football team represents the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in college football at the NCAA Division III level. The Corsairs are members of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), fielding its team in the MASCAC since 2013. The Corsairs play their home games at Cressy Field in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Their head coach is Josh Sylvester, who took over the position in 2023.
History
It was announced in the late 1960s that UMass Dartmouth—then Southeastern Massachusetts University—would establish an American football team as a club team in the coming years. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth football program played its inaugural season as a club team in 1985 off campus at Sargent Field (now named Paul Walsh Field). The team's first coach was Paul Harrison in 1985, and he held the position until 1989. In 1988, the school transitioned its football team from a club team to an official varsity sport. The university hired William Kavanaugh as their head coach in 1990 until his retirement in 2006. The third head coach, Mark Robichaud, was named as Kavanaugh's successor for the 2007 season where he coached until his retirement following the 2022 season. Josh Sylvester, previously an offensive coordinator for the team, replaced Robichaud.
Paul Harrison era (1985–1989) In 1985, Harrison was hired to be their first head coach. He coached the team through its first three years as a club team and then two more years after transitioning to Division III.
In 1988, Harrison led the Corsairs to a 5–4 record, getting his first win against Western New England with the final score being 23–15. The team went on a five-game winning streak beating UMass–Boston (35–3), Worcester State (14–7), Bridgewater State (22–9), and Fitchburg State (34–0) before ending the year dropping three in a row to Framingham State (18–26), Westfield State (0–7), and Massachusetts Maritime (6–14).
The following year in 1989, UMass Dartmouth finished with a record of 2–7 and did not win a single of their five games on the road. The teams first win of the season did not come until homecoming night where the Corsairs beat Framingham State 22–18 at home. They finished the year winning one more game against Massachusetts Maritime 30–16 to finish Harrison's last game as a coach for the team.
William Kavanaugh era (1990–2006) In 1990, Kavanaugh took the job as the UMass Dartmouth head coach and finished his first campaign with the team with a 1–8 record; with their only win being Westfield State on the second-to-last-week of the season 14–13. The next season, in 1991, Kavanaugh had turned the team around to accomplish a 6–3 record which was good enough for second in the New England Football Conference (NEFC).
After finishing 5–4 in both 1992 and 1993, the Corsairs finished 8–3 in 1994, their best record in program history up to that point. With a 7–1 conference record UMass Dartmouth was named conference co-champions alongside Maine Maritime and were invited to the team's first postseason appearance in the ECAC Northwest Championship Bowl at Union College. The team lost against Union 34–14 for its first action in postseason play.
The team went 4–6 in 1995 before going 8–2 three consecutive years from 1996 to 1998. Finishing second in the NEFC in 1996 and 1998 and third in 1997. Despite having an 8–2 record for three straight years the team was yet to get a spot in the NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs. The team went 3–7 in 1999, 5–4 in 2000, and 6–3 in 2001.
In 2002, Kavanaugh led the team to an undefeated regular season record of 11–0. The Corsairs beat their opponents by at least 20 points in all but three outings, including a 44–0 win over Utica on homecoming night. UMass Dartmouth beat Westfield State 16–0 in the NEFC Championship Game to advance into their first ever playoff tournament appearance and postseason appearance since they were co-champions in 1994. The Corsairs lost their first-ever tournament appearance 6–56 against the Muhlenberg Mules.
Despite the large loss in the previous year, UMass Dartmouth followed their undefeated season with a 9–2 record including a 21–7 victory over Worcester State in the ECAC Northeast Bowl, making the team back-to-back champions. The following year Kavanaugh went 7–4 as the coach and once again went to the ECAC Northwest Bowl, they lost to Ithaca 19–36 in what would be Kavanaugh's last bowl game appearance.