The Rose–Hulman Fightin' Engineers are the athletics teams for Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. The Fightin' Engineers athletic program is a member of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and competes at the NCAA Division III level.
History
Rose–Hulman currently competes in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC), an NCAA Division III athletic conference. It was previously a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) and Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC), the latter now known as the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Despite no longer sharing a conference affiliation with the SCAC, Rose–Hulman has always had a rivalry with DePauw University, and has consistently had nonleague rivalries with other nearby strong academic schools such as Washington University in St. Louis, University of Chicago, and Denison University.
The men and women's swimming and diving team previously had an affiliation with the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) but now participates in the HCAC. The colors of the Rose–Hulman Fightin' Engineers are rose and white, and their mascot is Rosie the Elephant.
As of 2021, Rose–Hulman has had a student athlete named to an NCAA Division III Academic All-America Team for 36 consecutive years. One hundred forty two Academic All-Americans have been named from the school.
Rose–Hulman won the Commissioner's Cup from the HCAC eight times over the decade from 2008 to 2018. This award is given to the school with the most points based on the teams performance in the conference.
Sports sponsored
Football
The Rose–Hulman football program was started in 1882. That year, Rose (then known as Rose Polytechnic Institute) played one game against Wabash College which they lost 12–0. In the early years, Rose played the likes of the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, University of Illinois, Indiana University, and Indiana Normal School, which is now Indiana State University.
Jeff Sokol has led the Rose-Hulman football team since 2011. During his tenure, he has led the Fightin' Engineers to three Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships (2013, 2016, and 2021) and five runner-up finishes (2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022). Sokol owns a career record of 63–33 (56–20 in the HCAC) as of the 2020 season.
Baseball
Baseball first made an appearance at Rose–Hulman in 1888. Since then, the baseball team has been a mainstay on the Rose–Hulman campus except for the stretch of time between 1929 and 1947 when Rose–Hulman could not field a team. In 2008, the team received a bid to the NCAA Division III Mideastern Regional Tournament which was held at Art Nehf Field on the campus of Rose–Hulman. The regional tournament has also been held on Rose–Hulman's campus in 2005 and 2006. The team also won the HCAC Conference Tournament, receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Mideastern Regional Tournament. In 2008, 2009, and 2010 the Engineers won their first game, all started by Derek Eitel, before losing the following two to be eliminated from the tournament.
Soccer
The women's soccer team was the 2007 HCAC champions and made an appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament in the same season. They repeated at the regular season conference champions in 2009. They also have record of 98–45–6 since. The men's soccer team was the best team in the HCAC regular season in 2008 and 2009 and second in 2006 and 2007, making the program's first ever appearance in the NCAA Division III National Soccer Tournament in 2008. They also have a record of 53–21–7 between 2006 and 2009.
Swimming
The Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology swimming and diving program has earned regional respect and achieved national accomplishments during the past decade. Rose–Hulman's swimming and diving resume features one national champion, six All-American awards and 64 all-conference awards since 1998. The men's squad finished either third or fourth in the nationally competitive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference for eight consecutive years, while the women improved from seventh to fourth in the 2005 campaign. The accomplishments include 17 provisional national qualification times, 11 conference champions and four individual swimmers competing at the NCAA Division III National Championships.