MIT Engineers football

MIT Engineers football
First season	1881; 143 years ago
Head coach	Brian Bubna 6th season, 30–21 (.588)
Stadium	Steinbrenner Stadium
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts
NCAA division	Division III
Conference	NEWMAC
Colors	Cardinal red and steel gray[1]

The MIT Engineers football program represents the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the American football intercollegiate sport. The team plays in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conferences (NEWMAC) and competes in Division III of the NCAA. Home games are played at Henry G. Steinbrenner '27 Stadium, located on the Institute's campus. The current coach is Brian Bubna.

History

The initial MIT football team, nicknamed the Techmen, recorded its first victory by defeating Exeter College, 2–0, in 1881.^[2] In 1901, the MIT student body voted 119–117 to discontinue the intercollegiate football squad. The university did continue to field sophomore and freshman football teams into the 1920s. The last game played against another university was the MIT sophomore team against the Harvard freshman team in 1901.^[3]

In 1978, a group of students self-organized to re-establish the team, though none of the school's administration knew at the time. To raise funds, they refereed intramural games, sold hot dogs, painted hurdles for track meets, took grants from the school, and sneaked loans from their fraternity budgets. For their uniforms, the team repurposed those of Rochester Institute of Technology, whose own football program had recently been cut.^[4]

Finally, the students met with then-MIT President Jerry Wiesner, who passed the issue toward MIT’s athletic board where Jack Barry, an assistant athletic director, recommended that MIT support the club for at least one season. Jay Glass, who covered the team for MIT’s newspaper, commented, “It was a hack on the university itself.” After a poor first season, the new MIT Engineers won their first victory in 1979 and went 6–1 the next year.^[4][5] In 1987, the club became a varsity program and joined the NCAA Division III. The next year, the team won its first varsity victory of the modern era, beating Stonehill, 29–7.^[6]

In 2014, the Engineers finished the regular season with a 9–0 record and won their first New England Football Conference title.^[7][2] The team returned to the NCAA playoffs in 2018 and 2019, winning back-to-back NEWMAC Championships.^[8][9] The 2020 season was cancelled due to coronavirus. In 2021, the Engineers finished the year with a 5-4 record.^[10]

References

1. "Colors - MIT Graphic Identity". Retrieved May 25, 2016.
2. "From cancelled to champions: The strange history of MIT Football". MIT News. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
3. MIT Technique 1903 edition, Vol. XVII, 1902 p. 155
4. Cohen, Ben (2014-11-23). "How Players at MIT Engineered a Football Team". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
5. "Celebrating 25 years of MIT football". MIT News. 2014-11-25. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
6. "Football, For Real, At M.I.T." The New York Times. 1988-09-01. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
7. Revenge of the nerds: MIT football team undefeated in historic run, retrieved 2019-03-10
8. "MIT Football Is Having Year For The Books". News. 2018-11-09. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
9. "MIT Claims NCAA Berth and NEWMAC Title With Wild 43-40 Win at Springfield". D3football. 2019-11-16. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
10. "2021 Football Schedule". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2022-07-03.