The Presbyterian Blue Hose football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Presbyterian College located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS); while Presbyterian is a full member of the Big South Conference, it plays football in the Pioneer Football League. Presbyterian's first football team was fielded in 1913. The team plays its home games at the 6,500 seat Bailey Memorial Stadium in Clinton, South Carolina. The Blue Hose were coached by Kevin Kelley, who was hired to lead the program on May 6, 2021,[2] but who left at the end of the season. The current coach is Steve Englehart. The Blue Hose began a transition to non-scholarship football in 2017 and left Big South football after the 2019 season, while otherwise remaining a full Big South member. The Blue Hose football program played the 2020–21 season as an independent and joined the Pioneer League in July 2021 upon completion of its transition.
History
The Presbyterian Blue Hose name originates from the blue stockings the players wore in the early 1900s.[3]
Presbyterian played the 2020–21 season in a scheduling agreement with the Pioneer Football League. It was not eligible for the conference title, but was eligible for individual awards and honors.
^"Traditions & Mission". Presbyterian College. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2023. What's a Blue Hose? It began in the early 1900s when sportswriters referred to the Presbyterian College sports teams as the "Blue Stockings" because of the blue socks (or hose) they wore. ... "The sports nickname was shortened to 'Blue Hose' in 1954," Hammet wrote, "presumably under the assumption that it sounded somewhat fiercer to carry onto the field of athletic battle." These days it also stands for fierce Scottish warriors, giving a nod to the College's Scottish heritage.
