The Wofford Terriers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Wofford College located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as members of the Southern Conference (SoCon). Wofford's first football team was fielded in 1889. The team plays its home games at the 13,000 seat Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Shawn Watson is the current head coach for the Terriers.

History Wofford fielded its first football team in 1889. That season, Wofford and Furman played the first intercollegiate football game in South Carolina. There is no record of more than four games in a season before 1900.From the archives - Sports: The early years on Wofford.edu

Wofford moved from Division II to join the Division I-AA Southern Conference in the 1996–97 season. Since then, Wofford has won 7 Southern Conference Championships, and received bids to the FCS Playoffs 10 times with the most recent bid coming in 2019. Wofford is typically one of the strongest teams in the Southern Conference every year.

Wofford's best finish since moving from Division II was a trip to the National Semi-finals at Delaware in 2003, where they fell 24–9. Mike Ayers, Wofford's winningest and most honored coach who served as head coach for thirty years, retired following the 2017 season, when Wofford made it to the national quarterfinals and finished #8 in the national polls. In recent years, Wofford's football and other athletic teams have finished near the top in the country in APR, which measures academic performance of athletes. Numerous football players have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Classifications 1957–1969: NAIA 1970–1987: NAIA Division I 1988–1994: NCAA Division II 1995–present: NCAA Division I–AA/FCS

Conference memberships 1889–1900: Independent 1901–1941: Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association 1942–1945: Independent 1946–1964: South Carolina Little Three 1965–1987: NAIA Independent 1988–1994: NCAA Division II independent 1995–1996: NCAA Division I–AA independent 1997–present: Southern Conference

Conference championships Wofford has won seven conference championships, three outright and four shared.

2003 Southern ConferenceMike Ayers 12–2 8–0 2007† 9–4 5–2 2010† 10–3 7–1 2012† 9–4 6–2 2017 10–3 7–1 2018† Josh Conklin 9–4 6–2 2019 8–5 7–1 † denotes co–champions

Bowl game appearances 1949 Phil Dickens Cigar Bowl Florida State L 6–19

Playoff appearances NCAA Division I-AA/FCS The Terriers have appeared in the I-AA/FCS playoffs ten times with an overall record of 9–10.

2003 First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinals North Carolina A&TWestern KentuckyDelaware W 31–0W 34–17L 9–24 2007 First RoundQuarterfinals MontanaRichmond W 23–22L 10–21 2008 First Round James Madison L 35–38 2010 Second RoundQuarterfinals Jacksonville StateGeorgia Southern W 17–14L 20–23 2011 Second Round Northern Iowa L 21–28 2012 Second RoundQuarterfinals New HampshireNorth Dakota State W 23–7L 7–14 2016 First RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinals Charleston SouthernThe CitadelYoungstown State W 15–14W 17–3L 23–30 2OT 2017 Second RoundQuarterfinals FurmanNorth Dakota State W 28–10L 10–42 2018 First RoundSecond Round ElonKennesaw State W 19–7L 10–13 2019 First Round Kennesaw State L 21–28

NCAA Division II The Terriers have appeared in the Division II playoffs two times with an overall record of 0–2.

1990 First Round Mississippi College L 19–70 1991 First Round Mississippi College L 15–28

NAIA The Terriers appeared in the NAIA playoffs one time. Their combined record was 1–1.

1970 SemifinalsNational Championship Game New Mexico HighlandsTexas A&I W, 28–23L, 7–48

Wofford vs. in-state NCAA Division I schools

School Record Percentage Streak First meeting Last meeting Charleston Southern 14–0 Won 14 1993 2016 Clemson 3–13 Lost 5 1896 2019 Coastal Carolina 0–1 Lost 1 2006 2006 Furman 33–54–7 Won 1 1889 2019 Presbyterian 41–40–3 Won 6 1914 2017 South Carolina 4–20 Lost 17 1895 2017 South Carolina State 6–3 Lost 1 1974 2019 The Citadel 30–42–1 Won 4 1916 2019 Total: 124–169–11

Notable former players

Brenton Bersin, former wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL) Miles Brown, former defensive lineman for the Tennessee Titans Fisher DeBerry, former head coach at Air Force and College Football Hall of Famer Ameet Pall, former defensive end in the Canadian Football League (CFL) Kasey Redfern, former NFL punter Jerry Richardson, wide receiver for the Baltimore Colts, former owner of the Carolina Panthers. Nate Woody, Defensive coordinator at Army Shiel Wood, Defensive coordinator at Houston Greg Gasparato, Defensive coordinator at Tulane

Yearly results +YearCoachWinLossTie1889Edwin Kerrison2001890020189301018940101895William Wertenbaker310189622019001211901J. Norman Walker2301914Curtis McCoy1611915Harvey Hester3501916Leslie Moser2701917Leslie Moser5401918Bernard Peters0301919J.P. Major3211920John F. Gorsuch0811921John Gilroy2701922J.P. Major2701923J.P. Major6301924J.P. Major3701925J.P. Major3701926J.P. Major2801927Tommy Scaffe2431928Tommy Scaffe7211929Tommy Scaffe3601930Tommy Scaffe2901931Tommy Scaffe4501932Tommy Scaffe3611933Tommy Scaffe3601934Jules Carson4411935Jules Carson4411936Jules Carson1711937Jules Carson2701938Jules Carson0811939Jules Carson1531940Jules Carson3421941Jules Carson4601942Ted Petoskey2501946Ted Petoskey1801947Phil Dickens6501948Phil Dickens4051949Phil Dickens11101950Phil Dickens7211951Phil Dickens6311952Phil Dickens6501953Conley Snidow6411954Conley Snidow8201955Conley Snidow7401956Conley Snidow7301957Conley Snidow8201958Conley Snidow3701959Conley Snidow5501960Conley Snidow5301961Conley Snidow5421962Conley Snidow2801963Conley Snidow4601964Conley Snidow6401965Conley Snidow5401966Conley Snidow6311967Jim Brakefield4601968Jim Brakefield4701969Jim Brakefield9201970Jim Brakefield11101971Jack Peterson6401972Jack Peterson6401973Jack Peterson4611974Steve Satterfield7401975Steve Satterfield7311976Steve Satterfield4701977Buddy Sasser7311978Buddy Sasser3801979Buddy Sasser5501980Buddy Sasser7221981Buddy Sasser6501982Buddy Sasser8301983Bill Parker6501984Bill Parker2901985Rick Gilstrap3801986Rick Gilstrap4611987Rick Gilstrap11001988Mike Ayers5501989Mike Ayers6501990Mike Ayers9301991Mike Ayers9301992Mike Ayers6501993Mike Ayers7311994Mike Ayers5601995Mike Ayers4701996Mike Ayers6501997Mike Ayers3701998Mike Ayers4701999Mike Ayers6502000Mike Ayers7402001Mike Ayers4702002Mike Ayers9302003Mike Ayers12202004Mike Ayers8302005Mike Ayers6502006Mike Ayers7402007Mike Ayers9402008Mike Ayers9302009Mike Ayers3802010Mike Ayers10302011Mike Ayers8402012Mike Ayers9402013Mike Ayers5602014Mike Ayers6502015Mike Ayers5602016Mike Ayers10402017Mike Ayers10302018Josh Conklin9402019Josh Conklin8402020Josh Conklin1402021Josh Conklin11002022Josh Conklin0502022Shawn Watson3302023Shawn Watson290Total55154336

Future non-conference opponents Announced schedules as of May 12, 2026.

Gardner–Webb at Clemson at South Carolina at Charlotte at Kent State South Carolina State at Harvard at Elon at Ole Miss

References

External links