Florida Tech Panthers


The Florida Tech Panthers are the athletic teams that represent the Florida Institute of Technology, located in Melbourne, Florida, in intercollegiate athletics in NCAA Division II, primarily competing in the Sunshine State Conference since the 1981–82 academic year.
Sports currently offered by the program include baseball, softball, men's cross country, men's track and field, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's lacrosse, men's rowing, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's swimming.
Due to financial difficulties, the women's golf and the men's and women's tennis programs were canceled in the spring of 2019. The men's football program was also canceled in the spring of 2020. Other sports formerly offered by the program include men's golf, men's and women's cross country, women's rowing, and women's track field.

Varsity sports

Baseball

Florida Tech has had nine Major League Baseball draft selections since the draft began in 1965.
YearPlayerRoundTeam
1988Tim Wakefield8Pirates
20067Blue Jays
200712Blue Jays
2011Jonathan Cornelius24Cardinals
20129Braves
201228Braves
201314Marlins
20154Padres
201831Cardinals

Basketball

Florida Tech's college basketball teams compete in the Sunshine State Conference, a very competitive NCAA DII conference with schools like Florida Southern that have won national championships. In response to this, Florida Tech occasionally plays higher caliber Florida DI schools such as Florida State, Florida Gulf Coast, and Florida Atlantic. In 2011–12, the men's team, coached by Billy Mims, won the SSC regular-season championship with a record of 21–5 and reached the NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the second round of the South Regional. That year, they played two DI schools UAB and UCF, losing to both.
The Panther women's team has been playing since the 1986–87 season and has been coached by John Reynolds since 1987–88. The Panther women have reached the NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament nine times, won six regular-season Sunshine State Conference championships, four SSC tournament championships, one NCAA Division II South Region title and appeared in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in 2002. Entering the 2018–19 season, Reynolds' 559 wins ranks him at No. 8 among active DII women's coaches and 20th all-time.
Clemente Center is Florida Tech's basketball venue.

Football

The football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Florida Institute of Technology located in the U.S. state of Florida. The team competed in the NCAA Division II and was a member of the Gulf South Conference. Florida Tech's first football team was fielded in 2013. They played at the Florida Tech Panther Stadium. The football program closed after the 2019 season.

National championships

Team