Florida Tech Panthers football
The Florida Tech Panthers 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 were members of the Gulf South Conference. Florida Tech's first football team was fielded in 2013, and the final team was fielded in 2019. Steve Englehart was the first and only head coach. In May 2020, Florida Tech shut down its football program due to budget cuts that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Venues. The team played its home games in Florida Tech  Panther Stadium at Palm Bay High School in Melbourne, Florida. In July 2015, Florida Tech bought naming rights to the stadium; prior to this, the facility was known as Pirate Stadium. All-time record vs. current Gulf South Conference opponents. Official record (including any NCAA imposed vacates and forfeits) against all current GSC opponents: All-time record vs. non-conference opponents. $ North Alabama was a member of the Gulf South Conference for the matchups between 2013-2017 All-time record vs. ranked opponents. Florida Tech were 6-16 all-time against ranked opponents with two of those wins coming  against Top 5 teams in the 2015 season, at #5 Delta State and at home against #1 West Georgia. Two of the losses were to ranked FCS teams, in 2014 at Bethune-Cookman and 2015 at Southeast Louisiana. The Panthers won at least one game against a ranked opponent in every season between 2014-2018. ^ game was played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX & playoff game Rivalries. West Florida. Florida Tech played West Florida each year in the Coastal Classic, a matchup of the only Division II football programs in the state of Florida. The winner was awarded the  Coastal Classic Trophy. The trophy stands 24 inches tall on a six-inch wooden base. It features a large bronze anchor and a 6-pointed ship's wheel with nautical sailing rope as the focal point of the trophy. A small bell is attached to the anchor with a white segment of sailing rope attached to its clapper. West Florida won the series' first installment during their inaugural season of 2016, upsetting the 16th ranked Panthers, 42-39 in Pensacola. The following year in Melbourne, a controversial intentional grounding penalty against Florida Tech on fourth down on what would have  been the game's final play gave West Florida the ball for one play to attempt and convert a 44-yard field goal for a 23-21 victory. Florida Tech would get its revenge along with their first ever win against UWF in memorable fashion in 2018, rallying from a 21-3 first half deficit to score 27 straight points and hold on to beat the 17th ranked Argonauts, 30-28. Individual awards and honors. All-Americans. Florida Tech has had 18 players honored as All-Americans. To date, Adonis Davis is the only AP First Team All-American and  J.T. Hassell is the only AFCA First Team All-American. Playoffs. The Panthers appeared in the Division II playoffs twice with a record of 0-2. FIT earned their first playoff berth in 2016, the fourth season in program history. Their 8-2 record earned them the #3 seed in Super Region Two and a first round home game only to be upset by North Greenville, 27-13. They would return to the playoffs two seasons later, earning the #6 seed in Super Region Two on the strength of an 8-3 record. They would again be knocked out in  the first round, this time at third-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne, 43-21. Bowl games. The Panthers had played in one bowl game, the 2013 ECAC Futures Bowl, which happened at the conclusion of their inaugural season against fellow first-year program Alderson-Broaddus in Philippi, West Virginia. The Panthers won that game, 32-20, on a snowy afternoon thanks to 295 passing yards and four touchdowns from Bobby Vega along with Xavier Milton's 14 receptions for 177 yards and two touchdowns.