Millsaps Majors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Millsaps College | |
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| University | Millsaps College |
|---|---|
| Conference | Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference |
| Association | NCAA Division III |
| Athletics director | Tim Wise |
| Location | Jackson, MS |
| Varsity teams | 14 |
| Football stadium | Harper Davis Field (football and soccer) |
| Basketball arena | The Hangar Dome (basketball and volleyball) |
| Baseball stadium | Twenty Field |
| Other arenas | Millsaps Softball Complex |
| Mascot | Mr. Major |
| Nickname | Majors |
| Fight song | Purple and White |
| Colors | Purple and White
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| Homepage | millsaps.edu/athletic/ |
The Millsaps Majors is the nickname for the sports teams of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi and their colors are purple and white. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.[1]
Men participate in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, football, soccer, tennis, golf, and cross country. Women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, dance team, softball, soccer, tennis, golf, cross country, and volleyball.[1]
The Majors had a fierce football and basketball rivalry with Mississippi College in nearby Clinton through the 1950s before competition was suspended after an infamous student brawl at a basketball game. Campus legend says the brawl was sparked by the alleged theft of the body of Millsaps founder Major Millsaps by Mississippi College students. The rivalry was considered by many as the best in Mississippi, featuring a prank by Mississippi College students who painted "TO HELL WITH MILSAPS" (sic) on the Millsaps Observatory. The football rivalry resumed in 2000 as the "Backyard Brawl", with games being held at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium until 2006 when it was played at Robinson-Hale Stadium on the campus of Mississippi College. The rivalry took a one-year hiatus in 2005 but resumed in 2006.
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[edit] Football
The Majors are led by former University of Alabama head coach (1997-2000) Mike DuBose, who came to Millsaps in 2005 after a three-year stint at Northview High School and Luverne High School in Alabama. Initially he was hired as Defensive Coordinator at Millsaps by then head coach David Saunders. At the end of the 2005 season, Saunders resigned and Dubose was promoted to Head Coach. Dubose has also held various assistant coaching positions at other colleges including defensive line coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (1980-1982), defensive line coach at the University of Southern Mississippi (1982/83 season) and defensive line coach at Alabama (1984-1987 and 1990-1996). He coached the defensive line for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers for three years (1987-1989).
Millsaps won the 2006 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference football championship by defeating Trinity University and claimed their first SCAC football title since 1996. The conference title earned them an automatic bid to the Division III playoffs, an achievement that the Majors had not accomplished since 1975. Millsaps went on to lose their first Division III playoff game to Carnegie Mellon University, 0-21.[2]
In the 2007 Trinity vs. Millsaps football game on October 27, 2007, trailing by two points with two seconds left in the game, Trinity University called a play for a short pass across the middle. The receiver pitched the ball backward, with a sequence of additional backward passes, also known as laterals, as players were in danger of being tackled. The "Mississippi Miracle" ultimately included 15 backward passes as it covered 60 yards for a touchdown that gave Trinity the win.[3][4][5][6][7] Ironically, it was the Millsaps Majors that defeated the Trinity Tigers the previous year 34-12 to win the SCAC championship.[8]
[edit] Miscellaneous
Millsaps was the summer training camp home for the NFL's New Orleans Saints in 2006 and 2007.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Millsaps College Athletics", Millsaps.edu, Millsaps College. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ 2006 SCAC Football Millsaps College Statistics
- ^ Briggs, Jerry. "Football: Trinity wins on miracle play", San Antonio Express News, October 27, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
- ^ "Video of the play", ESPN.com, The Disney Company. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ "Lateralapalooza", SI.com, Time Warner. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ Christensen, Mike. "Wild finish - think Cal-Stanford, '82 - beats Majors", ClarionLedger.com, Gannett Company, October 28, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ Briggs, Jerry. "Football: Trinity wins on miracle play", MySanAntonio.com, San Antonio Express News.
- ^ 2006 SCAC Football Millsaps College Statistics
