Northern Colorado Bears football

The Northern Colorado Bears football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Northern Colorado located in Greeley, Colorado. The team competes in the Big Sky Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The university's first football team was fielded in 1893. They joined Division I in 2004. The team plays home games at the 8,533 seat Nottingham Field on campus. The Bears announced the hiring of Ed Lamb on December 6, 2022, replacing Ed McCaffrey, who went 6–16 in two seasons.

Conference affiliations

Below is the list of conferences in which Northern Colorado has been a member.

• Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (1923–1971)
• Great Plains Athletic Conference (1972–1975)
• NCAA Division II independent (1976–1979)
• North Central Conference (1980–2002)
• Great West Football Conference (2004–2005)
• Big Sky Conference (2006–present)

Championships

National championships

Northern Colorado made two appearances in the NCAA Division II National Championship Game. The Bears defeated Carson–Newman, 23–14 in 1996, and later defeated New Haven, 51–0 in 1997.

Conference championships

† Co-champions

Division championships

Playoff appearances

NCAA Division II

The Bears appeared in the Division II playoffs nine times with an overall record of 12–7.

Attendance

Highest attendance

Below is a list of the Bears best-attended home games at Nottingham Field.

<small>As of the 2014 season.</small>

Yearly attendance

Source:

Below is the Bears home attendance by season at Nottingham Field.

<small>As of the 2015 season.</small>

Notable former players

Notable alumni include:

• Reed Doughty
• Vincent Jackson
• Dirk Johnson
• Jeff Knapple
• Bill Kenney
• Corte McGuffey
• Brad Pyatt
• Tony Ramirez
• Aaron Smith
• Loren Snyder
• Dave Stalls
• Frank Wainright
• Jed Roberts
• Herve Tonye-Tonye
• Cedric Tillman
• Brian Scott
• Kyle Sloter

Head coaching records in FCS

Since moving to the Big Sky Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2006, the Bears have struggled. Their FCS record since 2006 is 39–146 as of the 2025 season.

FCS head coaching records

• Scott Downing: 9–47
• Earnest Collins Jr.: 19–53
• Ed McCaffrey: 6–16
• Ed Lamb: 5–30 as of the end of the 2025 season

Team FCS record as of the end of 2025:

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of November 19, 2025.

References

External links