The are the athletic teams of
Appalachian State University . The Mountaineers compete in the
NCAA Division I Southern Conference . The football team competes in the Division I
Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) , formerly I-AA. The Mountaineers are the only university in
North Carolina ,
Public or private, to win a NCAA national championship in
Football . Appalachian State won the
Division I-AA National Football Championship in 2005 and repeated as
FCS National Champions in 2006.
Yosef is the mascot for Appalachian State. The origin of the name Yosef comes from mountain talk for "yourself", the idea being that if you are a fan, friend or alumnus and have a heart of black and gold, you are Yosef.
1 Yosef first appeared in the 1942 edition of ''The Rhododendron'', Appalachian's annual yearbook. He was presented as a member of the freshman class with the name ''Dan'l Boone Yoseff from Appalachian''. The second "f" was dropped from Yoseff in January of 1947. Since his inception, Yosef has gone through many appearance changes with the current design being adopted prior to the 1983-84 year. The 2006 football season saw the return of Yosef's musket which was fired after every Appalachian touchdown.
See Also: 2007 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team
The 2007 season will see the Mountaineers participating in their 79th year of
College Football . The 2005 and 2006 seasons were arguably the most successful in Appalachian history with the Mountaineers winning consecutive
National Championships .
Jerry Moore will be entering his 19th year as head coach. Appalachian has intense rivalries in the Southern Conference with teams from
Furman University ,
Georgia Southern University , and
Western Carolina University . Appalachian and Western Carolina play annually for the
Old Mountain Jug . The Mountaineers currently have a 28 game home winning streak at
Kidd Brewer Stadium , the second longest in
Division I trailing only the
University Of Southern California , who have won 34 at home. Appalachian also hold the longest active win streak in
Division I college football with 16 consecutive wins.
The Mountaineers got off to a fast start in 2007 with perhaps the biggest win in program history with a road
Upset of the #5
Michigan Wolverines ,
34-32 , on
September 1 ,
2007 . With the win Appalachian became the first ever
FCS (I-AA) team to defeat an
AP nationally ranked
FBS (I-A) team. This victory was seen by some analysts to be one of the greatest upsets in NCAA football history.
2345. Following the win, they were featured on the cover of the following week's issue of
Sports Illustrated .
Numerous players from ASU have gone on to play in the
NFL . They include
Dexter Coakley ,
Dino Hackett ,
Larry Hand ,
Jason Hunter ,
Mark Royals ,
John Settle ,
Matt Stevens , Troy Albea, and
Daniel Wilcox . Additionally, players such as DaVon Fowlkes, Wayne Smith, and Richie Williams have found homes in the
Canadian Football League .
- 1931, 1937, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1954
- 1986, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2006
The Appalachian basketball team is currently coached by
Houston Fancher . Other notable past coaches include
Bobby Cremins and
Buzz Peterson . The Mountaineers have appeared in the
NCAA Tournament twice,
1979 and
2000 , and appeared in the
National Invitation Tournament in
2007 . The Apps play home basketball games at the
Holmes Center which opened in 2000 to replace
Varsity Gymnasium .
The Commissioner's and Germann Cups are awarded each year to the top men's and women's program in the
Southern Conference . The Commissioner's Cup was inaugurated in 1970.
6 The Germann Cup, named for former Southern Conference Commissioner Ken Germann, was first awarded in 1987.
- 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007
- 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2006, 2007
