- Source: UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros football
The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros football team will represent the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in U.S. college football as a future member of the Southland Conference in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). They will begin play at that level in 2025, after an exhibition schedule in 2024. They are coached by Travis Bush.
The team traces its history to the Edinburg Broncs football team, which represented the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA) – which merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2015 to create UTRGV – at the junior college level from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1947 to 1950.
History
= Edinburg Broncs
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The University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA), which was merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2015 to form the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), had a football team when it was known as Edinburg College and was a junior college. Edinburg began play in 1927 and the name "Broncs" was chosen out of a number of others submitted in a naming contest. With J. D. Foster as head coach, the Broncs (also referred to as the Broncos or Bronchos) compiled a record of 4–2–3, which included a tie in their debut against the reserve squad of the Southwest Texas State Bobcats – now the Texas State Bobcats. After four seasons, the program was shut down, having not won more than four games in a year. The team was revived in 1947 as a member of the South Texas Junior College Conference.
The revived team hired Edinburg High School coach Bobby Cannon as head. He utilized a single-wing offense with what was described as a "famed shot-punt football system", but the team had limited success and he was relieved of his duties after two seasons. The Broncs played two seasons afterwards before the school board opted to discontinue it.
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There was talk of reviving the team as Edinburg became UTPA and a four-year school, and as it later merged to become UTRGV. On January 14, 2021, it was reported that UTRGV had explored to create a football program at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level by 2024. At the time, it was believed that the program would compete as part of the newly reinstated football conference within the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
The WAC announced the intended creation of this conference on the same day, as well as the addition of five new members to the conference in all sports, including football. The new members announced, effective July 1, 2022, include: Abilene Christian University, Lamar University, Sam Houston State University, and Stephen F. Austin State University, at that time all members of the Southland Conference (SLC), along with Southern Utah University, then of the Big Sky Conference (BSC). Shortly after the four SLC members announced their departure, that league expelled them, leading the WAC to move their arrival forward to 2021. However, further conference realignment led the WAC to merge its football league with that of the ASUN Conference (since reverted to its past name of Atlantic Sun Conference), with which it had a football-only alliance in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The new league, known as the United Athletic Conference (UAC), started play in 2023, and UTRGV joined while being scheduled to first play at a later date.
Travis Bush was hired as the first coach of the UTRGV football team on December 11, 2022. UTRGV has since delayed the start of varsity football to the 2025 season, though it plans to play an exhibition schedule in 2024. It plans to play home games in Brownsville and Edinburg, both home to UTRGV campuses that it inherited from its predecessor institutions (respectively UT Brownsville and UT Pan American). The university has committed to establishing separate marching bands and spirit programs (cheerleading and dance) for the two campuses. In 2024, it was announced that the University had purchased H-E-B Park (formerly the home of the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros) to be the primary home of the football team in 2025, which will host all but one home game, as Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville will host a game every year. H-E-B Park was renamed to Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium on March 21, 2024, after two longtime UTRGV donors. On March 25, an announcement was made that UTRGV was moving to the Southland Conference, without ever having played a game in the UAC.
= Classifications
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1927–1930: Junior college
1931–1946: No team
1947–1950: Junior college
1951–2023: No team
2024: Exhibition team
2025–future: NCAA Division I FCS
= Conference affiliation
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1927–1930: Unknown
1931–1946: No team
1947–1950: South Texas Junior College Conference
1951–2023: No team
2024: Exhibition team
2025–future: Southland Conference
Future non-conference opponents
Announced non-conference opponents as of October 10, 2024.
References
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