William & Mary fielded its first intercollegiate football team during the 1893 season.[2] Between 1896 and 1908 the team's nickname was "Orange and White", derived from the school's former colors (William & Mary now uses green and gold).[3] Since white uniforms dirtied too quickly, they became known as the "Orange and Black" from 1910 through 1916.[3] Between 1917 and 1977 they were known as the Indians, and throughout this period a man dressing up as a Native American would ride around on a pony along the sidelines during games.[3] This practice was discontinued when the outcry of stereotyping Native Americans as well as the use of a live animal became controversial.[3] Since the 1978 season William & Mary has adopted the nickname "Tribe."[3]
Throughout its history, William & Mary has been a member of seven different athletic conferences.[4] Three of these—the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Virginia Conference and Yankee Conference—are now defunct.[5][6][7] The Tribe's membership as a Southern Conference school is its longest tenure with one conference; they had a 40-year membership between 1936 and 1976.[4] William & Mary's current league, the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference (CAA), has only been a football conference since 2007 (it was known as the Colonial Athletic Association from 2007 through 2022, then rebranded in July 2023).[8] The CAA began competing in football as a result of the Atlantic 10 Conference's disbanding of the sport following the 2006 season. The A-10's remaining football schools joined the CAA football conference to continue competing in the sport. For all intents and purposes, including the conference's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, the A-10 football conference became the present-day CAA football conference.
Through the 2024 season, William & Mary has earned 13 I-AA/FCS playoff berths.[9] In two of these years (1988 and 1992) the Tribe has declined the bid, opting instead to play in the Epson Ivy Bowl, which was a short-lived college football bowl game played in Japan against a team composed of Japanese all-stars.[9][10] The Epson Ivy Bowl is not recognized by the NCAA as an official game and therefore does not count towards official win–loss records. In the playoffs, William & Mary has reached the national semifinals two times (2004 and 2009), and in each of those seasons won a program record 11 wins.[11][12] Previously in the Tribe's history they have also earned three postseason bowl game appearances, compiling one win and two losses.[9] There have also been 18 conference championships and one division championship; five of the conference titles and the lone division title were won under head coach Jimmye Laycock, who was the head coach from 1980 through 2018.[13][14]
Seasons
Legend
† Conference champions ‡ Division champions ^ Bowl game berth * Playoff berth
^DeLassus, David; Noel, Tex (2012). "Virginia Conference". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on December 11, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
^ abDeLassus, David; Noel, Tex (2012). "William & Mary Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
^DeLassus, David; Noel, Tex. "William & Mary Bowl History". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 19, 2002. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
^Washburn, Rob (July 20, 2023). "CAA Changes Official Conference Name To Coastal Athletic Association". CAAsports.com. Coastal Athletic Association. Retrieved July 20, 2023. The name change will carry over to the league's football conference, which will be officially recognized as the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference but continue to be referred to as the CAA Football Conference.
