EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHERS

'The Eastern Illinois Panthers' are the men's and women's athletic teams representing Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL. Eastern Illinois University's colors are blue, black and silver. Eastern Illinois sports teams, except for men's soccer and swimming teams, participate in NCAA Division I (I-AA for football) in the Ohio Valley Conference. The men's soccer program competes in the Missouri Valley Conference and the swim team competes in The Summit League. The team mascot, a panther, was informally known as "Billy" until its name was officially changed to "Prowler the Panther" [1] in 2003.
Eastern Illinois University is home to one of only two NCAA Division I women's rugby teams in the United States.

Contents

History

Men's Basketball

Notable former athletes

External

History

Men's Basketball

★ Men's Basketball [2]

★
★ NAIA Tournament appearances 1947, each year from 1949 to 1954, 1957, 1958, 1965, 1971, and 1972.

★
★ NCAA Division II Tournament appearances each year from 1975 to 1980

★
★ NCAA Division I Tournament appearances (1992 & 2001).

★ All time tournament results

Year	Seed	First Round Winner		First Round Loser
1992	15	Indiana	94	Eastern Illinois	55
2001	15	Arizona	101	Eastern Illinois	76

===Football===

★
★ 1978 Division II National Champion, 1980 National Runner-Up.

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★ Division I-AA National Football tournament appearances: 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006

★ All time tournament results
[3]

Year	First Round Home Team		First Round Away Team		Quarterfinal Home		Quaterfinal Away
1982 OT	Eastern Illinois	16	Jackson Tigers	13	Tennessee State	20	Eastern Illinois	19
1983 2OT	Indiana State	16	Eastern Illinois	13
1986	Eastern Illinois	28	Murray State	21	Eastern Illinois	22	Eastern Kentucky	24
1989	Idaho	21	Eastern Illinois	38	Montana	25	Eastern Illinois	19
1995	Stephen F. Austin	34	Eastern Illinois	29
1996	Northern Iowa	21	Eastern Illinois	14
2000	Montana	45	Eastern Illinois	13
2001	Eastern Illinois	43	Northern Iowa	49
2002	Western Illinois	48	Eastern Illinois	9
2005	Eastern Illinois	6	Southern Illinois	21
2006[4]	Eastern Illinois	13	Illinois State	24

Notable former athletes

★ Tim Bogar, retired Major League Baseball infielder

★ Chris Szarka, Canadian Football League fullback

★ Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys Quarterback

★ Sean Payton, Head Coach of the New Orleans Saints

★ Brad Childress, Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings

★ Mike Shanahan, Head Coach of the Denver Broncos

★ Kevin Duckworth, former NBA All-Star forward

★ Kyle Hill, basketball player & professional basketball player in Europe

★ Henry Domercant, basketball player & professional basketball player in Europe
Matt Hughes, professional mma fighter and former ufc welterweight champion

External

★ Official athletics website