University of Indianapolis Football: A History of the Greyhounds
The Indianapolis Greyhounds represent the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) in college football. Their home games take place at Key Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. From its founding in 1902 until 1986, the university was known as Indiana Central, but the Greyhound nickname for its athletic teams dates back to 1926. The original school colors, cardinal and grey, predated the athletic program, eventually shifting to crimson and grey. The current "flying I" helmet logo, adopted in 2007, now serves as the general UIndy athletics logo. In 2011, Greyhound football adopted black as the primary dark jersey color, with most other UIndy teams following suit.
Early Years and Conference Affiliations (1922-1970)
Indiana Central's varsity sports records formally began in 1922 with the hiring of the first full-time coach and athletic director. The college joined the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (IIC) in 1923 and fielded its first football team in 1924. After early success, the Great Depression threatened the college's very existence.
In 1947, the Greyhounds became charter members of the Hoosier College Conference and subsequently joined the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). They remained in the Hoosier conference until 1970, winning championships in 1947, 1953, 1954, 1955, and 1960. However, they never qualified for the NAIA playoffs, which did not begin until 1956. Dick Nyers, a star halfback on the 1953-55 teams, later played for the Baltimore Colts in 1956 and 1957.
Transition to NCAA and Conference Realignment (1970-2011)
In 1970-71, Indiana Central joined the Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC), applied for membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and began offering athletic scholarships. Three years later, the NCAA reorganized into its present three divisions (I, II, and III). Members were initially allowed to compete in different divisions in different sports and had five years to meet the qualifications of their primary division.
In 1978, the ICC became the Heartland Collegiate Conference, which did not sponsor basketball and ultimately became a football-only league. The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), founded the same year, became the primary conference for Greyhound athletics, while football competed in the Heartland. By 1990, the Heartland had dwindled to five members, which joined six schools from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) to form the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (MIFC). Indianapolis remained an MIFC member through 1998, when the GLIAC resumed sponsorship of football and absorbed the MIFC. The Greyhounds then became a football-only associate member of the GLIAC, where the program remained through the 2011 season. Indianapolis posted 10 winning records in 22 seasons of MIFC-GLIAC play, including an 8-2 mark in 1998, good enough for a second-place finish, but never qualified for the postseason.
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Great Lakes Valley Conference Era (2012-Present)
Indianapolis began playing football in the GLVC in 2012, when the conference finally had enough football-playing members to sponsor the sport in its 35th year of competition. In thirteen seasons of GLVC play, the Greyhounds have won ten conference championships and qualified for the Division II playoffs nine times, scoring postseason victories over Lone Star Conference (LSC) champion Midwestern State in 2012 and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) champion Fort Hays State in 2018. An undefeated 11-0 regular season in 2017 included a season-opening victory over Grand Valley State.
Rivalries
From 1924 to 1988, every Greyhound football schedule included Franklin College, located twenty miles south of the Indianapolis campus. Except for the years 1970-77 and 1987-88, their annual contest was a conference game, first in the IIC, then the HCC, and finally the Heartland. The Greyhounds only beat the Grizzlies once in their first ten meetings and never led the series, but went 5-0-1 in the last six contests to narrow the final margin to 23-26-2.
By then, Butler had replaced Franklin as Indianapolis' primary rival. The Greyhounds and Bulldogs first met in 1930, then again in 1948 and 1954, but did not begin playing annually until 1969. After the Bulldogs won 10 of the first 11 contests, the crosstown rivalry became quite heated; over the last 17 meetings (1977 through 1993) neither team won more than two consecutive games. From 1971 through 1992--years in which the Greyhounds and Bulldogs were conference rivals in the ICC, Heartland, and MIFC--the winner received the Top Dog Trophy.
By the mid-1990s, the Pumas of St. Joseph's College were the only other Division II football program in Indiana and became the main football rival of the Greyhounds. The two teams first played in 1971 and met annually through 2007 (except for 1998), then again from 2012 through 2016. It was a conference rivalry except for the years 1996-2007, first in the ICC, then the Heartland, the MIFC, and finally the GLVC.
Among opponents currently on the Indianapolis schedule, the longest-standing rivalry is with Ashland. The two teams met in 2025 for the 35th time in 72 seasons. The Greyhounds first played the Eagles in 1954, but the heyday of the series came in the years 1980-2011, when they played almost annually (28 times in 32 seasons) as conference rivals in the Heartland, MIFC, and GLIAC.
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Memorable Seasons and Achievements
Since the University of Indianapolis football team’s formation in 1923 and inaugural season in 1924, the program has recorded seven Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) championships and seven National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) appearances, according to UIndy Athletics. With 1924 marking the first year of the program, football delivered its first conference title for the Hoosier College Conference back in 1947 when the school was named Indiana Central College, according to an article in The Reflector. A few years down the road, the program completed an undefeated season before a national tournament was introduced in 1953. “That was a tremendous team led by Dick Nyers…,” Donovan said. “Nyers was considered [at] that time one of the best athletes in the state of Indiana…”. According to UIndy Athletics, the 1953 team was inducted into UIndy’s Hall of Fame in 2001, with a record of 8-0, having claimed the Hoosier College Conference Champions title once again. “The [19]75 team, when you look at it, was the best compilation of a bunch of guys that came together for that program,” Donovan said. Since the 1975 team, the 2012 Greyhound team accomplished successes that many of the teams had not done before them or could not have done, according to UIndy Athletics. In 2012, the program won the first-ever Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Championship while going back to the NCAA tournament where they collected their first win in program history in Division II. At the time, the team defeated the eighth ranked team, Midwestern State, to achieve this historic moment, according to UIndy Athletics. “It was an absolutely beautiful day because [the] weather was great; [there was a] huge crowd,” Donovan said. “And the other part of it too, as it was just the best environment… there [was] such a great buzz within the campus community. Once the 2012 team claimed this victory, the Hounds set forth claiming the GLVC title in back-to-back seasons, while having 23 GLVC conference wins in a row snapped in 2014, according to UIndy Athletics. After not making the national tournament in 2014, the Greyhounds went back to the NCAA Tournament in 2015. Eventually, in 2017, the Greyhounds became the first team since the 1953 team to go undefeated in the regular season before losing in the national tournament.
Head Coaches
The Greyhounds have had 15 head football coaches. Bill Bless holds the program records for most seasons coached (22) and most wins (114).
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