The 2016 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team represented East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season and were in the first year of their second stint as football members of the Southern Conference (SoCon).

ETSU returned to the SoCon as a full but non-football member in 2014, at that time announcing that the school would reinstate football with play beginning in the 2015 season.

The Buccaneers played that season as an FCS independent.

They were led by second-year head coach Carl Torbush and played all but one of their home games at Kermit Tipton Stadium.

The other home game, the Buccaneers' first SoCon game since 2003, was held at the nearby Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17.