The Cumberland Phoenix football team represents Cumberland University in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Mid-South Conference.
Cumberland football began on October 26, 1894[2] with a 6–6 tie with Peabody and finished that first year with a 2–1–1 season record.
Cumberland would play a postseason game against Coach John Heisman's Clemson team on Thanksgiving Day that ended in an 11–11 tie and a record of 4–1–1 [3] which gave Coach A. L. Phillips and Cumberland University the Championship of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
[6] In 2001, Jacksonville State University Gamecocks placekicker Ashley Martin became the first woman to play and score in an NCAA Division I American football game when she kicked an extra point in the first quarter of a game against Cumberland University.
[7] For the 2008 season, CU's football earned a share of the Mid-South Conference West Division.