The university sponsors sixteen teams including football, women's lacrosse, men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, softball, track and field, and volleyball; and recently discontinued baseball and men's lacrosse.

[3] In the 2019–2020 season, Furman finished in 32nd place in the NACDA Director's Cup Final Fall Standings.

Furman was also a runner-up in the 1985 and 2001 NCAA I-AA National Football Championship game losing to Georgia Southern and Montana respectively, and a semifinalist in 1983, 1989 and 2005.

Furman's football team has been consistently ranked in the top three spots in the NCAA I-AA polls, and has climbed to no.

The men's basketball team is currently led by head coach Bob Richey and play their home games at the Timmons Arena.

[10] In recent years, Furman's women's golf has been consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation by Golfweek[11] In the 2019–20 season, Furman's Natalie Srinivasan ended as the top ranked collegiate golfer in the nation according to Golfstat and was the recipient of the 2020 Annika Award.

[14] Former star Clint Dempsey, who now plays club soccer for Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer, is the #1 all-time leading goal scorer for the US team and, including goals scored at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil; and the all-time American scorer in the European league.

Current MLS players Shea Salinas of the San Jose Earthquakes, Chris Klute of the Colorado Rapids, Jonathan Leathers of Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and Walker Zimmerman of FC Dallas and member of the United States National Soccer team also played for the Paladins.

[18] He also developed the current dual-match scoring system adopted by the NCAA since 1993 and is the inventor of the clay-court line Tenex tape used to mark clay courts throughout the world.

[21] Furman women's tennis team has won 19 Southern Conference Championships since 1987, the most in league history, and has been ranked as high as no.

[30] After the SoCon disbanded its women's lacrosse league after the 2021 season, Furman moved that sport to the Big South Conference.

Started in 1998, Furman's Rugby Club team won the East Coast Collegiate Division III Championship three years in a row from 2003 to 2005 and was runner-up in 2007 and 2008.

[37] Furman built a rugby stadium John S. Roberts Field on campus in 2008, with strong financial backing from alumni and friends.

[citation needed] On September 15 of that year, the student body voted to make "Paladins" the official nickname of all of the university's intercollegiate athletic teams.

[citation needed] The Furman Paladin baseball team was led by head coach Brett Harker.

[41] As with varsity baseball, the men's lacrosse program was also discontinued on May 18, 2020, due to budget concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic.