The RIT Tigers are composed of 22 teams representing the Rochester Institute of Technology in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, crew, cross country, cheerleading, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track and field.

In the 1955–56 season under coach A. Leo Fox, they went undefeated with 17 wins and 0 losses, success that led local media to dub the team "Tigers".

[4] Women's basketball began at RIT with their first varsity match on January 6, 1988, when they lost to the Brockport Golden Eagles 73–39.

[7] In January 1978, after seven seasons, RIT discontinued its football program on the basis that they would not be able to commit sufficient funding to the team.

[citation needed] Men's ice hockey became a varsity sport at RIT when they debuted in NCAA Division II in the 1962–63 season.

[11] In 2021, the RIT Tigers won the 2021 NCAA Division III tournament, defeating the Salisbury Sea Gulls in the championship game to cap off an undefeated season.

As of 2021,[update] their best performance in the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament came in 1988, when they lost 3–0 in the final game to the UC San Diego Tritons.

[17] RIT was a long-time member of the Empire 8, an NCAA Division III athletic conference, but moved to the Liberty League beginning with the 2011–2012 academic year.

[18] On March 17, 2012, the women's ice hockey team, after finishing the regular season with a record of 28–1–1, won its first NCAA Division III national championship, defeating the defending champion Norwich University 4–1.

[20] Additionally, RIT has a wide variety of club, intramural, and pick-up sports and teams to provide a less-competitive recreational option to students.

A year and a half later, when X-rays revealed he was suffering from genetic pelvic and leg joint problems, he was humanely euthanized.

RIT helped the Seneca Park Zoo purchase a new tiger shortly after SPIRIT's death, but it was not used as a school mascot.