The nickname 'Blue Raiders' was coined by an MTSU football player, Charles Sarver, in 1934 Daily News Journal contest.

A member of Conference USA, Middle Tennessee sponsors teams in eight men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports.

Their best turnout was in 1982 when the Blue Raiders fell one game short of making the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

In 2009, Rawley Bishop, Nathan Hines, and Bryce Brentz all broke several team and league records to lead the Blue Raiders to the 2009 Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles.

The highest was pitcher Dewon Brazelton who was selected third overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2001 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

He helped carry on annual events such as the yearly Fish Fry that is held every October and was started by Coach John Stanford.

In the first round coach Bruce Stewart's Raiders hosted in-state rival Tennessee and beat the Volunteers 85–80 in front of a full-house in the Murphy Center.

After beating the Bulldogs, the Blue Raiders hosted Boston College for the right to go to Madison Square Garden and the NIT Semifinals.

Not only is he now the winningest coach in Blue Raiders history, but he also graduated from the Rebels' biggest rival, Mississippi State.

The MTSU Women's team has been home to the NCAA's leading scorer for two recent consecutive seasons: Amber Holt in 2008, and Alysha Clark in 2009.

The Lady Raiders also had one of the longest home winning streaks in the NCAA, spanning 30 games between March 2021 to November 2023.

The Lady Raiders defeated #5 seed Louisville in a comeback win of the first round of the 2024 NCAA Women's Tournament.

Middle Tennessee has had 15 head coaches including Johnny "Red" Floyd, the man who the football stadium is named after.

The track program has a storied history including 43 conference titles, 18 NCAA top-25 finishes and 80 All-American awards.

The women's volleyball program - which plays its games in Alumni Memorial Gym - has developed into a national power with Sun Belt Conference championships in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010; and NCAA tournament bids in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

In 2006 the Blue Raiders advanced to the NCAA tournament second round and followed that up in 2007 with a "sweet 16" appearance to conclude the best season in team history.

MT also has an equestrian team which competes in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association in both huntseat and western division.

During the golden anniversary in 1961, Charles Douglas Williams, graduate in 1953, wrote "Alma Mater", an original composition musically and lyrically.

The march, written by Paul Yoder, opens with a traditional drum roll and a trumpet fanfare that closely resembles Dixie, which was played as a fight sung up until then, tying in the Confederate symbolism of the school's mascot, the Raider.

On September 10, 2011, the day before the centennial of MTSU, the Blue Raiders hosted the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for the largest crowd to fill Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium.

The tune and melody are similar to that of On, On, U of K.[7] The university's main athletics building, the Charles M. Murphy Center, lies on the northwest corner of MTSU's campus.

Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, named after a former MTSU football coach, lies adjacent to the Murphy Center.

It will include advanced training spaces, rehabilitation areas, nutrition stations, and academic support facilities.

The center aims to improve both athletic and academic success, making MTSU more competitive in recruiting and student-athlete wellness.

[11] MTSU's original mascot was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate General and early leader in the Ku Klux Klan.

[12] Because of Forrest's ties to the Ku Klux Klan, the mascot was later changed to a blue-colored scent hound dog named "Ole Blue" in the 1970s.

[14] MTSU's main rival in all sports is against WKU (Western Kentucky Hilltoppers) in the aptly named "100 Miles of Hate".

Historically, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles have been a rival in all sports, with the most notable meeting being in 1990; when a basketball game between the two schools turned into a bench clearing brawl.