Every day is a great day to be a Bulldog, but there’s never been a better time to be a fan of Bryant’s athletics teams. The university barely broke stride after moving up to Division I competition in 2012, and Bryant teams have racked up multiple championships since the university joined the America East Conference in 2022-23, a streak of victories capped by winning the Commissioner's Cup in 2025.
Read on for stories about Bryant’s standout players, coaches, and staff, along with some tips on how fans can get in the game and show out with Bulldog Pride.
New Bulldog digs
Bryant’s teams are making a name for themselves on the national sports scene, and the university’s new, $40 million Navigant Credit Union Field House matches those on-field ambitions.
Adjacent to David M. ’85 and Terry Beirne Stadium, home of Bryant’s football, soccer, and lacrosse teams, the 43,000-square-foot field house includes 1,000 seats for spectators; enhanced concession and ticketing areas; professional-grade press boxes; new training, recovery, and wellness facilities; state-of-the-art locker rooms; and a high-tech media strategy room. The Black & Gold Club lounge provides food and drink service for club members and guests as well as incredible views of the field.
“This investment in both athletics and student and alumni experience strengthens Bryant’s position as a destination of choice for student-athletes and provides an extraordinary new venue for Bulldog fans,” says Bryant University President Ross Gittell, Ph.D.
The opening of the field house gives Beirne Stadium a more complete fan experience, adds Bill Smith, J.D., Bryant’s vice president of athletics and recreation.
“With chairback seating on both sides of the stadium, fans have easy access to restrooms, concessions, a beer garden, the team shop, a kids zone, and, most importantly, a great venue to cheer on the Bulldogs,” he says.
Cup runneth over
The Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner's Cup honors the top-rated athletic program in the America East Conference. Bryant snared the award after just three years in the conference, showing that “we’re getting our coaches and student-athletes the resources they need to be successful in all our sports programs,” says Smith.
“Thirteen of our programs in the America East Conference finished in the top four last year,” he says, noting that Bryant won the men’s basketball regular season and tournament championship and had six runner-up finishes over the course of the 2024-25 season (men’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s lacrosse, baseball, and softball).
“The America East is such a competitive conference in every sport, and Bryant’s success is a true testament to the commitment, dedication, and hard work that all of our student-athletes and coaches put in throughout the year,” says Smith.
In it to win it
Men’s soccer made Bulldog history this fall and took their place among the best in the nation. The squad rose to number two in the national rankings on the strength of the 15-game unbeaten streak that opened the season, fueled by strong offensive performances from multiple players and, as in past seasons, one of the stingiest defenses in the country.
The Bulldogs finished as runners-up in the conference and earned an at-large bid into the national NCAA Tournament. There, they recorded their first-ever playoff victory and made it all the way to the sweet 16 round, falling to Saint Louis in a penalty kick shootout at Beirne Stadium.
Good coaches always defer credit for success to their players, but there’s no denying that the team’s rise to the elite ranks of NCAA Division I play directly coincided with the hiring of Head Coach Ruben Resendes in 2023.
Resendes had an immediate impact on what had been a middling program: his first season at Bryant resulted in a 16-2-2 record, a league championship, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
If 2024 was something of a rebuilding year, the 2025 team was primed to make the deepest postseason run in the program’s history. “Over the last three seasons, we’ve built one of the premier Division I programs in the country,” says Resendes, noting the thousands of fans packing Beirne stadium in support of the team. “This season’s success shows just how far we’ve come.
“We’ll be back, stronger and hungrier,” Resendes vows. “This is only the beginning.”
The 2026 FIFA World Cup™, the world’s biggest sporting event, has arrived in North America, and Bryant is in the middle of the action. The university is the official base camp for Team Ghana, one of 48 nations participating in the tournament this June and July.
The 'Bulldog Way'
Every Bryant student knows that you walk through the Archway at Commencement and not a minute sooner — but Bulldogs have several game day rituals for players and fans as well:
- The Pregame: Starting four hours before kickoff, the parking lots near Beirne Stadium sprout canopies, grills, and cornhole games as the Bryant community enjoys a tailgate party. Cheerleaders, a performance by the university band, parents wearing pins with photos of players, and friendly rivalries among fans of the home and visiting teams are all part of the experience.
- The Stroll: About two-and-a-half hours before games, Bryant football players walk as a team from the university’s Unistructure to Beirne Stadium. Family, friends, and fellow students line the route to offer high-fives and words of encouragement.
- The Slap: As players arrive at the stadium, they pat the paw of the bulldog statue in the plaza outside the Navigant Credit Union Field House for luck.
- The Chime: Wins are heralded by ringing the plaza’s victory bell.
- The “Fit”: Black, white, and gold are the obvious fashion choices for gameday, but the drip is monochromatic for home games when a “white out” or “black out” is declared, with fans presenting a unified front in support of Bulldog teams.
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Owning the court
Bryant women’s volleyball celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. For 30 of those years, the team has been led by Theresa Garlacy, who collected her 600th career win in 2024.
“I can teach somebody volleyball; I can't teach them to be a good human and a good teammate,” says Garlacy, who led the team to an America East regular season co-championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance this past season. “I'll do this as long as I have good women that want to learn and work hard. If they want to be in the gym with me, I want to be in the gym with them.”
A 2018 run to the NCAA Championship Tournament and a three-year undefeated streak in conference play in the early 2020s are among the team highlights that were celebrated at an anniversary event held in November. The commemoration included current and former team members, coaches, and supporters, including Bryant Athletics Hall of Famer Lorraine Hudak, the team’s founding coach.
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On the march
The Bryant Pep Band, already loud and proud in its support of the university's athletic teams, is stepping up its presence both on and off the field. The modestly composed band of the past is steadily progressing toward becoming a full-scale marching band.
As a warmup, the band began performing simple marches in Beirne Stadium during games this past football season, and added choreography to some of the 100-plus songs in its ever-growing catalog.
The band and Bryant's cheer and dance squads — which took second place in the 2025 National Cheerleading Association and National Dance Assocation competition — harmonize closely with each other to fuel Bulldog spirit. The university's coaches work with band leaders on how to boost the home team and get into the heads of opponents.
Collectively, their performances help to bring out the best in players and fans — a collaboration that's much appreciated, as evidenced by musicians regularly sharing fist-bumps with student athletes on the sidelines.
"Playing in front of the crowd and hearing their cheers makes the music sound even better," says band trumpeter Andrew Helm '27.
Bryant’s alma mater song, with its shoutouts to Roger Williams and “brave Narragansett warriors,” dates back to 1863. Its game day fight song, though, is much more current: it was performed for the first time in 2016. Sing along with this short-but-sweet rallying cry, and help fire up the team!
Verse:
Bry-ant Bull-dogs, fight Black and Gold!
Iron-clad strong, we stand brave and bold.
Fight, fight Bull-dogs, we cheer for Thee.
Lead us, oh Bull-dogs, to vic-to-ry!
Cheer:
BLACK! GO BLACK!
GOLD! GO GOLD!
BLACK! GOLD!
BLACK AND GOLD!
(Repeat First Verse)
Cheer:
“FIGHT!”
Hoop dreams
New coach. New system. Even loftier goals. That was the scenario for a Bulldogs’ men’s basketball team coming off an incredible year.
In the 2024-25 season, the Bulldogs soared to a 20-11 record, won the America East Conference title, and earned a March Madness bid under former Head Coach Phil Martelli Jr. After Martelli departed to pursue other coaching opportunities, Bryant brought in Jamion Christian to lead the team.
“I feel like I’m coming in as a stabilizing force,” says Christian, whose previous college head coaching stops included Mount St. Mary’s University, Siena College, and George Washington University. “My job is to take this baton and move it forward.”
Christian’s belief that size and success go hand in hand on the basketball court has helped guide his approach to team construction.
“Martelli's team was one of the biggest in the America East Conference; our [2025-26 team was] even bigger,” he says, noting that having taller players allows the Bulldogs to “post up everybody and play with a lot of versatility,” similar to the system he used coaching Pallacanestro Trieste to a Serie A2 Championship in Italy’s top professional league.
In addition to physical attributes, Christian focused on character and work ethic in shaping his first roster at Bryant, looking for athletes “with the heart and soul to be connected to something bigger than themselves, where they're going to constantly come here and want to earn their standing on our team, to accept both mistakes and successes as opportunities to learn.”
Although 2025-26 turned out to be a rebuilding years for the team, “I'm really pleased with what we’re building,” Christian says.
Smooth moves
Student-athletes are important teammates in Bryant’s Exercise and Movement Science program, which prepares students for careers in fitness, athletics, and healthcare. In addition to participating in internships in the program’s lab, athletes take part in research like studies that explore differences among body composition assessment methods and compare power output in leg movements.
“Our researchers gain high-quality data that advance understanding in areas such as performance testing and human physiology, while athletes receive personalized information that includes measures of aerobic capacity, body composition, strength, and power,” says Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Biological and Biomedical Sciences Jason Sawyer, Ph.D.
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Rowing forward
Coming off a 2025 campaign where Bryant’s NCAA Division I Women’s Rowing team earned a bronze medal at the Dad Vails Championships and had their best finish ever at the famous Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, the team joined the Coastal Athletic Association conference for the 2026 season. It’s a big step forward for a team that rose from club-level competition just four years ago (Bryant offers more than 50 club options overall).
A Dawg's life
Tupper is a pooch of few words, but we got one of the humans who plays Bryant’s costumed canine mascot to (anonymously) share some stories about life inside the spiked collar.
Becoming Tupper: “I always joked about how fun being a mascot would be and, in my junior year, my roommate who’s in the band texted me and said they needed a Tupper for today's game and would I do it?”
Tupper Debut: “I got to the game and there were no shorts for Tupper. I just wore the head, the jersey, and the chains. It looked like Tupper was in a bathing suit. I went up to President Gittell to shake his hand, and he said, ‘Tupper, where are your pants?’ I’m not supposed to talk, but I had to tell him.”
Manifesting Tupper: “There's no real training. I just try to be as dramatic and goofy as possible. The more reaction I get, the more fun people have.”
Suited Up: “On hot days it’s like a sauna, but for cold games I’m perfectly comfortable inside. I can see out of the eyes, but I have no peripheral vision, which is why I need a handler to guide me. I struggle with doorways, because the helmet is about a half a foot taller than my head.”
Best Day Ever: "The little kids love Tupper. Well, half the kids love him; the other half are terrified. But it’s all about the faces that light up when they see Tupper and want to get high-fived — they really think you’re a walking dog.”
High-tech teammate
It’s been more than two decades since Moneyball spotlighted the importance of analytics in baseball; now, the game has gone digital.
For the 2025 season, the Bryant baseball team invested in Trackman, a scouting platform that uses AI, SD Doppler radar, and cameras to collect detailed data on pitching and hitting, delivering metrics like spin rate, launch angle, and pitch and exit velocity to help improve performance at the plate and on the mound.
“We can see where guys hit balls well and where they don’t,” says Will Kaufman, the team’s hitting coach, while pitchers can observe the speed and motion of their pitches and make adjustments on things like ball grip and release point.
Coaches use Trackman metrics to design pitching strategies and guide swing decisions for hitters, and for players the benefits of Bryant adopting the system go beyond college, Kaufman says. “Some major league teams are drafting guys just based on their analytics,” he notes.
Tupper's victory lap
Ironclad Tupper II, the living embodiment of Bulldog Pride since 2018, barked a final farewell at halftime of a men's basketball game in December before trotting off into retirement. The search for a successor (the future Tupper III) is currently underway.