Panthers

NCAAB Florida International Panthers

General Team Information

NCAA Division: Division I

Conference: Conference USA (2013-present)

Past Conferences: Trans America Athletic, Sun Belt

City: University Park, Fla.

Stadium: Ocean Bank Convocation Center

NCAA Tournaments: 1 (1995)

Championships:

National Championships: None

Conference Tournament Titles: 1 (1995)

Conference Regular Season Titles: 1 (1993)

Team History

The Florida International Panthers are a Division I program located in University Park, Fla. Florida International joined Conference USA in 2013, having previously competed in the Sun Belt Conference.

Florida International had only two winning records during its 15 seasons in the Sun Belt and never won a regular season or tournament title. Its only NCAA Tournament appearance came in 1995 under Bob Weltlich, who had already planned to resign as head coach following the season.

Florida International overcame long odds to win the Trans America Athletic Tournament (later known as the Atlantic Sun) with a losing record and, in the process, received an automatic bid to the field of 64. The Panthers went on to lose in the first round to top-seeded UCLA, 92-56, and finished the year 11-19.

Twenty-four years later the Panthers returned to the postseason behind first-year coach Jeremy Ballard, and fell in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament to Green Bay. Despite the loss, the Panthers (20-14) finished with their second-most wins in program history.

The Panthers won another 19 games in 2020 under Ballard, a former Virginia Commonwealth associate head coach, before falling back under .500 in each of the following two seasons. They were picked 10th out of 11 teams in the C-USA 2022-23 preseason poll.

The program’s previous coaches include Richard Pitino, Isiah Thomas and Shakey Rodriguez.

Florida International, relatively speaking, is a young program, having begun play in 1981. The Panthers jumped from Division II to Division I in 1988. They posted their first winning season (20-10) in 1993 and claimed the TAA regular season championship.

Notably, three alumni have gone on to play in the NBA: Clyde Corley, Raja Bell and Carlos Arroyo, the program’s all-time assists leader (459.)