Since the university’s inception, sports has been an extremely important part of Southern Miss. Football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and track were all instituted in the school’s first year. The Athletic Department now fields 14 successful teams, including softball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s golf, and women’s cross country. Southern Miss has established itself as one of the most respected athletic programs in the country, with the motto of “Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” sending a message that the Golden Eagles are a force to be reckoned with.

• A charter member of Conference USA, Southern Miss has also been a part of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the Gulf States Conference, and the Metro Conference. Southern Miss (then Mississippi Southern College) became part of the NCAA in 1952.

• Under Coach Thad “Pie” Vann, Southern Miss football captured the 1958 and 1962 College Division National Championships.

• Former Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jeff Bower led the Golden Eagles to 12-straight winning seasons, making Southern Miss one of only seven programs in the country to currently hold that achievement. Bower, the Conference USA Coach of the Decade, also guided Southern Miss to eight postseason bowl appearances in the last nine years and four Conference USA Championships.

• Head Coach Larry Fedora came to Southern Miss after spending the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State where the Cowboys have been in the top 10 in rushing yards per game and in the top 20 in total offense per game in each of the last two seasons. During Fedora's three-year tenure at OSU, the Cowboys raised their rushing, passing and total offensive yards each year that he was there. In 2006, the Cowboys were one of just two teams - the other being Boise State - to average over 200 yards both rushing and passing. The OSU offense averaged over 30 points per contest over his final two seasons as well. The Cowboys made the biggest improvement in the country in scoring following his second season of running the offense, jumping from 96th nationally in 2005 to seventh in 2006. Coach Fedora came to Southern Miss in December 2007. Since then, he has hired a fantastic new coaching staff and the recruiting class ranked #38 in the country.

• Men’s basketball captured the 1987 NIT Championship, the first ever national title for a Mississippi Division I school in basketball.

• The Lady Eagle women’s basketball team holds 10 postseason appearances, including eight trips to the NCAA Tournament.

• The softball Lady Eagles made appearances in the 1999 and 2000 Women’s College World Series, led by All-Americans and Southern Miss Hall-of-Famers Courtney Blades and Amy Berman.

• Southern Miss baseball, in addition to the 2003 Conference USA Championship, now holds four consecutive NCAA Regional Tournament appearances, the most in school history.

• Southern Miss is currently the only school in Conference USA to hold championships in football, men's basketball, baseball and softball.