NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The school's teams are known as the Golden Eagles, the team colors are purple and gold, and the mascot is Awesome Eagle.
== Theater ==
The Backdoor Playhouse was founded in the 1960s. Its current theater seats 200 spectators. In the academic year 2014/15, they produced a selection of at least five plays, among them Krapp's Last Tape, The Vagina Monologues, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The playhouse attracted news coverage in the summer of 2022, when the local Upper Cumberland Pride, the Lambda Gay-Straight Alliance, and the Tech Players staged a drag performance in the on-campus theater. A video excerpt of the performance, in which a child pays a drag performer money while the performer mouths the words "Take Me To Church," was posted on-line by child protection activist Landon Starbuck.
== Traditions and campus lore ==
Golden Eagle: The statue now atop Derryberry Hall was stolen by three students (Tom Moran, Roy Loudermilk, and Lewis Brown) from the lawn …