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University of New Hampshire Athletics
The home of Wildcat football for the past 79 years is historic Cowell Stadium, located at the west end of the UNH campus in Durham. Prior to the 2014 season, lights were installed that enabled night football at Mooradian Field. The first night game in UNH history was Sept. 27, 2014, a 52-19 victory against intrastate rival Dartmouth College.
Thanks to a generous donation by the late Ed Fish, the field had a facelift in the form of a brand new FieldTurf surface, which was installed prior to the start of the 2007 season. Known as Alumni Field until 1952, the stadium was made possible by contributions of the UNH Alumni and was the first project of the Alumni Fund in the history of the University. Dedicated as a part of the Lewis Fields on Oct. 10, 1936, the stadium replaced what is now Memorial Field, the current home for the field hockey team. The largest crowd for a football game in Cowell Stadium occurred on Nov. 12, 1977, when 20,000 watched the Wildcats fall to UMass, 19-6, in a showdown for the Yankee Conference crown.
The stadium is named for the former Wildcat athletics director and football coach, William H. “Butch” Cowell, who came to Durham from the Haskell Institute in 1915 and proceeded to change the face of athletics at the University. Over the first 22 years of intercollegiate football, New Hampshire managed just 23 victories. At the end of his 22-year coaching career (1915-36), Cowell had amassed an 84-67-22 mark, including stunning upsets over Army, Holy Cross and Brown. A founder of the American Football Coaches Association, Cowell served as the organization’s president in 1925 and, until his death, served as the AFCA’s permanent secretary-treasurer (1925-40). On Oct. 18, 1952, at the Homecoming game versus Springfield College, the stadium was rededicated in Cowell’s honor during halftime ceremonies.
UNH honored former athletics director Andy Mooradian by dedicating the playing field in his name during halftime ceremonies on Homecoming (1996). Mooradian was involved with Wildcat athletics for 45 years as a player, coach and administrator. He served as UNH’s athletics director from 1966-86, guiding the program from the NCAA II level to Division I during his tenure. A national leader on the intercollegiate athletic scene, Mooradian was president of NACDA, the ECAC and the Yankee Conference and was a member of several prominent NCAA committees.