There’s a new Lincoln University on the 2023 HBCU football schedule.
Lincoln (Ca.) University, known as the Oaklanders or Oaks for short, has four dates on the road vs. HBCUs in its upcoming 12-game 2023 season. Two of them are at HBCU homecomings.
Their next date with an HBCU foe is the following week on Oct. 21 at Tennessee State. They close out the regular season on Nov. 11 at Florida A&M.
In 2022, its second season fielding athletic teams, Lincoln (Ca.) played two HBCUs. The Oaks lost at Texas Southern’s homecoming on Oct. 29, 37-2. They scored in the last minute to defeat Bluefield State 20-17 on Nov. 5 to close out the season.
A little Lincoln (Ca.) history
Lincoln (Ca.), founded in 1919 in San Francisco, offered law study programs to World War I veterans. It expanded to include a broader curriculum involving day and evening classes as a co-educational institution. It moved to Oakland in December 1999.
Lincoln is a private start-up athletics program. It began fielding athletics teams in 2021 as an independent and is hoping to eventually achieve NCAA Div. II status. This season four of its athletics programs become part of the South Western States (SWS) Intercollegiate Conference. The SWS is not NCAA or NAIA affiliated but is for independent small colleges.
The football program has an HBCU affiliation on its coaching staff. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ny’ika Long played quarterback at Mississippi Valley State University in 1992 and 1993. He was MVSU’s offensive player of the year in 1992. Desmond Gumbs is Lincoln’s head football coach and athletics director.
It’s inclusion brings to three the number of college athletic programs on the HBCU football schedule that carry the name of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The other two are historic HBCUs.
A little Lincoln HBCU history
Lincoln University in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, designated as Lincoln (Pa.), began in 1854. It is reknowned as the first degree-granting HBCU in the nation. The school was one of the founding members of the Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA) in 1912. It competed in football in the CIAA from the league’s founding until 1960. A 48-year hiatus ensued before the school returned to the gridiron and the CIAA in 2008. It’s athletic teams compete as the Lincoln Lions.
Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, designated Lincoln (Mo.), was established in 1865 by emancipated black soldiers at the close of the Civil War. In athletics, Lincoln’s teams are known as the Blue Tigers. Lincoln (Mo.) left the Mid American Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) after the 2022-23 season and will compete as a new member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) beginning in the fall.