Bishop's Gaiters


The Bishop's Gaiters is the name of the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The name Gaiter is a nickname used to refer to garments worn over the shoe and lower pants leg, worn by Anglican bishops until the beginning of the 20th century. The teams play in U Sports, mostly competing in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec, while the football program competes in the Atlantic University Sport football conference. The Gaiters' home field is Coulter Field, a 2,200 seat capacity stadium located on the university's campus.

Varsity teams

The Gaiters football program first began in 1884 and has fielded teams in every decade since then. The team originally played at the intermediate level, but rose to prominence upon entry to the senior level under the guidance of then head coach, Bruce Coulter. The team won conference championships in 1964, 1971, 1986, 1988, and 1990 under Coutler and the school's football stadium was renamed in his honour in 1991 following his retirement. The team won one more Dunsmore Cup in 1994, which marks the last time that the team won a conference championship. However, following the move to the Atlantic University Sport conference in 2017, the team made an appearance in the Loney Bowl championship game in 2019. The team continues to play at Coulter Field and has been led by head coach Chérif Nicolas since 2017.

Basketball

The hard-court has also brought Bishop's great success. The 1966-67 Men's Basketball Gaiters were the first basketball champions at Bishop's University, the Gaiters' "machine" rolled through the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Athletic Association with a 15-1 record before triumphing over Ottawa and MacDonald in the league playoffs. The men's basketball team enjoyed their most successful season in 1998, winning the CIAU National Championship, becoming the smallest Canadian university in history to do so. In 2015, the Gaiters won their second RSEQ championship in school history. The women's basketball team also won back-to-back National Basketball championships in 1983 and 1984.