History of the Pittsburgh Steelers 1940, Rooney decided that he had had enough of the copycat Pirates moniker. He worked with the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" to run a contest to find a new name for the team. Former coach Joe Bach led the panel which selected the name Steelers from amongst the The new name paid homage to the city's largest industry of It is unclear who deserves credit for suggesting the name (which was already being used by at least one local high school team), but it appears there were a total of twenty-one winners, and each received a pair of season tickets to the
2018 Hampton Pirates football team schools agreeing to play them, forcing the Pirates to become an FCS independent for 2018 before joining the Big South in 2019. In their final season as a member of the MEAC, the Pirates finished the season 6–5, 5–3 in MEAC play to finish in a tie for fourth place. On November 20, 2017, head coach Connell Maynor resigned to become the head coach at Alabama A&M. He finished at Hampton with a four-year record of 20–25. 2018 Hampton Pirates football team The 2018 Hampton Pirates football team represents Hampton University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season.