History of baseball team nicknames by calling them "Pirates" for "stealing" their players. The "Pirates" tag stuck and the alliterative name was eventually adopted as Pittsburgh's official team nickname. By the time of the 1903 World Series, the team was commonly known as "Pirates", although the club did not acknowledge it on their uniforms until 1912. Alternate nicknames such as "Bucs" or "Buccos", short for "buccaneer", have been used through the years. "Buccaneer" is typically used synonymously with "pirate", although historically "buccaneer" is a more specific term for pirates who operated in the Caribbean, especially along the Spanish Main coast. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the
2017 Hampton Pirates football team scheduling reasons, they were to remain in the MEAC for football in 2018. However, the MEAC refused to allow Hampton to remain in the conference, with no MEAC schools agreeing to play them, forcing the Pirates to become an FCS independent for 2018 before joining the Big South in 2019. 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. 2017 Hampton Pirates football team The 2017 Hampton Pirates football team represented Hampton University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season.