The Thunder Era
Wheaton has been the Thunder since a Friday morning in September 2000. It is the name on the current helmets and on the field at McCully Stadium — and it has been carried through the winningest quarter-century the program has played.
The Name
On Friday, September 29, 2000, President Duane Litfin told the Homecoming convocation that Wheaton's teams would no longer be the Crusaders. The college had concluded that a mounted crusader carried a history it did not want to claim, and the replacement announced that morning was the Thunder. The room answered by stamping until it rumbled. The change drew national coverage and a good deal of alumni objection, and the mascot that goes with it — Tor Thunder, a mastodon — did not arrive until 2011.
What followed is the best football the program has played. In the 24 seasons since — 224-51, .815, every one of them a winning season — Wheaton has won 8 conference championships and reached the NCAA Division III playoffs 14 times. Mike Swider's tenure had four seasons behind it when the name changed and nineteen ahead of it; Jesse Scott has coached only as the Thunder.
Every game played under both names is in this archive; the record does not change with the nickname. The years before this page are the Crusader Era.
The Season That Changed Names
2000 · 8–2 overall, CCIW co-championsWheaton was three games into the 2000 season when the name changed, and played the other seven as the Thunder — starting the next afternoon at home against North Central. Because the season belongs to both names it is counted in neither window: the Crusader record stops at 1999 and the Thunder record starts at 2001. The conference co-championship that season was clinched under the new name. The whole year is in the 2000 season page.
The Gallery
30 photographs, 2000–2025 · click one to view it full size
Photographs come from Wheaton College Athletics, the football media guides and Wikimedia Commons; each one lists its source. 15 more from these years — low-resolution news clippings and the grabs from one 2010 game film — are held back here and shown in full on the decade pages: 2000s (14), 2010s (14), 2020s (17).
The Eras It Covers
Each one shown only for the seasons played under the new nameRecords here cover 2001–2025 only. The Swider era opened in 1996, four seasons before the name changed, and those years are counted on the Crusader side.
Season by Season
2000–2025| Year | Record | CCIW | Honors | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 8-2 | 6-1 | CCIW Co-Champions | Mike Swider |
| 2001 | 6-4 | 5-2 | Mike Swider | |
| 2002 | 10-2 | 7-0 | CCIW Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2003 | 12-1 | 7-0 | CCIW Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2004 | 10-2 | 6-1 | CCIW Co-Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2005 | 7-3 | 4-3 | Mike Swider | |
| 2006 | 10-2 | 6-1 | CCIW Co-Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2007 | 8-2 | 6-2 | Mike Swider | |
| 2008 | 11-3 | 5-2 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2009 | 7-3 | 4-3 | Mike Swider | |
| 2010 | 10-2 | 6-1 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2011 | 8-2 | 5-2 | Mike Swider | |
| 2012 | 8-2 | 6-1 | CCIW Co-Champions | Mike Swider |
| 2013 | 8-2 | 5-2 | Mike Swider | |
| 2014 | 11-1 | 7-0 | CCIW Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2015 | 11-1 | 7-0 | CCIW Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2016 | 11-2 | 7-1 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2017 | 8-2 | 6-2 | Mike Swider | |
| 2018 | 8-2 | 7-2 | Mike Swider | |
| 2019 | 12-1 | 9-0 | CCIW Champions NCAA Division III Playoffs | Mike Swider |
| 2020 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2021 | 10-2 | 8-1 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Jesse Scott |
| 2022 | 8-3 | 8-1 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Jesse Scott |
| 2023 | 10-2 | 8-1 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Jesse Scott |
| 2024 | 9-2 | 8-1 | Culver's Isthmus Bowl Champions | Jesse Scott |
| 2025 | 11-3 | 8-1 | NCAA Division III Playoffs | Jesse Scott |
2000 is shown here in full — it is the season the name changed — and is the only year on this page that is not counted in the era record above.
Turning Points
- 2000President Duane Litfin announces the change from Crusaders to Thunder at the Homecoming convocation on Friday, September 29. Wheaton plays its first game under the name the next afternoon.
- 2002The first conference championship won wholly as the Thunder — 7–0 in the CCIW — and a return to the NCAA playoffs.
- 200312–1 and a second straight outright title — twelve wins, more than any Wheaton team before it.
- 2011Tor Thunder, a mastodon, is introduced as the mascot, eleven years after the name.
- 2014The first of back-to-back 11–1 seasons with unbeaten conference records.
- 2019Mike Swider’s twenty-fourth and final season: 12–1, 9–0 in the CCIW, a conference title.
- 2020No season. The schedule is canceled in the COVID-19 pandemic, and Jesse Scott’s first year passes without a game.
- 2024Culver’s Isthmus Bowl champions at 9–2.
- 202511–3 and a return to the national bracket — the most wins of Scott’s tenure.