Central Arkansas Bears

The Central Arkansas Bears football program is the intercollegiate American football team for University of Central Arkansas (UCA) located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a member of the current United Athletic Conference (UAC), known before July 2026 as the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The all-sports UAC absorbed a football-only UAC that had started operation in 2023 as an alliance between the WAC and Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). For the 2021 season, UCA was a de facto associate member of the WAC, and in 2022 it played in its then-current full-time home of the ASUN. Central Arkansas' first football team was fielded in 1908. The team plays its home games at the 12,000-seat Estes Stadium in Conway, Arkansas. The Bears are coached by Nathan Brown, in his seventh year.