Boston College Eagles
Encyclopedia
The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams representing Boston College
. They compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference
. The men's and women's ice hockey
teams compete in Hockey East
. The women's crew
team competes in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
(EAWRC). Skiing, fencing
, and sailing are also non-ACC. Boston College is one of only 13 universities
in the country offering NCAA Division I football
(Football Bowl Subdivision), Division I men's and women's basketball
, and Division I hockey.
The BC mascot is Baldwin the Eagle
, an American bald eagle whose name is derived from the bald head of the eagle and the word win. The school colors
are maroon
and gold
. The fight song
, "For Boston
," was composed by T.J. Hurley, Class of 1885, and is America's oldest college
fight song.
Principal athletic facilities include Alumni Stadium
(capacity: 44,500); Conte Forum
(8,606 for basketball), known as Kelley Rink
for ice hockey (7,884); Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at John Shea Field; the Newton Soccer Complex; and the Flynn Recreation Complex. The Yawkey Athletics Center opened in the spring of 2005, and the Newton Campus Field Hockey Complex was completed that fall. BC students compete in 31 varsity
sports, as well as a number of club and intramural
teams. Boston College's athletics
program has been named to the College Sports Honor Roll as one of the nation's top 20 athletic programs by U.S. News and World Report (March 18, 2002).
Boston College athletes are among the most academically successful in the nation, according to the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate
(APR). In 2006 Boston College received Public Recognition Awards with 14 of its sports in the top 10 percent of the nation academically. The Eagles tied Notre Dame
for the highest total of any Division I-A university. Other schools having 10 or more sports honored included Navy
(12), Stanford
(11), and Duke
(11). Teams honored were football, men's fencing, men's outdoor track, men's skiing, women's rowing, women's cross country, women's fencing, women's field hockey, women's indoor track, women's outdoor track, women's skiing, women's swimming, women's soccer, women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Boston College's football program was one of only five Division I-A teams that were so honored. The other four were Auburn
, Navy, Stanford, and Duke.
A founding member of the Big East Conference
, the Eagles joined the Atlantic Coast Conference
on July 1, 2005. Up to that point, BC was the only BE member affiliated with the Catholic Church that played football in the conference. All the football-playing members of the BE are now secular (usually public) institutions.
. The University of Texas
— which was designated the visiting team despite playing on its home field — won the game 3–2 in 25 innings. The game lasted seven hours three minutes.
and the legendary John "Snooks" Kelley, after whom BC's rink is named. With 800 wins and counting, Jerry York
, BC '67, is the winningest active coach in the NCAA. Under his leadership, BC won national championships in 2001, 2008 and 2010.
Recent BC alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL
include Brian Gionta
, Chuck Kobasew
, Patrick Eaves
, Marty Reasoner
, Brooks Orpik
, Bill Guerin
, Brian Leetch
, Andrew Alberts
, Mike Mottau
, Scott Clemmensen
, Ryan Shannon
and Bobby Allen
.
Boston College has won four national championships in hockey, in 1949, 2001, 2008, and 2010. The Eagles won the 2001 national championship over the University of North Dakota, 3-2, on a thrilling overtime goal by Kris Kolanos. In 2008 the Eagles defeated Notre Dame in the national championship 4-1. In 2010 they defeated the University of Wisconsin 5-0.
BC won the postseason tournament in Hockey East
in 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1990, 1987, and the ECAC
postseason tournament in 1978 and 1965. Boston College won the 2011 Hockey East Tournament defeating Merrimack 5-3.
The hockey team won the Hockey East
regular season crown in 2011, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1987, 1986, 1985, and the ECAC title in 1980.
BC has won the Beanpot 16 times: 2011, 2010, 2008, 2004, 2001, 1994, 1983, 1976, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1961, 1959, 1957, 1956, and 1954.
Boston College players have twice won the Hobey Baker Award
, which honors college hockey's top player. David Emma won the award in 1991, and Mike Mottau won it in 2000.
Boston College played the Wisconsin Badgers
for the National Championship in 2006, losing 2-1. They returned to the title game again in 2007, falling to the Michigan State Spartans
3-1.
Boston College defeated the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame
in the 2008 National Championship game after defeating the University of North Dakota
6-1 in the National Semifinal. BC defeated the University of Wisconsin 5-0 in 2010 to win its 3rd title in 10 years.
, the Eagles made tremendous progress. In 2006, they won their first Women's Beanpot, defeating powerhouse Harvard 2-0, and repeated the feat in 2007, topping Boston University
6-1.
2006-07 was a season of remarkable change for the team. In March 2007 the Eagles were selected for the NCAA women's ice hockey tournament for the first time in program history. As the #6 seed, they pulled off a stunning upset over #3 Dartmouth College
, 3-2 in double overtime, qualifying for the 2007 Women's Frozen Four in Lake Placid
. In Lake Placid, BC lost to Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 in another double overtime thriller, ending their season.
On April 24, 2007, Tom Mutch resigned as head coach of the women's ice hockey team in the wake of allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a member of the team. Katie King has been named the team's newest head coach going into the 2007-08 season.
In 2003 the ACC
announced plans to expand from nine teams to twelve. Miami, Syracuse, and Boston College were rumored to be the three schools under consideration, and all three met with officials from the ACC regarding membership. It was later revealed that Miami had been dissatisfied with the Big East and its leadership since a formal letter of complaint was issued by them to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese several years prior in 1999. Their issues went unresolved, leading to Miami's interest in the ACC - a league who had been pursuing the college football superpower since the mid-1990s, at the request of neighboring football schools Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, representing UConn (whose membership in Big East Football was then pending) led the "remaining" football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in the filing of two lawsuits. One suit named the ACC, and the other named Miami and Boston College, accusing them of conspiring to weaken the Big East. Syracuse was not named as a defendant in part because they never made public comments about the ongoing situation.
In an unexpected turn, due in large measure to political pressure applied by Governor Mark Warner
of Virginia, the ACC replaced Syracuse with Virginia Tech in its expansion vote. Things became even more surprising when, reached by phone at a conference in Switzerland
, then-N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox
cast a shocking last-minute "no" vote against Boston College. As a result, the ACC extended invitations only to Miami and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech immediately accepted the invitation and filed court papers to get themselves out of the awkward position of suing their new conference. The remaining four plaintiffs removed Boston College from the list of defendants and asked both BC and Syracuse to join their suit. Boston College and Syracuse declined.
The Big East presidents and athletic directors met in summer 2003 to discuss replacing the departed members and establishing a process by which members would exit the conference in the future. The remaining members of the conference moved towards establishing a US$
5 million exit fee and 27 month waiting period for any other schools who wished to leave in the future. At a Big East meeting in Newark on October 1, conference presidents asked BC president Rev. William P. Leahy
, S.J., about rumors surrounding the Eagles' intentions. Fr. Leahy conceded that the Eagles might indeed be leaving the conference. It has been suggested that BC might have remained if the Big East had spun out its non-football schools and reconfigured as an eight- or nine-team league. The Big East considered extending invitations to Penn State and Notre Dame, however neither school showed interest in joining the conference. Several models for a new conference were discussed; however it was eventually decided that the football schools would explore separating from the basketball-only schools and establish an 8-team all-sports conference. It was very quickly realized that this scenario would not be feasible due to the fact that the new conference would lose its automatic NCAA basketball tournament berth and possibly its BCS bid because the football schools had not been together long enough to satisfy certain NCAA rules. It was then decided that for the time being, the conference would add additional football and basketball schools and continue in its bifurcated structure until such time as the football schools could establish their own conference. Unhappy with this decision, the administration of Boston College once again entertained overtures from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Speculation that Chancellor Foxe, a Notre Dame trustee, cast her vote against BC so that the ACC might consider extending membership to Notre Dame was fueled by press accounts reporting that a bid to the Fighting Irish was imminent. But in October 2003, the ACC voted unanimously to invite Boston College to become their twelfth member. When BC accepted, they were returned to the lawsuit still pending against Miami by several Big East schools. In response, Boston College petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for a declaratory judgment to avoid paying the increased Big East "exit fee" that had been voted for but not yet amended to the Big East's constitution. Boston College won both decisions, but the Big East appealed. A secret settlement reported to be worth US$5 million was reached in May 2005, and as part of the settlement the ACC agreed to play a number of football games each year against Big East teams. However, this large settlement was offset by the cumulative legal fees incurred by the Big East in pursuing the litigation. Boston College joined the ACC in 2005, and was exempted from having to play football against their former conference colleagues who had been party to the lawsuit. Boston College officials have stated that the university will not schedule games against any of their former Big East Football colleagues with the exception of Syracuse. An eight-year deal to play Syracuse in football starting in 2010 has been signed, and a four-year deal to play Providence College
in basketball begins in the 2006-7 school year.
Financially, the move to the ACC would appear to have been positive for the Eagles. Writing in the Charleston West Virginia Gazette, Mitch Vingle used the Big East's tax filings to examine payouts to full Big East members (schools playing both football and basketball schools) compared to payouts to ACC schools. ACC schools received an average of US$10.85 million for the tax year ending June 30, 2006, Big East full members averaged a little more than half what ACC programs took in at US$5,842,599. Additionally, Big East payments have dropped in each of the last three reporting periods.
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. They compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
. The men's and women's ice hockey
College hockey
College hockey refers to ice hockey played between colleges with their teams composed of enrolled students. College hockey is played in Canada and the United States, though leagues outside of North America exist....
teams compete in Hockey East
Hockey East
Hockey East Association is a NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference....
. The women's crew
College rowing (United States)
Rowing is one of the oldest intercollegiate sports in the United States. However, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes. This may be in part because of the status of rowing as an amateur sport and because not all universities have access to suitable bodies of water. In the 2002-03...
team competes in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
The Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges is an American athletic conference of eighteen women's college rowing crew teams. The conference is an affiliate of the Eastern College Athletic Conference .-Members:*Boston College...
(EAWRC). Skiing, fencing
Collegiate fencing
Collegiate fencing has existed for a long time. Some of the earliest programs in the US came from the Ivy League schools, but now there are over 100 fencing programs in the US. Both clubs and varsity teams participate in the sport, however only the varsity teams may participate in the NCAA...
, and sailing are also non-ACC. Boston College is one of only 13 universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in the country offering NCAA Division I football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
(Football Bowl Subdivision), Division I men's and women's basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
, and Division I hockey.
Baldwin the Eagle
Baldwin the Eagle, an anthropomorphized bald eagle, is the mascot of the Boston College Eagles.The nickname "Eagles" goes back to 1920 when Rev. Edward McLaughlin, unhappy at seeing a newspaper cartoon which represented Boston College as a cat after a track victory, wrote to the college newspaper...
, an American bald eagle whose name is derived from the bald head of the eagle and the word win. The school colors
School colors
School colors are the colors chosen by a school to represent it on uniforms and other items of identification. Most schools have two colors, which are usually chosen to avoid conflicts with other schools with which the school competes in sports and other activities...
are maroon
Maroon (color)
Maroon is a dark red color.-Etymology:Maroon is derived from French marron .The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.-Maroon :...
and gold
Gold (color)
Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of orange-yellow color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold....
. The fight song
Fight song
A fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...
, "For Boston
For Boston
"For Boston" is the traditional fight song of Boston College. It was written and composed by T.J. Hurley, a member of the Boston College Class of 1885. It is known as the oldest fight song in the United States...
," was composed by T.J. Hurley, Class of 1885, and is America's oldest college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
fight song.
Principal athletic facilities include Alumni Stadium
Alumni Stadium
Alumni Stadium is a football stadium located on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, approximately sixmiles west of downtown Boston. The stadium lies within the city limits of Boston, although its postal address is Chestnut Hill. It is the home of the Boston College Eagles...
(capacity: 44,500); Conte Forum
Conte Forum
The Silvio O. Conte Forum, commonly known as Conte Forum, Kelley Rink , or simply Conte, is an 8,606-seat multi-purpose arena which opened in 1988 on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts that lies within the Brighton neighborhood of Boston...
(8,606 for basketball), known as Kelley Rink
Conte Forum
The Silvio O. Conte Forum, commonly known as Conte Forum, Kelley Rink , or simply Conte, is an 8,606-seat multi-purpose arena which opened in 1988 on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts that lies within the Brighton neighborhood of Boston...
for ice hockey (7,884); Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at John Shea Field; the Newton Soccer Complex; and the Flynn Recreation Complex. The Yawkey Athletics Center opened in the spring of 2005, and the Newton Campus Field Hockey Complex was completed that fall. BC students compete in 31 varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
sports, as well as a number of club and intramural
Intramural sports
Intramural sports or intramurals are recreational sports organized within a set geographic area. The term derives from the Latin words intra muros meaning "within walls", and was used to indicate sports matches and contests that took place among teams from "within the walls" of an ancient city...
teams. Boston College's athletics
College athletics
College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
program has been named to the College Sports Honor Roll as one of the nation's top 20 athletic programs by U.S. News and World Report (March 18, 2002).
Boston College athletes are among the most academically successful in the nation, according to the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate
Academic Progress Rate
The Academic Progress Rate, sometimes also known as Academic Performance Rating and generally abbreviated as APR, is a metric established by the NCAA to indicate the success of collegiate athletic teams in moving student athletes towards graduation . It was instituted in February of 2005...
(APR). In 2006 Boston College received Public Recognition Awards with 14 of its sports in the top 10 percent of the nation academically. The Eagles tied Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
for the highest total of any Division I-A university. Other schools having 10 or more sports honored included Navy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
(12), Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
(11), and Duke
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
(11). Teams honored were football, men's fencing, men's outdoor track, men's skiing, women's rowing, women's cross country, women's fencing, women's field hockey, women's indoor track, women's outdoor track, women's skiing, women's swimming, women's soccer, women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Boston College's football program was one of only five Division I-A teams that were so honored. The other four were Auburn
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
, Navy, Stanford, and Duke.
A founding member of the Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
, the Eagles joined the Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
on July 1, 2005. Up to that point, BC was the only BE member affiliated with the Catholic Church that played football in the conference. All the football-playing members of the BE are now secular (usually public) institutions.
Baseball
In 2009, the Eagles' baseball team helped set an NCAA record for most innings in a baseball game, during the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship regional tournament at Austin, TexasAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. The University of Texas
Texas Longhorns baseball
The Texas Longhorns baseball team represents The University of Texas at Austin and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I.The Texas Longhorns are the winningest program in college baseball history in terms of win percentage with .740 and ranks second all-time in total wins to the...
— which was designated the visiting team despite playing on its home field — won the game 3–2 in 25 innings. The game lasted seven hours three minutes.
Men's Hockey
BC's men's ice hockey team has long been considered one of the best programs in the nation. Three BC head coaches rank among the winningest coaches in NCAA history, including Len CeglarskiLen Ceglarski
Leonard Stanley Ceglarski is a native of East Walpole, Massachusetts. He was an All-American left wing on Boston College's 1949 NCAA championship team, and was captain of the 1950–51 squad. He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the silver medal at the 1952 Winter Olympic...
and the legendary John "Snooks" Kelley, after whom BC's rink is named. With 800 wins and counting, Jerry York
Jerry York
Jerry York is the Men's Hockey Coach at Boston College. He graduated from Boston College High School in 1963 and BC in 1967. York is currently the winningest active coach in NCAA hockey, and is 2nd on the all-time list with 889 wins behind retired Coach Ron Mason...
, BC '67, is the winningest active coach in the NCAA. Under his leadership, BC won national championships in 2001, 2008 and 2010.
Recent BC alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
include Brian Gionta
Brian Gionta
Brian Joseph Gionta is an American professional ice hockey player and captain of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League , and is the second American-born captain of the Canadiens and its first sole American-born captain...
, Chuck Kobasew
Chuck Kobasew
Nicholas James "Chuck" Kobasew is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League .-Amateur:...
, Patrick Eaves
Patrick Eaves
Patrick Campbell Eaves is a professional ice hockey forward, currently a member of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. Born in Calgary and raised in the United States, Patrick holds Canadian and American citizenship and has represented the United States in international ice hockey...
, Marty Reasoner
Marty Reasoner
Martin Reasoner, is an American professional ice hockey center for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He has also played for the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers and Atlanta Thrashers...
, Brooks Orpik
Brooks Orpik
Brooks Orpik is an American professional ice hockey defenseman, an alternate captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League . His brother, Andrew, was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres organization and is also currently in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization...
, Bill Guerin
Bill Guerin
William Robert Guerin is an American former professional ice hockey player and current player development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guerin played eighteen seasons in the National Hockey League winning two Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins teams...
, Brian Leetch
Brian Leetch
Brian Joseph Leetch is a retired American professional ice hockey defenseman who played 18 National Hockey League seasons with the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Boston Bruins. He is generally considered one of the top defensemen in NHL history, being particularly noted for his...
, Andrew Alberts
Andrew Alberts
Andrew James Alberts is an American professional ice hockey defenseman who plays for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League . He has additionally played in the NHL with the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes...
, Mike Mottau
Mike Mottau
Michael Joseph Mottau is an German-American professional ice hockey defenseman who is currently with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League...
, Scott Clemmensen
Scott Clemmensen
Scott Lee Clemmensen is an American professional ice hockey goaltender. He is currently playing with the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League .-Playing career:...
, Ryan Shannon
Ryan Shannon
Ryan Patrick Shannon is an American professional ice hockey player. Shannon is currently playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League .-College career:...
and Bobby Allen
Bobby Allen
Robert Paul Allen is an American professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League for the Edmonton Oilers and the Boston Bruins.-Playing career:...
.
Boston College has won four national championships in hockey, in 1949, 2001, 2008, and 2010. The Eagles won the 2001 national championship over the University of North Dakota, 3-2, on a thrilling overtime goal by Kris Kolanos. In 2008 the Eagles defeated Notre Dame in the national championship 4-1. In 2010 they defeated the University of Wisconsin 5-0.
BC won the postseason tournament in Hockey East
Hockey East
Hockey East Association is a NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference....
in 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1990, 1987, and the ECAC
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...
postseason tournament in 1978 and 1965. Boston College won the 2011 Hockey East Tournament defeating Merrimack 5-3.
The hockey team won the Hockey East
Hockey East
Hockey East Association is a NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference....
regular season crown in 2011, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1987, 1986, 1985, and the ECAC title in 1980.
BC has won the Beanpot 16 times: 2011, 2010, 2008, 2004, 2001, 1994, 1983, 1976, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1961, 1959, 1957, 1956, and 1954.
Boston College players have twice won the Hobey Baker Award
Hobey Baker Award
The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player.It is named for hockey player and World War I veteran Hobey Baker, who played collegiately at Princeton University and learned the game at St...
, which honors college hockey's top player. David Emma won the award in 1991, and Mike Mottau won it in 2000.
Boston College played the Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball...
for the National Championship in 2006, losing 2-1. They returned to the title game again in 2007, falling to the Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State Spartans
The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic team that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 25 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and white...
3-1.
Boston College defeated the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in the 2008 National Championship game after defeating the University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...
6-1 in the National Semifinal. BC defeated the University of Wisconsin 5-0 in 2010 to win its 3rd title in 10 years.
Women's Hockey
Women's Hockey has not been historically successful at Boston College, but in four years under head coach Tom MutchTom Mutch
Tom Mutch is the former and most recent coach of the Boston College women's ice hockey team. In four years as head coach of the women's ice hockey program at Boston College, Mutch revitalized a lagging program. During the 2006-2007 season, Mutch led the Boston College Eagles to their first ever...
, the Eagles made tremendous progress. In 2006, they won their first Women's Beanpot, defeating powerhouse Harvard 2-0, and repeated the feat in 2007, topping Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
6-1.
2006-07 was a season of remarkable change for the team. In March 2007 the Eagles were selected for the NCAA women's ice hockey tournament for the first time in program history. As the #6 seed, they pulled off a stunning upset over #3 Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, 3-2 in double overtime, qualifying for the 2007 Women's Frozen Four in Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
. In Lake Placid, BC lost to Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 in another double overtime thriller, ending their season.
On April 24, 2007, Tom Mutch resigned as head coach of the women's ice hockey team in the wake of allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a member of the team. Katie King has been named the team's newest head coach going into the 2007-08 season.
Move to the ACC
On July 1, 2005, Boston College moved from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.In 2003 the ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
announced plans to expand from nine teams to twelve. Miami, Syracuse, and Boston College were rumored to be the three schools under consideration, and all three met with officials from the ACC regarding membership. It was later revealed that Miami had been dissatisfied with the Big East and its leadership since a formal letter of complaint was issued by them to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese several years prior in 1999. Their issues went unresolved, leading to Miami's interest in the ACC - a league who had been pursuing the college football superpower since the mid-1990s, at the request of neighboring football schools Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, representing UConn (whose membership in Big East Football was then pending) led the "remaining" football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in the filing of two lawsuits. One suit named the ACC, and the other named Miami and Boston College, accusing them of conspiring to weaken the Big East. Syracuse was not named as a defendant in part because they never made public comments about the ongoing situation.
In an unexpected turn, due in large measure to political pressure applied by Governor Mark Warner
Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner is an American politician and businessman, currently serving in the United States Senate as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of...
of Virginia, the ACC replaced Syracuse with Virginia Tech in its expansion vote. Things became even more surprising when, reached by phone at a conference in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, then-N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox
Marye Anne Fox
Marye Anne Payne Fox is a physical organic chemist and university administrator. She was the first female chief executive of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. In April 2004, Fox was named Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego.-Early years:Fox was born in...
cast a shocking last-minute "no" vote against Boston College. As a result, the ACC extended invitations only to Miami and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech immediately accepted the invitation and filed court papers to get themselves out of the awkward position of suing their new conference. The remaining four plaintiffs removed Boston College from the list of defendants and asked both BC and Syracuse to join their suit. Boston College and Syracuse declined.
The Big East presidents and athletic directors met in summer 2003 to discuss replacing the departed members and establishing a process by which members would exit the conference in the future. The remaining members of the conference moved towards establishing a US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
5 million exit fee and 27 month waiting period for any other schools who wished to leave in the future. At a Big East meeting in Newark on October 1, conference presidents asked BC president Rev. William P. Leahy
William P. Leahy
Leahy's memberships include the American Catholic Historical Association, the American Historical Association, the History of Education Society, and the Organization of American Historians....
, S.J., about rumors surrounding the Eagles' intentions. Fr. Leahy conceded that the Eagles might indeed be leaving the conference. It has been suggested that BC might have remained if the Big East had spun out its non-football schools and reconfigured as an eight- or nine-team league. The Big East considered extending invitations to Penn State and Notre Dame, however neither school showed interest in joining the conference. Several models for a new conference were discussed; however it was eventually decided that the football schools would explore separating from the basketball-only schools and establish an 8-team all-sports conference. It was very quickly realized that this scenario would not be feasible due to the fact that the new conference would lose its automatic NCAA basketball tournament berth and possibly its BCS bid because the football schools had not been together long enough to satisfy certain NCAA rules. It was then decided that for the time being, the conference would add additional football and basketball schools and continue in its bifurcated structure until such time as the football schools could establish their own conference. Unhappy with this decision, the administration of Boston College once again entertained overtures from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Speculation that Chancellor Foxe, a Notre Dame trustee, cast her vote against BC so that the ACC might consider extending membership to Notre Dame was fueled by press accounts reporting that a bid to the Fighting Irish was imminent. But in October 2003, the ACC voted unanimously to invite Boston College to become their twelfth member. When BC accepted, they were returned to the lawsuit still pending against Miami by several Big East schools. In response, Boston College petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for a declaratory judgment to avoid paying the increased Big East "exit fee" that had been voted for but not yet amended to the Big East's constitution. Boston College won both decisions, but the Big East appealed. A secret settlement reported to be worth US$5 million was reached in May 2005, and as part of the settlement the ACC agreed to play a number of football games each year against Big East teams. However, this large settlement was offset by the cumulative legal fees incurred by the Big East in pursuing the litigation. Boston College joined the ACC in 2005, and was exempted from having to play football against their former conference colleagues who had been party to the lawsuit. Boston College officials have stated that the university will not schedule games against any of their former Big East Football colleagues with the exception of Syracuse. An eight-year deal to play Syracuse in football starting in 2010 has been signed, and a four-year deal to play Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
in basketball begins in the 2006-7 school year.
Financially, the move to the ACC would appear to have been positive for the Eagles. Writing in the Charleston West Virginia Gazette, Mitch Vingle used the Big East's tax filings to examine payouts to full Big East members (schools playing both football and basketball schools) compared to payouts to ACC schools. ACC schools received an average of US$10.85 million for the tax year ending June 30, 2006, Big East full members averaged a little more than half what ACC programs took in at US$5,842,599. Additionally, Big East payments have dropped in each of the last three reporting periods.
Director of Athletics
- Joseph Meagher: 1918-1920
- Richard S. O'Brien: 1920-1924
- John P. Curley: 1929-1957
- William J. Flynn: 1957-1990
- Chet Gladchuk, Jr.: 1990-July 18, 1997
- Gene DiFillippo: 1997–Present