Boston University Terriers
Encyclopedia
The Boston University Terriers are the nine men's and twelve women's varsity
athletic teams representing Boston University
in NCAA Division I competition. The men compete in basketball
, cross country
, ice hockey
, rowing
, soccer, swimming
, tennis
, indoor and outdoor track
, and wrestling
. Women compete in basketball, cross country, golf
, ice hockey
, field hockey
, lacrosse
, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, and softball
. There is no varsity baseball
team.
Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, and the official mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier
. The school colors
are Scarlet
and White. The mascot is named Rhett in a reference to Gone With the Wind, because "no one loves Scarlet more than Rhett."
team is the most successful sports program at the school, with five national championships (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009) and 21 appearances in the Frozen Four. The Terriers have also been the national runners-up five times, and have won five ECAC tournament championships and seven Hockey East tournament championships. Many of BU's hockey players have gone on to successful careers in the NHL.
Since 1984 the Terriers have played in the Hockey East
Conference, along with crosstown arch-rivals Boston College
. The series with Boston College is known as the Green Line Rivalry
or the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue. Under long-time coach and former player, Jack Parker, BU excelled in the 90's, winning six Hockey East regular season titles, four Hockey East tournament titles, the 1995 National Championship and 3 National runner-up trophies. BU missed the Frozen Four for 11 consecutive seasons beginning in 1998 but returned to glory by winning the national championship in 2009.
BU has dominated the annual Beanpot tournament, which has been contested by the Terriers, BC, Northeastern and Harvard since the 1952-53 season. The televised tourney is a local institution, played in front of annual sellouts at the TD Banknorth Garden, and is a fierce battle for bragging rights. As of 2010, the Terriers have won 29 of 58 Beanpots and 12 of the last 16.
(formerly called the North Atlantic Conference). The Men's Basketball
team earned post-season berths in the NCAA
tournament or NIT
four straight seasons between 2002 and 2005 and also in 2011. They are known to have a rivalry with the Albany Great Danes and the Vermont Catamounts.The program is notable for grooming big name college coaches such as Rick Pitino
and Mike Jarvis
. The Terriers also have a history of national success in men's and women's soccer, field hockey
, and women's lacrosse
. The men's and women's rowing teams compete in the EARC and EAWRC respectively, the oldest and most competitive conference in collegiate rowing
. In 1991 and 1992 women's rowing won back to back national championships.
Here is a complete list of current varsity sports:
Men's Basketball,
Men's Track & Field and Cross Country,
Men's Soccer,
Men's Tennis,
Men's Crew,
Men's Ice Hockey,
Men's Swimming & Diving,
Women's Softball,
Women's Basketball,
Women's Lacrosse,
Women's Tennis,
Women's Swimming & Diving,
Women's Track & Field and Cross Country,
Women's Field Hockey,
Women's Crew,
Women's Track & Field and Cross Country,
Women's Golf,
Women's Soccer,
Women's Ice Hockey,
BU Wrestling
program on Homecoming
Weekend 1997 during a one-win season in the Atlantic 10. The players at the time were allowed to keep their 4-year scholarships or transfer without NCAA penalties. The University has used the former-football scholarships to comply with Title IX
requirements. Since dropping football, BU has improved its facilities for other sports, including hockey, assuaging critics' concerns that football was dropped as part of a plan to neglect athletics. BU has rejected efforts to revive the program citing the lack of support from a local fan base. Proponents often argue that a football revival would increase alumni contributions, exceeding potential program losses. However, starting in 2010, BU football has started to make its return with a new club team being formed and fielded that same year. Other club sports include lacrosse, ski, baseball team, golf team, sailing, rugby, equestrian, golf, water polo, volleyball, ballroom dance, cheerleading, cycling, dance, dance theater, figure skating, gymnastics, inline skating, Kendo
, snowboarding, synchronized swimming, and ultimate frisbee.
for Hockey and Basketball. The facility was designed as a hockey arena
: a departure from BU's Walter Brown Arena
which had the smallest playing ice in Division I. Agganis Arena seats six to seven thousand, and also serves the city of Boston as a mid-size venue for popular events that could not fill the 18,624 seat TD Garden (previously the Fleet Center). The arena is named after Harry Agganis
, "The Golden Greek," BU alumnus
, Terrier sports star, Boston Red Sox
first baseman
, and Boston native who died of a pulmonary embolism
in 1955 at the age of 26.
Other facilities include the indoor Track
and Tennis
Center and the Fitness and Recreation Center, which includes a pool and diving well for the swim teams. The 200 meter indoor track is modelled on the previous high-banked armory track, which attracted programs looking to run fast times. The turns, banked up to 18.5 degrees help runners push through turns at normal speed and rhythm, and can produce many personal indoor bests. The Track and Tennis Center hosts the annual BU Invitational.
Hi
Outdoor track, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and other outdoor sports continue to be played on the artificial surface of Nickerson Field
.
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...
athletic teams representing 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...
in NCAA Division I competition. The men compete in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, rowing
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, soccer, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, indoor and outdoor track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and wrestling
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...
. Women compete in basketball, cross country, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
. There is no varsity baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team.
Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, and the official mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier
Rhett the Boston Terrier
Rhett is the official costumed mascot of the Boston University and the Boston University Academy Terriers and has been the BU mascot since 1922...
. 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 Scarlet
Scarlet (color)
Scarlet is a bright red color with a hue that is somewhat toward the orange. It is redder than vermilion. It is a pure chroma on the color wheel one-fourth of the way between red and orange. Scarlet is sometimes used as the color of flame...
and White. The mascot is named Rhett in a reference to Gone With the Wind, because "no one loves Scarlet more than Rhett."
Ice hockey
Boston University's ice hockeyIce hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team is the most successful sports program at the school, with five national championships (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009) and 21 appearances in the Frozen Four. The Terriers have also been the national runners-up five times, and have won five ECAC tournament championships and seven Hockey East tournament championships. Many of BU's hockey players have gone on to successful careers in the NHL.
Since 1984 the Terriers have played in 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....
Conference, along with crosstown arch-rivals Boston College
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...
. The series with Boston College is known as the Green Line Rivalry
Green Line Rivalry
-Football:"The Green Line Rivalry" originally referred to the football rivalry between the schools, a series begun in 1893 and played annually from 1928-1942 and 1954-1962. With BC leading the series 27-4-1, BU discontinued the rivalry after the 1962 season. BU eventually terminated its football...
or the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue. Under long-time coach and former player, Jack Parker, BU excelled in the 90's, winning six Hockey East regular season titles, four Hockey East tournament titles, the 1995 National Championship and 3 National runner-up trophies. BU missed the Frozen Four for 11 consecutive seasons beginning in 1998 but returned to glory by winning the national championship in 2009.
BU has dominated the annual Beanpot tournament, which has been contested by the Terriers, BC, Northeastern and Harvard since the 1952-53 season. The televised tourney is a local institution, played in front of annual sellouts at the TD Banknorth Garden, and is a fierce battle for bragging rights. As of 2010, the Terriers have won 29 of 58 Beanpots and 12 of the last 16.
Other varsity sports
For most other sports, BU competes in the America East ConferenceAmerica East Conference
The America East Conference is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located mainly in the northeastern United States. The conference was known as the ECAC North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from the fall semester of 1988 to the end of the spring...
(formerly called the North Atlantic Conference). The Men's Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team earned post-season berths in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
tournament or NIT
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
four straight seasons between 2002 and 2005 and also in 2011. They are known to have a rivalry with the Albany Great Danes and the Vermont Catamounts.The program is notable for grooming big name college coaches such as Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino is an American basketball coach. Since 2001, he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996...
and Mike Jarvis
Mike Jarvis
Mike Jarvis is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. He has coached at Boston University, George Washington University and St. John's University. He also has worked as a commentator for college basketball games on ESPN...
. The Terriers also have a history of national success in men's and women's soccer, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, and women's lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
. The men's and women's rowing teams compete in the EARC and EAWRC respectively, the oldest and most competitive conference in collegiate rowing
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...
. In 1991 and 1992 women's rowing won back to back national championships.
Here is a complete list of current varsity sports:
Men's Basketball,
Men's Track & Field and Cross Country,
Men's Soccer,
Men's Tennis,
Men's Crew,
Men's Ice Hockey,
Men's Swimming & Diving,
Women's Softball,
Women's Basketball,
Women's Lacrosse,
Women's Tennis,
Women's Swimming & Diving,
Women's Track & Field and Cross Country,
Women's Field Hockey,
Women's Crew,
Women's Track & Field and Cross Country,
Women's Golf,
Women's Soccer,
Women's Ice Hockey,
BU Wrestling
Dropping football
Boston University terminated their DI-AA footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
program on Homecoming
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America...
Weekend 1997 during a one-win season in the Atlantic 10. The players at the time were allowed to keep their 4-year scholarships or transfer without NCAA penalties. The University has used the former-football scholarships to comply with Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
requirements. Since dropping football, BU has improved its facilities for other sports, including hockey, assuaging critics' concerns that football was dropped as part of a plan to neglect athletics. BU has rejected efforts to revive the program citing the lack of support from a local fan base. Proponents often argue that a football revival would increase alumni contributions, exceeding potential program losses. However, starting in 2010, BU football has started to make its return with a new club team being formed and fielded that same year. Other club sports include lacrosse, ski, baseball team, golf team, sailing, rugby, equestrian, golf, water polo, volleyball, ballroom dance, cheerleading, cycling, dance, dance theater, figure skating, gymnastics, inline skating, Kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
, snowboarding, synchronized swimming, and ultimate frisbee.
New facilities
In 2005, Boston University opened Agganis ArenaAgganis Arena
Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on the campus of Boston University. It is named after Harry Agganis, an outstanding football and baseball athlete for BU and the Boston Red Sox. He died at the age of 26, from a massive pulmonary embolism...
for Hockey and Basketball. The facility was designed as a hockey arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
: a departure from BU's Walter Brown Arena
Walter Brown Arena
Walter Brown Arena is a 3,806-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey team and hosted the men's team before they moved to Agganis Arena. It hosted the first rounds of the 2003 and 2004 America East Conference men's...
which had the smallest playing ice in Division I. Agganis Arena seats six to seven thousand, and also serves the city of Boston as a mid-size venue for popular events that could not fill the 18,624 seat TD Garden (previously the Fleet Center). The arena is named after Harry Agganis
Harry Agganis
Aristotle George Agganis ' , nicknamed "The Golden Greek", was an American athletic star in two sports. His family origins were from Longanikos near Sparta, Greece. -Career:...
, "The Golden Greek," BU alumnus
Alumnus
An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...
, Terrier sports star, Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
, and Boston native who died of a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
in 1955 at the age of 26.
Other facilities include the indoor Track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
and Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
Center and the Fitness and Recreation Center, which includes a pool and diving well for the swim teams. The 200 meter indoor track is modelled on the previous high-banked armory track, which attracted programs looking to run fast times. The turns, banked up to 18.5 degrees help runners push through turns at normal speed and rhythm, and can produce many personal indoor bests. The Track and Tennis Center hosts the annual BU Invitational.
Hi
Outdoor track, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and other outdoor sports continue to be played on the artificial surface of Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field is a stadium on the site of Braves Field, in Boston, Massachusetts, the former home of the National League Boston Braves baseball team which is now located in Atlanta...
.