Boston University Terriers

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The Boston University Terriers are the ten men's and eleven women's varsity athletic teams representing Boston University in NCAA Division I competition. The men compete in basketball, cross country, golf, 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, but Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox are nearby.

Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, (Boston Terriers of course) and the official mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier. The school colors are Scarlet and White.

Contents 1 Terrier Hockey 2 Other Varsity Sports 3 Dropping Football 4 New Facilities 5 External links

[edit] Terrier Hockey

Boston University's Hockey team has appeared in more NCAA Frozen Fours (Hockey's Final Four) than any other team (20 times in 27 tournament appearances). In all, BU has won 4 National Championships and 5 runner-up trophies since the NCAA hockey tournament began in 1948. The Terriers play in the Hockey East Conference, along with crosstown arch-rivals Boston College and Northeastern. 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 four of ten Hockey East regular season titles (and sharing two more), the 1995 National Championship and 3 National runner-up trophies. Every year the four major Boston area schools, BU, BC, Northeastern and Harvard meet at the TD Banknorth Garden for a mid-season tournament called the Beanpot. The televised tourney is a local institution, and a fierce battle for bragging rights. As of 2007, the Terriers have won 28 of 55 Beanpots and 11 of the last 13.

[edit] Other Varsity Sports

For most other sports, BU competes in the America East Conference (formerly called the North Atlantic Conference). The Men's Basketball team has earned post-season berths in the NCAA tournament or NIT in each of the last 4 years (2002-2005). 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.

[edit] Dropping Football

Boston University terminated their money-losing DI-AA football program on Homecoming Weekend 1997 during a one-win season in the Atlantic 10. It was a controversial decision (made worse by the timing of the announcement). The decision was especially painful for alumni and students who felt a national university needed a football team to be credible as a "major" college. The players at the time were allowed to keep their 4-year scholarships or transfer without NCAA penalties. Since then, the University has used those football scholarships to expand and improve other men's and women's sports teams while adhering to the letter and spirit of Title IX (women typically make up more than 55% of BU's undergraduates). BU has also greatly improved facilities for hockey and the other sports, assuaging critics' concerns that football was dropped for mere penny-pinching or as part of a plan to neglect athletics.

[edit] New Facilities

In 2005, Boston University opened Agganis Arena 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 19,000+ seat TD Banknorth Garden (previously the Fleet Center). The arena is named after Harry Agganis, "The Golden Greek," BU alumn, Terrier sports star, Boston Red Sox first baseman, and Boston native who died of a pulmonary embolism in 1955 at the age of 25.

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.

Outdoor track, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and other outdoor sports continue to be played on the artificial surface of Nickerson Field.

[edit] External links

• BU Athletics Home Page
• Boston University Men's Rugby

America East Conference
Albany • Binghamton • Boston University • Hartford • Maine • New Hampshire • Stony Brook • UMBC • Vermont Associate Member: Fairfield (field hockey)