Syracuse University - Athletics

Athletics

Syracuse University's sports teams have "the Orange" nickname since 2004, although the former names of Orangemen and Orangewomen are still used. The school's mascot is Otto the Orange. SU fields intercollegiate teams in eight men's sports and 12 women's sports, but they do not sponsor a Baseball program in the Big East Conference.

Most of Syracuse University's intercollegiate teams participate in NCAA Division I in the Big East Conference. The Syracuse Orange women's ice hockey team participates in College Hockey America. Crew participates in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. The men's and women's basketball teams, the football team, and both the men's and women's lacrosse teams play in the Carrier Dome. Other sports are located at the nearby Manley Field House, except ice hockey which takes place in the Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion.

On September 18, 2011, it was announced that the Atlantic Coast Conference had officially extended an invitation to Syracuse to join the ACC after approving the university's application. The Orange is set to join the ACC on July 1, 2013.

SU has reached 28 team national championships, including 14 men's lacrosse, six men's crew, two cross country running, and one each in boxing, football, and women's lacrosse. Under long-time head coach Jim Boeheim, men's basketball team won seven Big East regular season championships, five Big East Tournament championships, and 25 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2003 NCAA championship. Most recently, Syracuse reached the 3rd round of the 2011 NCAA tournament. The men's basketball team holds the largest on campus attendance record of 34,616 attendees. The record was set in the Carrier Dome playing Villanova on Sat.,Feb.27 2010.

In 1959, Syracuse earned its first National Championship following an undefeated football season and a Cotton Bowl victory over Texas. The team featured sophomore running back Ernie Davis who, in 1961, became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. Davis was slated to play for the Cleveland Browns in the same backfield as Jim Brown, but died of leukemia before being able to play professionally.

Syracuse played its first intercollegiate lacrosse game in 1916, and captured its first USILA championship in 1920. It won USILA championships in 1922, 1924, and 1925. In the modern NCAA era, Syracuse is the first school to capture 11 National Championships, the most of any team in college lacrosse history. Syracuse currently won two men's Div I lacrosse championships in 2008 and 2009 seasons, and reached the quarterfinals in 2011. The women's lacrosse team reached the NCAA Division I National Championship game for the first time in school history in 2012, which they lost to Northwestern.

Toward the end of the 1970s, Syracuse University was under pressure to improve its football facilities in order to remain a NCAA Division I football school. Its small concrete stadium, Archbold Stadium, was seventy years old and not up to the standards of other schools. The stadium could not be expanded; it had been reduced from 40,000 seats to 26,000 due to the fire codes. Syracuse University decided to build a new stadium. In 1978, Archbold Stadium was demolished to make way for the Carrier Dome, which was to have a domed Teflon-coated, fiberglass inflatable roof. It would also serve as the home for the men's basketball team, as a replacement for Manley Field House. The Carrier Dome was constructed between April 1979 and September 1980. The total construction cost was $26.85 million, including a $2.75 million naming gift from the Carrier Corporation.

On September 18, 2011, Syracuse University officially announced that it was leaving the Big East Conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.