Vanderbilt University - Athletics

Athletics

Vanderbilt is a charter member of the Southeastern Conference and is the conference's only private school. The university fields six men's and nine women's intercollegiate teams. With fewer than 6,600 undergraduates, the school is also the smallest in the conference; the SEC's next-smallest school, the University of Mississippi, has nearly twice as many undergraduate students. Additionally, the school is a member of the American Lacrosse Conference for women's lacrosse, as the SEC does not sponsor that sport. Conversely, Vanderbilt is the only league school not to field teams in softball and volleyball, but has discussed adding either or both sports in the future.

Men's and women's tennis and men's and women's basketball are traditionally Vanderbilt's strongest sports. Both teams play in quirky Memorial Gym, built in 1952. Memorial Gym is noted for the location of the team benches on the baselines, the four separate sections of stands on the four sides of the court, the distance of the stands from the court and the elevation of the court above the first few rows of seats on each sideline. The homecourt advantage Vanderbilt has enjoyed has been nicknamed "Memorial Magic". The more recently founded women's lacrosse and bowling programs as well as the long-standing men's baseball program are also experiencing moderate national success. After enjoying success in the first half of the 20th century, the football program has generally struggled in more recent times. However, the 2008 Commodore football team finished with its first winning season in over 25 years and with its first postseason win in over 50 years.