- William & Mary Tribe
Infobox college athletics
name = William & Mary Tribe
logo_width = 125
university = The College of William & Mary
conference = CAA
association = NCAA
division = Division I FBS
director =Terry Driscoll
city = Williamsburg
state = Virginia
stateabb = VA
teams = 23
stadium =Zable Stadium
baseballfield =Plumeri Park
soccerlacrossestadium =Albert-Daly Field
arena =Kaplan Arena
arena2 =McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center
mascot = ("mascot in transition")
nickname = Tribe
fightsong =
color1 =Green
color2 =Gold
hex1 = 006400
hex2 = FFD700
pageurl = http://www.tribeathletics.com/
pagename = Tribe Athletics|The William & Mary Tribe are the athletic teams for the
College of William & Mary . The name Tribe refers to the unity and comradery that William & Mary student-athletes share when competing in the classroom and on the field, and is also a reference to the College teams' former nicknames, the "Indians", which was discontinued in the early 1990s due topolitical correctness concerns.Currently, there is no official mascot for the Tribe. During the 2006-07 school year, then-College President
Gene Nichol was forced to remove the two tribal feathers from William & Mary’s logo due toNCAA regulations for political correctness. The College executives then decided to start anew and replace the old mascot. At the time, the Tribe mascot was an amorphous green blob namedColonel Ebirt , which was similar in physical characteristics to an overgrown frog. "Ebirt" is Tribe spelled backwards, and the process for a new mascot is still ongoing.William & Mary has won two team national championships (both in men’s
tennis ) and many individual national championships. The College has more conference championships than any other school in the Colonial Athletic Association. As of the end of the 2004-05 academic year, the Tribe had won 84 conference championships. Dating back to the athletic program’s beginning, there have been over 142 conference titles in all.Baseball
The baseball team made the
NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 1983 and 2001.Football
The football team has won seven conference championships. While a member of the
Southern Conference , W&M won in 1942, 1947, 1966 and 1970. After joining the A-10 Conference, the Tribe won in 1996, 2001 and 2004.The 2004 season saw William & Mary reach the Division I-AA national semi-finals before finally falling to rivalJames Madison University .Men's Basketball
Traditionally, the Tribe has not been a storied basketball program. Their only postseason berth ever was the
1983 National Invitation Tournament after winning the regular season conference title. The only conference tournament final appearance came in 2008 when W&M dropped a 68-59 decision toGeorge Mason University while playing live onESPN .Cross Country / Track & Field
The College of William & Mary’s most dominant sports are its men’s and women’s cross country and track & field teams.
Men
Entering the 2008 season, the men's cross country team has qualified for twelve straight NCAA Division I championships. Alumnus Brian Hyde represented the United States in the
1996 Olympics .Total conference championships:
*Cross County - 31
*Track & Field - 27Women
Total conference championships:
*Cross County - 16
*Track & Field - 9occer
Men
The Tribe men’s soccer team has produced two First Team All-Americans and twelve NCAA Tournament appearances, most recently in 2002. The most famous alumnus from this program is TV
pundit Jon Stewart . He played from 1981-1983 and scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory overUConn in the 1983 ECAC Tournament Championship to give William & Mary their second ever conference tournament championship crown. Stewart ended his career with 10 goals and 12 assists while playing as a defender.Women
Just behind national powerhouses North Carolina and UConn for most women’s soccer NCAA Tournament appearances all-time (25 appearances apiece) are the William & Mary Tribe (22). They are currently on a 26-year consecutive winning seasons streak, dating back to 1982. Twice have players been selected at the
NSCAA National Player of the Year (1987, 1995), and three times the team has made it all the way to the Tournament’s Elite 8 (1987, 1994, 1997).Other sports
In addition to the sports listed above, the College of William & Mary also fields
Division I teams for men and women in gymnastics, swimming and diving, golf and tennis. Exclusive to women are field hockey, lacrosse and volleyball.National championships
William & Mary has won two national championships, both of which are men’s tennis in the
NCAA . [cite web|url=http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/champs_listing1.html|title=How many NCAA Division I championships has your school won?|publisher=NCAA|accessdate=2008-07-23] The Tribe won back-to-back national championships in 1947 & 1948. [cite web|url=http://www.tribeathletics.com/story.php/1121/|title=About William & Mary athletics|publisher=The College of William & Mary|accessdate=2008-07-23]Rivalries
William & Mary’s most heated rivalries are with James Madison (JMU), Delaware (UD), and Old Dominion (ODU). In recent years, the William & Mary-George Mason basketball series has attracted much attention after Mason’s improbable run in the 2006 NCAA Championship, coupled with W&M’s conference tournament championship appearance in 2008. Additionally, every year William & Mary squares off against the
Richmond Spiders in what is termed the "Oldest Football Rivalry in the South." The Tribe first visited Richmond in 1898, losing 15-0. However, William & Mary holds the all-time series edge 59-53-5. The winner of this annual contest wins theI-64 Trophy .Notable alumni
:""
Notable graduates from the athletic programs include
Jon Stewart ,Adin Brown , Mike Leach,Buster Ramsey ,Darren Sharper ,Mike Tomlin , Bill Chambers,J. D. Gibbs ,Steve Christie andWade Barrett .ee also
*List of NCAA college football rivalry games
References
External links
* [http://www.tribeathletics.com/index.php The College of William & Mary Tribe Official Athletic Site]
* [http://www.wm.edu/ The College of William & Mary]
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