Georgetown Hoyas
Encyclopedia
Georgetown's nickname is The Hoyas, but its mascot is "Jack the Bulldog
." Various breeds of dogs have been used by the sports teams as mascots since the early 1900s. Several notable bull terrier
s like Sergeant Stubby
and "Hoya" were used at football games in the 1920s, as was a Great Dane
in the 1940s. However in 1951, the school suspended its football program
because of the increasing cost of the game financially and academically, which left the school without an official live mascot.
In 1964, the school permitted exhibition football games to resume, and students financed the purchase of a young English bulldog named Royal Jacket, whom they intended to rename "Hoya", but he only responded to the callname "Jack". This breed was chosen to represent the school because of their "tenacity." The athletics department subsequently adopted as its logo a drawing of a bulldog sporting a blue and gray freshman beanie. The original Jack retired in 1967, but the name was carried over to his successors. In 1977, the university began the tradition of dressing up a student in a blue and gray bulldog costume, replacing the live bulldog, though several dogs periodically joined the costumed mascot during the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1999, Scott R. Pilarz
, S.J., with the help of the Hoya Blue fan club, revived the tradition of an official live bulldog named Jack, to work along with the costumed mascot. When Pilarz left for the University of Scranton
in 2003, taking Jack with him, Georgetown secured a new bulldog puppy and found another Jesuit
, Christopher Steck, S.J., to care for him. The current bulldog is named "John S. Carroll," a play on the name of Georgetown's founder, which name allows for continuation of the "Jack the Bulldog" nickname.
", is actually an amalgamation of three songs, only the oldest of which, 1913's "The Touchdown Song", contains the lyric "here goes old Georgetown". Students combined a version of "The Touchdown Song" with "Cheer for Victory", written in 1915, and "The Hoya Song", written in 1930, both of which are included in their entirety. The authors of these songs, and of the combined version, are unknown.
Georgetown's fight song is rare among U.S. university fight songs for mentioning other colleges by name. Specifically, it mentions Yale University
, Harvard University
, Princeton University
, College of the Holy Cross
, the United States Naval Academy
, and Cornell University
, who were all rivals of Georgetown in the early to mid-20th century, and mocks their fight songs. In recent years the Hoyas only play Cornell and Holy Cross regularly (in football), and many of these schools no longer use the fight songs that Georgetown's song mocks.
, Prussian blue
was commonly used in Union uniforms
, while cadet grey
was used in Confederate uniforms
. These colors were introduced by the rowing team in 1876, who deemed blue and gray "appropriate colors for the [Boat] Club and expressive of the feeling of unity between the Northern and Southern boys of the College." Girls from neighboring Georgetown Visitation sewed the original uniforms together for the team and presented the Boat Club with a blue and gray banner reading "Ocior Euro" (Swifter than the Wind).
The basketball and lacrosse
teams use gray as their primary color in home jerseys, with blue in away jerseys. White is also frequently used as an accent to these colors, and is actually the main color in the football
and baseball
teams' away jerseys and the soccer team's home jerseys. Campus spirit groups often encourage students to "bleed Hoya blue," a slogan used on numerous shirts. Fans are generally encouraged to wear gray to home games, and sellouts are referred to as a "gray out."
, son of the accomplished Hoyas coach John Thompson
, is the current head coach. The Hoyas historically have been well regarded not only for their team success, but also for their ability to generate players that after graduation succeed both on the court, such as Patrick Ewing
, and off, such as Paul Tagliabue
and Henry Hyde
. The team has reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four
five times including the 1984 national championship, and has won the Big East Tournament
seven times, and has also won or shared the Big East regular season title seven times.
The women's basketball also plays in the Big East Conference, and are coached by Terri Williams-Flournoy
. The team was first formed in 1970, and joined the Big East in 1983. They play their home games on campus at McDonough Gymnasium
. The women's team so far has not seen the same success as the men's, and have only been invited to the NCAA tournament
three times, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in 1993
and 2011
, and the second round in 2010
. They have been invited to the Women's National Invitation Tournament
, five times, progressing furthest in 2009
by reaching the fourth round.
at Georgetown has a distinguished history since the founding of the Boat Club in 1876. The team was however suspended from 1909 to 1920 due to lack of interest, and involvement in World War I
. Georgetown added a men's lightweight team in 1963, a women's team in 1975, and a women's lightweight team in 1996.
Under the guidance of Tony Johnson, Director of Rowing and Varsity Heavyweight Coach, Georgetown competes as a member of the top leagues in American rowing, the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges
and Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
.
Georgetown's four crew teams have seen success in recent years, including trips to the Henley Royal Regatta
and entry into the Eastern Sprints
for the men's heavyweight and lightweight teams and second-in-the-nation finishes for both men's and women's lightweight teams. Many Georgetown oarsmen and -women have gone on to represent the United States on national and Olympic teams.
The university currently rents space in Thompson Boat Center, though has ongoing plans to build a new boathouse closer to campus.
Notable Georgetown crew alumni include walk-on Mike Vespoli
, the founder and chief executive officer of Vespoli USA, Inc.
until the 2010 season, when the Big East Conference
created a men's league. The men's team made the NCAA Tournament each season from 1996–2007, reaching the Final Four in 1999.
The women's lacrosse
team was formed in 1977, and won the first 6 consecutive Big East titles from 2001–2006. The Lady Hoyas reached the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship
final in both 2001 and 2002. In 2005, their first season under new coach Ricky Fried, the team went 13–5 and made the NCAA Tournament for the 8th straight year. Both the men's and women's teams play their home games on Multi-Sport Field
.
. As the college game became more expensive after World War II, however, Georgetown's program began to lose money rapidly. The Hoyas last successful season was 1949, when they lost in the Sun Bowl
against Texas Western
. However the program was losing too much money, and on March 22, 1951, the university's president canceled the football program.
In 1964, Georgetown allowed its students to start a football program as an exhibition-only club sport. Varsity football resumed in 1970 at what later became known as the Division III level. Today, Georgetown plays at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, competing in the Patriot League
and perennially plays against Ivy League
schools.
The Hoyas have also begun a cross-town rivalry with Howard University
for a championship known as the D.C. Cup.
"Big Jim" Ricca, an NFL defensive end
and offensive lineman, graduated in 1949 and was the last Hoya to play in an NFL game. In 2007, the Washington Redskins
made Alex Buzbee
a reserve player, becoming the first Georgetown player on an NFL team since Ricca retired in 1956.
The 2011 Georgetown Football team finished 8-3 which was their first winning season since the 1999 campaign. They were 2nd place in the Patriot League behind Lehigh and they won their DC Cup game over Howard University.
team. The university began supporting club teams in 2000. Though other teams exist, the Club Sports Board at Georgetown supports eleven men's club teams, nine women's, and three co-ed teams (year founded in parentheses):
team that represents Georgetown in the USA Rugby
league. It was founded in the spring semester of 1967 by former members of the Washington D.C. Rugby Football Club including graduate student Michael Murphy. In 2005, Georgetown's first reached the Final Four of the USA Rugby National Tournament. The "Hoya Ruggers" again reached for the semifinals in 2009 in Palo Alto, California
, and have had an undefeated 2009-10 season.
A women's rugby team was founded in 2000, and plays in Division II in the Potomac Rugby Union (PRU). They have won the PRU championship four consecutive times form 2006 to 2009. They have also been invited to the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union tournament three times, and were runners-up in 2006-07.
(ACCHL) as the only team whose primary conference is not the Atlantic Coast Conference
. Since joining this conference in 2003, the team has won the conference championship three times, in 2004-05, 2006–07, and again in 2007-08. The team previously played in the Division III Mason-Dixon Collegiate Hockey Association
, where it won the league championship in 1997, 1999, and 2000. In 2001 and 2002, they were invited to the national tournament of the American Collegiate Hockey Association
, which the team had joined in 1999. Coach John Kokidko has led the team since 2003. The team plays its home matches at the Washington Capitals
' practice arena, Kettler Capitals Iceplex
in Ballston, Arlington, Virginia at the Ballston Common Mall
.
Jack the Bulldog
Jack the Bulldog is the official mascot of the Georgetown University Hoyas athletics teams. Jack has been the name of at least four live Bulldogs since 1962, when the name first came into use. The current incarnation of Jack is an English Bulldog born in 2003 whose full name is John S. Carroll....
." Various breeds of dogs have been used by the sports teams as mascots since the early 1900s. Several notable bull terrier
Bull Terrier
The Bull Terrier or English Bull Terrier is a breed of dog in the terrier family. They are known for their large, egg-shaped head, small triangular eyes, and "jaunty gait." Their temperament has been described as generally fun-loving, active and clownish...
s like Sergeant Stubby
Sergeant Stubby
Sergeant Stubby , was the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant through combat.-Life:...
and "Hoya" were used at football games in the 1920s, as was a Great Dane
Great Dane
The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...
in the 1940s. However in 1951, the school suspended its football program
Georgetown Hoyas football
The Georgetown Hoyas football team represents Georgetown University in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level of college football. Like other sports teams from Georgetown, the team is named the Hoyas, which derives from the chant, Hoya Saxa...
because of the increasing cost of the game financially and academically, which left the school without an official live mascot.
In 1964, the school permitted exhibition football games to resume, and students financed the purchase of a young English bulldog named Royal Jacket, whom they intended to rename "Hoya", but he only responded to the callname "Jack". This breed was chosen to represent the school because of their "tenacity." The athletics department subsequently adopted as its logo a drawing of a bulldog sporting a blue and gray freshman beanie. The original Jack retired in 1967, but the name was carried over to his successors. In 1977, the university began the tradition of dressing up a student in a blue and gray bulldog costume, replacing the live bulldog, though several dogs periodically joined the costumed mascot during the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1999, Scott R. Pilarz
Scott R. Pilarz
Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, academic and is the current President of Marquette University since August 1, 2011...
, S.J., with the help of the Hoya Blue fan club, revived the tradition of an official live bulldog named Jack, to work along with the costumed mascot. When Pilarz left for the University of Scranton
University of Scranton
The University of Scranton is a private, co-educational Catholic and Jesuit university, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the northeast region of the state. The school was founded in 1888 by Most Rev. William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. It was elevated to a...
in 2003, taking Jack with him, Georgetown secured a new bulldog puppy and found another Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, Christopher Steck, S.J., to care for him. The current bulldog is named "John S. Carroll," a play on the name of Georgetown's founder, which name allows for continuation of the "Jack the Bulldog" nickname.
Fight song
The Georgetown Fight Song, known as "There Goes Old GeorgetownThere Goes Old Georgetown
"There Goes Old Georgetown" is the unofficial name of the Georgetown University sports teams' fight song. It is also known as simply "Georgetown Fight Song". It is actually an amalgamation of three songs, only the oldest of which, 1913's "The Touchdown Song", contains the lyric "here goes old...
", is actually an amalgamation of three songs, only the oldest of which, 1913's "The Touchdown Song", contains the lyric "here goes old Georgetown". Students combined a version of "The Touchdown Song" with "Cheer for Victory", written in 1915, and "The Hoya Song", written in 1930, both of which are included in their entirety. The authors of these songs, and of the combined version, are unknown.
Georgetown's fight song is rare among U.S. university fight songs for mentioning other colleges by name. Specifically, it mentions Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, College of the Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
, the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
, and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, who were all rivals of Georgetown in the early to mid-20th century, and mocks their fight songs. In recent years the Hoyas only play Cornell and Holy Cross regularly (in football), and many of these schools no longer use the fight songs that Georgetown's song mocks.
Colors
Blue and gray are the official colors of Georgetown University and its athletic teams. The colors are an important reminder of the school's past. During the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Prussian blue
Prussian blue
Prussian blue is a dark blue pigment with the idealized formula Fe718. Another name for the color Prussian blue is Berlin blue or, in painting, Parisian blue. Turnbull's blue is the same substance but is made from different reagents....
was commonly used in Union uniforms
Uniform of the Union Army
The Uniform of the Union Army was widely varied and, due to limitations on supply of wool and other materials, based on availability and cost of materials during the United States Civil War.- Generalization :The standard U.S...
, while cadet grey
Cadet grey
Cadet grey is a shade of the color grey. The first recorded use of cadet grey as a color name in English was in 1912...
was used in Confederate uniforms
Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces
The Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces were the uniforms used by the Confederate Army and Navy during the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865...
. These colors were introduced by the rowing team in 1876, who deemed blue and gray "appropriate colors for the [Boat] Club and expressive of the feeling of unity between the Northern and Southern boys of the College." Girls from neighboring Georgetown Visitation sewed the original uniforms together for the team and presented the Boat Club with a blue and gray banner reading "Ocior Euro" (Swifter than the Wind).
The basketball and 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...
teams use gray as their primary color in home jerseys, with blue in away jerseys. White is also frequently used as an accent to these colors, and is actually the main color in the football
American 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...
and 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...
teams' away jerseys and the soccer team's home jerseys. Campus spirit groups often encourage students to "bleed Hoya blue," a slogan used on numerous shirts. Fans are generally encouraged to wear gray to home games, and sellouts are referred to as a "gray out."
Varsity sports
Georgetown University fields 23 varsity level sports teams, 11 men's teams, 11 women's teams, and one co-ed team. Intercollegiate sports include (inaugural season and current coach in parentheses):- Men's: baseballCollege baseballCollege baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
(1860, Pete Wilk), basketballBasketballBasketball 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...
(1907, John Thompson IIIJohn Thompson IIIJohn Thompson III is the current head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was named first team All-Metro by The Washington Post while playing for Gonzaga College High School in 1984. Thompson was hired on April 20, 2004 to replace Craig...
), crewCollege 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...
(1876; 1958, Tony Johnson), cross countryCross country runningCross 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...
(1924, Patrick Henner), footballAmerican footballAmerican 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...
(1887, Kevin Kelly), golfGolfGolf 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....
(1925, Tommy Hunter), lacrosseLacrosseLacrosse 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...
(1951, David Urick), soccer (1952, Brian Wiese), swimmingSwimming (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...
and divingDivingDiving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
(1949, James Holder), tennisTennisTennis 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...
(1920, Gordie Ernst), and track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack 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...
(1891, Patrick Henner) - Women's: basketballBasketballBasketball 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...
(1960, Terri Williams-Flournoy), crewCollege 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...
(1975, Glenn Putyrae), cross countryCross country runningCross 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...
(1976, Patrick Henner), field hockeyField hockeyField 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...
(1960, Tiffany Marsh), golfGolfGolf 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....
(2001, Patty Frohna-Post), lacrosseLacrosseLacrosse 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...
(1975, Ricky Fried), soccer (1991, Dave Nolan), softballSoftballSoftball 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...
(2005, Pat Conlan), swimmingSwimming (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...
and divingDivingDiving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
(1975, James Holder), tennisTennisTennis 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...
(1960, Gordie Ernst), track and fieldTrack and fieldTrack 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...
(1976, Patrick Henner), and volleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
(1960, Arlisa Williams) - Coed: sailingSailingSailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
(1937, Michael Callahan)
Basketball
The Georgetown University men's Basketball team is perhaps the most well-known Hoya program. Georgetown's first intercollegiate men's basketball team was formed in 1907. John Thompson IIIJohn Thompson III
John Thompson III is the current head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was named first team All-Metro by The Washington Post while playing for Gonzaga College High School in 1984. Thompson was hired on April 20, 2004 to replace Craig...
, son of the accomplished Hoyas coach John Thompson
John Thompson (basketball)
John R. Thompson, Jr. is an American former basketball coach for the Georgetown University Hoyas. He is now a professional radio and TV sports commentator...
, is the current head coach. The Hoyas historically have been well regarded not only for their team success, but also for their ability to generate players that after graduation succeed both on the court, such as Patrick Ewing
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...
, and off, such as Paul Tagliabue
Paul Tagliabue
Paul John Tagliabue is a former Commissioner of the National Football League. He took the position in 1989 and was succeeded by Roger Goodell, who was elected to the position on August 8, 2006. Tagliabue's retirement took effect on September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL...
and Henry Hyde
Henry Hyde
Henry John Hyde , an American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2007, representing the 6th District of Illinois, an area of Chicago's northwestern suburbs which included O'Hare International Airport...
. The team has reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
five times including the 1984 national championship, and has won the Big East Tournament
Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Big East Conference. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Since 1983, the tournament has been held in Madison Square...
seven times, and has also won or shared the Big East regular season title seven times.
The women's basketball also plays in the Big East Conference, and are coached by Terri Williams-Flournoy
Terri Williams-Flournoy
Terri Williams-Flournoy is the head women's basketball coach at Georgetown. Since August 27, 2004, she has been at the helm of the women's basketball program there. Her overall record as a head coach is 35-49, through 3 seasons. She had previously served as an assistant coach at Georgetown,...
. The team was first formed in 1970, and joined the Big East in 1983. They play their home games on campus at McDonough Gymnasium
McDonough Gymnasium
McDonough Gymnasium is a multi-purpose arena in Washington, D.C. The arena opened in 1951 and holds 2,500 people.Ground was broken for construction of the gymnasium on May 20, 1950; the cornerstone was laid on October 14, 1950; the official ribbon cutting and opening was held December 8, 1951...
. The women's team so far has not seen the same success as the men's, and have only been invited to the NCAA tournament
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
three times, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in 1993
1993 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
-Mideast Regional - Iowa City, IA:-Midwest Regional - Nacogdoches, TX:-West Regional - Missoula, MT:-Final Four - Atlanta, GA:...
and 2011
2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament began on March 19, 2011 and concluded on April 5, 2011. The Texas A&M Aggies won the championship....
, and the second round in 2010
2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament started Saturday, March 20, 2010 and was completed on Tuesday, April 6 of the same year with University of Connecticut Huskies defending their title from the previous year by defeating Stanford, 53-47. The tournament bids were announced on...
. They have been invited to the Women's National Invitation Tournament
Women's National Invitation Tournament
The Women's National Invitation Tournament , formerly the National Women's Invitation Tournament, is a college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year...
, five times, progressing furthest in 2009
2009 Women's National Invitation Tournament
The 2009 Women's National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 48 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams that did not participate in the 2009 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. It was won by South Florida. The 41st annual tournament was...
by reaching the fourth round.
Rowing
RowingCollege 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...
at Georgetown has a distinguished history since the founding of the Boat Club in 1876. The team was however suspended from 1909 to 1920 due to lack of interest, and involvement in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Georgetown added a men's lightweight team in 1963, a women's team in 1975, and a women's lightweight team in 1996.
Under the guidance of Tony Johnson, Director of Rowing and Varsity Heavyweight Coach, Georgetown competes as a member of the top leagues in American rowing, the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges
Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges
The Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges is a college athletic conference of eighteen men's college rowing crews. It is an affiliate of the Eastern College Athletic Conference .-Members:...
and Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges
The Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges is an American athletic conference of eighteen women's college rowing crew teams. The conference is an affiliate of the Eastern College Athletic Conference .-Members:*Boston College...
.
Georgetown's four crew teams have seen success in recent years, including trips to the Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
and entry into the Eastern Sprints
Eastern Sprints
Eastern Sprints refers to the annual rowing championship for the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges . Since 1974, the "Women's Eastern Sprints" has been held as the annual championship for the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges league.*For the women's regatta, see Women's Eastern...
for the men's heavyweight and lightweight teams and second-in-the-nation finishes for both men's and women's lightweight teams. Many Georgetown oarsmen and -women have gone on to represent the United States on national and Olympic teams.
The university currently rents space in Thompson Boat Center, though has ongoing plans to build a new boathouse closer to campus.
Notable Georgetown crew alumni include walk-on Mike Vespoli
Mike Vespoli
Michael L Vespoli is founder and chief executive officer of Vespoli USA, Inc., a boat manufacturer in New Haven, Connecticut, that makes shells for rowing teams and individual rowers.-Career:...
, the founder and chief executive officer of Vespoli USA, Inc.
Vespoli
Vespoli USA is a manufacturer of racing shells for rowing. It was founded by former Georgetown University rower, Olympian, and World Rowing Champion Mike Vespoli in 1980. It is located on the Quinnipiac River in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.-History:...
Lacrosse
Both the men's and women's lacrosse teams have been highly competitive in recent years, both in conference and tournament play. A men's lacrosse team was first organized in 1951, and entered Division 1 play in 1970. The team played in the Eastern College Athletic ConferenceEastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...
until the 2010 season, when the Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
created a men's league. The men's team made the NCAA Tournament each season from 1996–2007, reaching the Final Four in 1999.
The 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...
team was formed in 1977, and won the first 6 consecutive Big East titles from 2001–2006. The Lady Hoyas reached the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship
NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship
The annual NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the top women's lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III....
final in both 2001 and 2002. In 2005, their first season under new coach Ricky Fried, the team went 13–5 and made the NCAA Tournament for the 8th straight year. Both the men's and women's teams play their home games on Multi-Sport Field
Multi-Sport Field
Multi-Sport Field is a 2,500-seat multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. on the campus of Georgetown University. The field was originally used for intramurals and was adopted for soccer in 1994 as Harbin Field...
.
Football
The football team at Georgetown was first formed on November 1, 1874, with the earliest recorded games dating to 1887. By the 1940s, Georgetown had one of the better college football teams in America, and played in the 1941 Orange Bowl, where they lost 14–7 to Mississippi StateMississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
. As the college game became more expensive after World War II, however, Georgetown's program began to lose money rapidly. The Hoyas last successful season was 1949, when they lost in the Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...
against Texas Western
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Texas System. Its campus is located on the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy,...
. However the program was losing too much money, and on March 22, 1951, the university's president canceled the football program.
In 1964, Georgetown allowed its students to start a football program as an exhibition-only club sport. Varsity football resumed in 1970 at what later became known as the Division III level. Today, Georgetown plays at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision, competing in the Patriot League
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...
and perennially plays against Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
schools.
The Hoyas have also begun a cross-town rivalry with Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
for a championship known as the D.C. Cup.
"Big Jim" Ricca, an NFL defensive end
Defensive end
Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...
and offensive lineman, graduated in 1949 and was the last Hoya to play in an NFL game. In 2007, the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
made Alex Buzbee
Alex Buzbee
Alex Buzbee is a defensive end for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2007...
a reserve player, becoming the first Georgetown player on an NFL team since Ricca retired in 1956.
The 2011 Georgetown Football team finished 8-3 which was their first winning season since the 1999 campaign. They were 2nd place in the Patriot League behind Lehigh and they won their DC Cup game over Howard University.
Other sports
Hoyas have excelled in a wide range of sports over the years:- Five players from the men's soccer team have played professionally for Major League SoccerMajor League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
: Phil Wellington (drafted in 1996), Brandon Leib (1997), and Eric KvelloEric KvelloEric Kvello is a retired American professional soccer player.Kvello grew up in Dallas, Texas, where he played for the Dallas Texans Soccer Club. In college, he played for Georgetown Hoyas in 1995, 1997 and 1998. In February 1999, the Hershey Wildcats selected Kvello in the second round of the USL...
(1999), Dan Gargan 2004 (Selected 43rd overall in the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft), Jeff Curtin 2005 (1st round draft Pick #14 overall). Ricky Schramm, who played on the 2006 Hoyas, was drafted in the 3rd round by D.C. UnitedD.C. UnitedD.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...
. - The sailing team finished 2005 ranked #1 in the ICSA Sailing World College Rankings. As of December 2009, they were ranked #5. Andrew CampbellAndrew Campbell (yachtsman)Andrew Campbell is an American yachtsman best known for his outstanding performances at the national collegiate level.-Sailing career:...
has led the sailing team to the three national championships and a second place finish in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Associaion championships in Hood RiverHood River, OregonThe city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,831...
, OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. He was named male sailing athlete of the year in 2002 and 2005. - The men and women's track and field teams practice off-campus at Duke Ellington Track in neighboring Burleith. At the end of the 2009 season, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches AssociationU.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches AssociationThe U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association is a New Orleans, Louisiana-based professional association representing men's and women's cross country and track & field coaches in the United States. The organization has about 8,000 members...
ranked the men's team #1 and the women's team #5 in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic region.
Club teams
Georgetown University fields numerous club sports teams. They range from club versions of varsity sports, such as tennis or basketball, to sports for which there is no varsity equivalent, such as men and women's Water Polo Clubs or the Georgetown University Croquet Society, a nationally competitive croquetCroquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
team. The university began supporting club teams in 2000. Though other teams exist, the Club Sports Board at Georgetown supports eleven men's club teams, nine women's, and three co-ed teams (year founded in parentheses):
- Men's: Boxing (2008), Cycling, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse (1995), Rugby (1967), Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball, Water polo (1993), Triathlon (2005)
- Women's: Squash (2008), Water polo, Basketball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Rugby (2000), Soccer (2001), Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball
- Co-ed: Equestrian, Racquetball (2007), Tennis (2004)
Rugby
The Georgetown University Rugby Football Club is the intercollegiate men's rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team that represents Georgetown in the USA Rugby
USA Rugby
USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...
league. It was founded in the spring semester of 1967 by former members of the Washington D.C. Rugby Football Club including graduate student Michael Murphy. In 2005, Georgetown's first reached the Final Four of the USA Rugby National Tournament. The "Hoya Ruggers" again reached for the semifinals in 2009 in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, and have had an undefeated 2009-10 season.
A women's rugby team was founded in 2000, and plays in Division II in the Potomac Rugby Union (PRU). They have won the PRU championship four consecutive times form 2006 to 2009. They have also been invited to the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union tournament three times, and were runners-up in 2006-07.
Ice hockey
Georgetown's ice hockey team plays in the Division II in the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey LeagueAtlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League
The Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League or ACCHL is an ACHA Division II club hockey league in the mid-atlantic and southeast regions of the US...
(ACCHL) as the only team whose primary conference is not the Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
. Since joining this conference in 2003, the team has won the conference championship three times, in 2004-05, 2006–07, and again in 2007-08. The team previously played in the Division III Mason-Dixon Collegiate Hockey Association
Mason-Dixon Collegiate Hockey Association
The Mason-Dixon Collegiate Hockey Association is a ACHA Division III club ice hockey league that comprises smaller colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic region USA...
, where it won the league championship in 1997, 1999, and 2000. In 2001 and 2002, they were invited to the national tournament of the American Collegiate Hockey Association
American Collegiate Hockey Association
The American Collegiate Hockey Association is the national governing body of non-varsity college ice hockey in the U.S. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments....
, which the team had joined in 1999. Coach John Kokidko has led the team since 2003. The team plays its home matches at the Washington Capitals
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Since their founding in 1974, "The Caps" have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup...
' practice arena, Kettler Capitals Iceplex
Kettler Capitals Iceplex
Kettler Capitals Iceplex is the practice arena of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. The highest ice rink above street-level in the United States, it is located on the eighth floor atop the parking garage adjoining the Ballston Common Mall in the Ballston neighborhood of...
in Ballston, Arlington, Virginia at the Ballston Common Mall
Ballston Common Mall
Ballston Common Mall, which originally opened as Parkington Shopping Center in 1951, was one of the first major suburban shopping centers in the Washington D.C. area. It was the first shopping center built around a multi-story parking garage in the United States...
.
Athletic directors
After Bernard Muir left the position as the Director of the Athletic Department on May 11, 2009, a year long search for a replacement began. Dr. Daniel R. Porterfield, Senior Vice President for Strategic Development, served as Interim Director of Athletics beginning June 3, 2009, until Lee Reed took the position on April 15, 2010.| No. | Name | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles R. Cox | 1914–1920 |
| 2 | Vincent S. McDonough | 1920–1924 |
| 3 | Louis Little | 1924–1930 |
| 4 | H. Gabriel Murphy | 1930–1941 |
| 5 | Rome F. Schwagel | 1941–1942 |
| 6 | Joseph T. Gardner | 1942–1943 |
| 7 | John J. Kehoe | 1943–1944 |
| 8 | John L. Hagerty | 1946–1947 |
| 5 | Rome F. Schwagel | 1947–1949 |
| 8 | John L. Hagerty | 1949–1969 |
| 9 | Robert H. Sigholtz | 1969–1972 |
| 10 | Francis X. Rienzo | 1972–1999 |
| 11 | Joseph C. Lang | 1999–2004 |
| 12 | Adam Brick | 2004–2005 |
| 13 | Bernard Muir | 2005–2009 |
| Daniel R. Porterfield | 2009–2010 | |
| 14 | Lee Reed | 2010–present |