Pennsylvania State University Athletics
Encyclopedia
The Penn State Nittany Lions (Lady Lions for women's basketball only) are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University. The school colors are blue
and white
. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion
. The Intercollegiate Athletics Logo was commissioned in 1983.
Penn State participates in the NCAA
Division I FBS and in the Big Ten Conference
for most sports. A few sports participate in different conferences because they are not sponsored by the Big Ten: men's lacrosse
in the Colonial Athletic Association
, women's lacrosse in American Lacrosse Conference
, and men's volleyball
in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
(EIVA). The fencing teams operate as independents.
Penn State has finished in the top 25 each of the 15 years that the NACDA Director's Cup
has been in existence. This is a list compiled by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
that charts institutions' overall success in college sports. PSU finished in 9th place in the 2007-08 standings, and it was the eighth time that they finished in the top 10. It was the highest finish in five years.
Penn State has a large football following and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to its campus; the surrounding area is known as "Happy Valley" for tailgating and games on autumn Saturdays in Beaver Stadium
. The largest crowd ever at Beaver Stadium was on September 14, 2002, as 110,753 people watched the Nittany Lions defeat the University of Nebraska by a score of 40-7. The school has earned a reputation as "Linebacker
U" for the number of high-quality linebackers trained. Joe Paterno
was the head coach for the Nittany Lion football team from 1966 until he was fired on November 9, 2011, in the aftermath of the Penn State sex abuse scandal
. He was regarded as one of the most successful national coaches, holding the record for wins and bowl appearance. Penn State plays in two football "trophy games" with other members of the Big Ten. They are for the Governor's Victory Bell
with the University of Minnesota
and the season-ending Land Grant Trophy
game versus Michigan State University
.
Prior to joining the Big Ten, Penn State was one of the strongest of the independent schools in college football. They played a number of schools regularly, including Pitt
, Syracuse
, West Virginia
, Notre Dame
, Maryland
and Alabama
. Penn State has won the prestigious Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
, awarded for Eastern football supremacy, a record 28 times as of 2010. Penn State has also been named the ECAC FBS Team of the Year for a record 13th time.
Penn State won consensus National Championships in 1982 and 1986, both under Coach Paterno. The 1986 team won by defeating the University of Miami
in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl
, which remains the most watched college football game in history. The school has had a number of other undefeated teams including 1909, 1911, 1912, 1920, 1921, 1947, 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1994, some of which have been awarded national championships
from various sources. Penn State has the best winning percentage of any school in bowl games with a record of 26–12–2.
Penn State is also among the leaders nationwide in terms of players advancing to the professional level. As of 2006, 29 former Penn State players and coaches were on the rosters of NFL
teams, the tenth-highest such placement rate in the country. Penn State has been represented in at least one of the teams participating in the Super Bowl
37 of the 41 times the championship game has been played.
A recent report indicated that Penn State's football program ranks 12th nationwide in terms of economic contributions to each program's university, athletic department, conference, and community. The report, based on ticket sales, sponsorships, football program expenses, athletic department expenses (non-football), shared conference profits, and county revenue figures during home football games, revealed that the Nittany Lions are presently worth roughly US$
63 million.
in 1954, though the best finish in recent years occurred in 2000-2001 with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament
after a win over UNC
in the round of 32. The most recent postseason championship for Penn State was the Men's National Invitational Tournament April 2, 2009. Penn State beat Baylor 69-63 to capture its first national title in school history.
The women's basketball teams (the only Penn State Athletic team not known as "Nittany Lions," but instead using the moniker "Lady Lions") have had more success, often gaining berths into the women's NCAA tournament
, reaching the Final Four once. In 1976, the Lady Lions earned a berth in the AIAW women's basketball tournament
, which Penn State hosted that year.
Notable alumni include: Frank Brickowski, John Amaechi, Calvin Booth, Mike Costello, Stanley Pringle, Geary Claxton, Jamelle Cornley, Suzy McConnell.
programs. Penn State is one of only 5 schools -- and the only school not in California -- to win a NCAA Championship for both men and women's volleyball, the others being Stanford, UCLA, USC
, and Long Beach State.
The women's volleyball team is coached by Russ Rose
, who, since his first season in 1979, has led the Lions to a record of 1,033-164, an .863 winning percentage, which ranks first in NCAA history. Rose has won 1,033 of the program's 1,084 total wins. On December 17, 2009, Rose earned his 1,000th career victory with a win against Hawaii in the 2009 NCAA National Semifinals
. In all 32 seasons except for 2001 under Rose, there have been at least 1 All-American on his team.
The program is one of only two DI universities to appear in every NCAA tournament (1981–2010). They have won five NCAA National Championships
in 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010. They were the national runners-up in 1993, 1997 and 1998 and also reached the Final Four in 1994.
The Women's team holds a five NCAA records. They hold the NCAA record for consecutive matches won, when they broke USC's
record of 52 straight on November 14, 2008 with a sweep of Illinois
. As of the end of the 2009 season, the streak stood at 102 wins. The Lions won their first 7 matches of the 2010 season, before the streak was finally snapped on September 11, 2010 against Stanford in Gainesville, Florida at a record 109 wins. They have won 24 consecutive postseason games covering their four consecutive National Championships from 2007-2010.
In 2008, they became the first women's volleyball program in Division I, II, or III, to go through the regular season without losing a single set. Penn State broke the NCAA record of consecutive sets won, winning 111 sets in a row up until the third set of the 2008 NCAA National Semifinals. The previous record was 105 set by Florida in 2003. In 2009, they became the first Division I team to win three straight NCAA titles, and also became the first team to win two straight NCAA titles with undefeated seasons, as they went 38-0 in 2008 & 2009.
The Lions had an unprecedented success when Penn State was in the Atlantic 10 conference, as they won the title all 8 years without losing a single conference match before joining the Big Ten. In the Big Ten, they have won 14 titles since 1991, including a conference record 8 straight (2003–10). During Big Ten play, they have had a perfect 20-0 conference record 6 times (1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009), more than any other Big Ten school who have accomplished the feat combined. They also received Big Ten Freshman of the Year 8 of the 9 past seasons (2002–07, 2009-10), the Big Ten Player of the Year 6 straight seasons (2005–10) and became the first school in Big Ten history to sweep all 4 major Big Ten honors (2005).
The men's volleyball team is coached by Mark Pavlik. The program has won two NCAA National Championships
in 1994 and 2008 and 16 EIVA titles out of 17 years, including 10 consecutive. They finished as NCAA National runners-up in 1982, 1995 and 2006, to UCLA each time (twice at Rec Hall). They reached the NCAA final four 24 times including 13 out of the last 14 years through the 2008 season and an NCAA record 10 consecutive (1998–2008).
The men's first national title came in 1994, when they beat powerhouse UCLA in five sets after being down 11-4 in the fourth set and then winning the fourth 15-12 and the fifth with the same score. The win made Penn State the first school outside of California
in the then-24 year history to win an NCAA Men's volleyball championship. They won the NCAA title again in 2008, defeating Pepperdine 3-1. With the win, Penn State men and women's programs swept the volleyball championships in the same academic year, joining Stanford from 1996-97 to be the only schools to accomplish the rare feat.
Pavlik was named the 2008 AVCA National Coach of the Year.
powerhouse, winning a record 12 national championships
in the sport since the NCAA began awarding titles in combined men's and women's fencing in 1990. The team has finished either 1st or 2nd every season since 1990 except for 2005 (when they finished 3rd) and 2008 (when they finished 4th). The program won 6 NCAA Championships in a row from 1995 to 2000.
Emmanuil G. Kaidanov is the highly regarded coach of the fencing squads. The women's fencing team won national AIAW titles in 1980 and 1981, followed by an NCAA championship in 1983. The team recruits both nationally and throughout the globe and often has a number of highly touted international players.
team reached the National Championship game, but fell to undefeated UNC
, 3-0. In their tournament run, they were able to defeat two time defending champion Maryland
, 1-0, and defending national runner-up Wake Forest
, 2-0. Jen Long was nominated for the Honda Award for her efforts. They also finished as NCAA runner ups in 2002, losing to Wake Forest in the title game 2-0 after defeating Old Dominion 3-2 in the semifinals. 2002 marked the first time Penn State reached the NCAA Finals and second time reaching the Final Four. The team won the AIAW national championships in 1980 and 1981. In 2011 the women's field hockey team won it's fifth ever Big Ten title after defeating Michigan 3-2, and first since 1998 when they again defeated Michigan 3-1.
team won their NCAA record 12th national championship, by defeating powerhouse Oklahoma
at Rec Hall
, with the score of 221.000-220.200, denying them a threepeat. The women's team won the AIAW national championship twice, in 1978 and 1980, edging out other dominant teams like Cal State-Fullerton and Utah.
(ACHA) Men's Division I level as a member of the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League
(ESCHL). Penn State has won 7 ACHA DI National Championships in 1990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. The men's hockey team were champions of the University Hockey League
during the 2003-04 and 2001-02 seasons; they were runners-up during the 2002-03, 2000–01, and 1998-99 seasons. After years of speculation the men's and women's programs will be elevated to varsity status beginning with the 2012-13 season. The team will continue to play in the 1,350-seat Penn State Ice Pavilion
until the new Pegula Ice Arena is complete in late 2013 or early 2014. The team will compete as an independent Division I team in the 2012-2013 season before joining the Big Ten, which is sponsoring men's ice hockey as a conference sport beginning with the 2013-2014 season.
(ECWHL). The programs will move to the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) Division I level beginning in the 2012-13 season, in which they will join College Hockey America
, becoming the fifth member of the conference. The lady Icers will continue to play in the 1,350-seat Penn State Ice Pavilion
until the new Pegula Ice Arena is complete in late 2013 or early 2014.
from 1926 to 1958, the result of polls and the subjective opinion of the ISFA administrators. In that time, Penn State shared eight national championships and was selected three times as champion outright (1929, 1938, 1954). The rival College Soccer Bowl was held from 1950-1952 in an attempt to decide a national champion on the field. Penn State gained a last-minute tie in the 1950 championship final. The team won in 1951; however, the ISFA failed to select Penn State that year.
The Penn State men's lacrosse team dates to 1913 and made recent headlines with their hiring of Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni.
.
at the NCRHA Division I level. The team is a Division I member of the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA). Penn State also field a team in the B Division of the NCRHA and ECRHA. The PSU B team won the NCRHA B Division Championship in 2010, the university's first national title in roller hockey.
) participate in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) territory at large and the Potomac Rugby Union for local divisional play. Both teams field perennial competitive sides with the women's team winning national titles in 1997, 2000, 2004,2007, 2009, and 2010.
, Stanford
, USC
, Oklahoma State, Arkansas
, LSU
, and tied with Texas. Penn State has the most national championships of any Big Ten school. Most of the women's championships prior to 1982 occurred under the auspices of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
(AIAW). The NCAA did not start sponsoring women's championships until the 1981-82 academic year. Some of the men's championships occurred prior to the NCAA sponsoring a championship
in that sport (for example, the NCAA did not start sponsoring a men's soccer championship until 1959) and some sports have never had recognized NCAA championships (such as Division I-A football).
Bold indicates an NCAA championship.
Since joining the Big Ten in 1991, Penn State has won 60 regular season Big Ten Championships, and 13 tournament championships. Men's Volleyball has also won 17 regular season EIVA Championships.
* denotes shared regular season conference title
won the bronze medal with the U.S.
gymnastics team
and Adam Wiercioch
won the silver medal with Poland
in the fencing team épée
competition.
The football team plays in the aforementioned Beaver Stadium. The men's and women's basketball teams play in the Bryce Jordan Center
. Most of the other indoor teams play at Rec Hall
, which was previously the long term home for the basketball teams as well. The school also is home to the Ashenfelter
Multi-Sport Facility for indoor track. Other indoor facilities include Lasch Building & Holuba Hall for football; White Building houses gymnastics & fencing; and the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex is within Rec Hall.
A new baseball
stadium named Medlar Field at Lubrano Park
opened in June 2006. The stadium is host to both the University baseball team as well as the State College Spikes
, a minor league
baseball team. The ballpark is oriented towards the east, offering a view of Mount Nittany
. The softball team will begin play at its new home, the Nittany Lion Softball Park in 2011. Jeffrey Field is home to the soccer and lacrosse programs as well.
Additionally, the university operates the Penn State Golf Courses
, two courses for the golf teams, students, faculty, and the general public. The Intercollegiate Athletics Department operates the Stone Valley Recreation Area
, approximately twenty miles southeast of State College.
. The upper level of the museum is dedicated to Penn State basketball
and other indoor sports, while the lower level of the museum is dedicated to outdoor sports. The football
exhibit on the lower level features a Heisman Trophy
—won by John Cappelletti
—and a collection of several other trophies and awards, in addition to honoring the Penn State football team
, the Penn State Blue Band
, Penn State Cheerleading
, and the student athlete
s who have portrayed the Nittany Lion
mascot. The museum opened in February 2002.
Navy blue
Navy blue is a very dark shade of the color blue which almost appears as black. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue worn by officers in the British Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world....
and white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion
Nittany Lion
This article is about the Penn State mascot. For the Penn State fight song see "The Nittany Lion ".The Nittany Lion is the mascot of the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, USA and its athletic teams. It refers to the mountain lions that once roamed near the school, and...
. The Intercollegiate Athletics Logo was commissioned in 1983.
Penn State participates in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I FBS and in the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
for most sports. A few sports participate in different conferences because they are not sponsored by the Big Ten: men'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...
in the Colonial Athletic Association
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond,...
, women's lacrosse in American Lacrosse Conference
American Lacrosse Conference
The American Lacrosse Conference is a NCAA Division I women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference whose members are located in the Midwest, on the East Coast, and increasingly in the Southeastern states from Illinois to Florida....
, and men's volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball 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...
in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States....
(EIVA). The fencing teams operate as independents.
Penn State has finished in the top 25 each of the 15 years that the NACDA Director's Cup
NACDA Director's Cup
The NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and universities with the most success in collegiate athletics...
has been in existence. This is a list compiled by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics is a professional organization for college and university athletic directors in the United States. NACDA boasts a membership of more than 6,100 individuals and more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico...
that charts institutions' overall success in college sports. PSU finished in 9th place in the 2007-08 standings, and it was the eighth time that they finished in the top 10. It was the highest finish in five years.
Current varsity sports programs
- Men's
- BaseballBaseballBaseball 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- FencingFencingFencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
- 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...
- 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....
- GymnasticsGymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
- Ice hockeyIce hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
- Indoor track and field
- 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...
- Outdoor track and field
- Soccer
- 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...
& 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... - 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...
- 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...
- WrestlingCollegiate wrestlingCollegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...
- Baseball
- 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...
- 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...
- FencingFencingFencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
- 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...
- 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....
- GymnasticsGymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
- Ice HockeyIce hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
- Indoor track and field
- 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...
- Outdoor track and field
- Soccer
- 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...
- 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...
& 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... - 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...
- 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...
- Basketball
Football
Penn State has a large football following and attracts tens of thousands of visitors to its campus; the surrounding area is known as "Happy Valley" for tailgating and games on autumn Saturdays in Beaver Stadium
Beaver Stadium
Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University. It is home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference. The stadium is named for James A...
. The largest crowd ever at Beaver Stadium was on September 14, 2002, as 110,753 people watched the Nittany Lions defeat the University of Nebraska by a score of 40-7. The school has earned a reputation as "Linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
U" for the number of high-quality linebackers trained. Joe Paterno
Joe Paterno
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...
was the head coach for the Nittany Lion football team from 1966 until he was fired on November 9, 2011, in the aftermath of the Penn State sex abuse scandal
Penn State sex abuse scandal
The Penn State sex abuse scandal refers to allegations that former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted or had inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys on or near university property...
. He was regarded as one of the most successful national coaches, holding the record for wins and bowl appearance. Penn State plays in two football "trophy games" with other members of the Big Ten. They are for the Governor's Victory Bell
Governor's Victory Bell
The Governor's Victory Bell is awarded to the winner of each college football game between Minnesota and Penn State.-History:It was first presented in 1993 to commemorate Penn State's entry into the Big Ten Conference, with their first league game coming against the Golden Gophers. Penn State won...
with the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
and the season-ending Land Grant Trophy
Land Grant Trophy
The Land Grant Trophy is presented to the winner of each football game between Michigan State and Penn State. The Michigan State Spartans are the current holder of the Land Grand Trophy after beating Penn State 28-22 in State College, PA; the victory ensured that the Spartans won a share of the...
game versus Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
.
Prior to joining the Big Ten, Penn State was one of the strongest of the independent schools in college football. They played a number of schools regularly, including Pitt
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, Syracuse
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, West Virginia
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
, Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
and Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
. Penn State has won the prestigious Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
The Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy is an annual award given to the best team in the Northeast in Division I FBS college football.The Lambert Trophy was established by brothers Victor and Henry Lambert in memory of their father, August. The Lamberts were the principals in a distinguished Madison Avenue...
, awarded for Eastern football supremacy, a record 28 times as of 2010. Penn State has also been named the ECAC FBS Team of the Year for a record 13th time.
Miami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...
in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
, which remains the most watched college football game in history. The school has had a number of other undefeated teams including 1909, 1911, 1912, 1920, 1921, 1947, 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1994, some of which have been awarded national championships
Mythical National Championship
A mythical national championship is a colloquial term used to question the validity of national championship recognition that is not explicitly competitive...
from various sources. Penn State has the best winning percentage of any school in bowl games with a record of 26–12–2.
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
teams, the tenth-highest such placement rate in the country. Penn State has been represented in at least one of the teams participating in the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
37 of the 41 times the championship game has been played.
A recent report indicated that Penn State's football program ranks 12th nationwide in terms of economic contributions to each program's university, athletic department, conference, and community. The report, based on ticket sales, sponsorships, football program expenses, athletic department expenses (non-football), shared conference profits, and county revenue figures during home football games, revealed that the Nittany Lions are presently worth roughly US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
63 million.
Basketball
Penn State's men's basketball program reached the Final FourFinal four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
in 1954, though the best finish in recent years occurred in 2000-2001 with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament
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...
after a win over UNC
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
in the round of 32. The most recent postseason championship for Penn State was the Men's National Invitational Tournament April 2, 2009. Penn State beat Baylor 69-63 to capture its first national title in school history.
The women's basketball teams (the only Penn State Athletic team not known as "Nittany Lions," but instead using the moniker "Lady Lions") have had more success, often gaining berths into the women's 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...
, reaching the Final Four once. In 1976, the Lady Lions earned a berth in the AIAW women's basketball tournament
AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament
-1973 tournament:The 1973 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament was held on March 22–25, 1973. The host site was Queens College in Flushing, New York...
, which Penn State hosted that year.
Notable alumni include: Frank Brickowski, John Amaechi, Calvin Booth, Mike Costello, Stanley Pringle, Geary Claxton, Jamelle Cornley, Suzy McConnell.
Volleyball
Penn State is home to one of the top men's and women's volleyballVolleyball
Volleyball 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...
programs. Penn State is one of only 5 schools -- and the only school not in California -- to win a NCAA Championship for both men and women's volleyball, the others being Stanford, UCLA, USC
USC Volleyball
The USC Trojans women's volleyball team is currently coached by Mick Haley, who began in 2001. Under Haley, USC became the first repeat NCAA Volleyball National Champion in 2002-03 since Stanford in 1996-97...
, and Long Beach State.
Women's volleyball
Russ Rose
Russell "Russ" David Rose is an American author, professor and volleyball coach at Penn State University . His coaching record is 1,033-164, an .863 winning percentage which ranks first in NCAA history...
, who, since his first season in 1979, has led the Lions to a record of 1,033-164, an .863 winning percentage, which ranks first in NCAA history. Rose has won 1,033 of the program's 1,084 total wins. On December 17, 2009, Rose earned his 1,000th career victory with a win against Hawaii in the 2009 NCAA National Semifinals
2009 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament
The 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament began on December 3, 2009 with 64 teams and ended on December 19, when Penn State defeated Texas, 3-2, in the NCAA National Championship match. With the win, Penn State won its fourth overall title, and became the first team in the history of...
. In all 32 seasons except for 2001 under Rose, there have been at least 1 All-American on his team.
NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA has contested team championships in women's volleyball since 1981. The following is a list of the champions of each division with their record for the year in which they won the championship, and the runner up, city, site and other final four participants for division I...
in 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010. They were the national runners-up in 1993, 1997 and 1998 and also reached the Final Four in 1994.
The Women's team holds a five NCAA records. They hold the NCAA record for consecutive matches won, when they broke USC's
USC Volleyball
The USC Trojans women's volleyball team is currently coached by Mick Haley, who began in 2001. Under Haley, USC became the first repeat NCAA Volleyball National Champion in 2002-03 since Stanford in 1996-97...
record of 52 straight on November 14, 2008 with a sweep of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. As of the end of the 2009 season, the streak stood at 102 wins. The Lions won their first 7 matches of the 2010 season, before the streak was finally snapped on September 11, 2010 against Stanford in Gainesville, Florida at a record 109 wins. They have won 24 consecutive postseason games covering their four consecutive National Championships from 2007-2010.
In 2008, they became the first women's volleyball program in Division I, II, or III, to go through the regular season without losing a single set. Penn State broke the NCAA record of consecutive sets won, winning 111 sets in a row up until the third set of the 2008 NCAA National Semifinals. The previous record was 105 set by Florida in 2003. In 2009, they became the first Division I team to win three straight NCAA titles, and also became the first team to win two straight NCAA titles with undefeated seasons, as they went 38-0 in 2008 & 2009.
The Lions had an unprecedented success when Penn State was in the Atlantic 10 conference, as they won the title all 8 years without losing a single conference match before joining the Big Ten. In the Big Ten, they have won 14 titles since 1991, including a conference record 8 straight (2003–10). During Big Ten play, they have had a perfect 20-0 conference record 6 times (1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009), more than any other Big Ten school who have accomplished the feat combined. They also received Big Ten Freshman of the Year 8 of the 9 past seasons (2002–07, 2009-10), the Big Ten Player of the Year 6 straight seasons (2005–10) and became the first school in Big Ten history to sweep all 4 major Big Ten honors (2005).
Men's volleyball
NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is the tournament that determines the national championship of American college volleyball.The "Final Four" is a term used exclusively by NCAA Basketball but is commonly used to describe the Men's Volleyball Championship...
in 1994 and 2008 and 16 EIVA titles out of 17 years, including 10 consecutive. They finished as NCAA National runners-up in 1982, 1995 and 2006, to UCLA each time (twice at Rec Hall). They reached the NCAA final four 24 times including 13 out of the last 14 years through the 2008 season and an NCAA record 10 consecutive (1998–2008).
The men's first national title came in 1994, when they beat powerhouse UCLA in five sets after being down 11-4 in the fourth set and then winning the fourth 15-12 and the fifth with the same score. The win made Penn State the first school outside of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the then-24 year history to win an NCAA Men's volleyball championship. They won the NCAA title again in 2008, defeating Pepperdine 3-1. With the win, Penn State men and women's programs swept the volleyball championships in the same academic year, joining Stanford from 1996-97 to be the only schools to accomplish the rare feat.
Pavlik was named the 2008 AVCA National Coach of the Year.
Fencing
Penn State is a fencingFencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
powerhouse, winning a record 12 national championships
NCAA Fencing team championship
NCAA fencing championship results, combined men and women , men's and women's .-Combined:Note: Team scoring in 1990 was based on weapon team events standings. From 1991 to 1994, point values increased due to fencers not qualifying as part of a team being able to contribute points from individual...
in the sport since the NCAA began awarding titles in combined men's and women's fencing in 1990. The team has finished either 1st or 2nd every season since 1990 except for 2005 (when they finished 3rd) and 2008 (when they finished 4th). The program won 6 NCAA Championships in a row from 1995 to 2000.
Emmanuil G. Kaidanov is the highly regarded coach of the fencing squads. The women's fencing team won national AIAW titles in 1980 and 1981, followed by an NCAA championship in 1983. The team recruits both nationally and throughout the globe and often has a number of highly touted international players.
Field hockey
The women's field hockey team is coached by Char Morett, Lisa Bervinchak-Love and Annie Zinkavich, all of whom are former Penn State Field Hockey players. In 2007, the women's Field HockeyField hockey
Field 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...
team reached the National Championship game, but fell to undefeated UNC
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, 3-0. In their tournament run, they were able to defeat two time defending champion Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, 1-0, and defending national runner-up Wake Forest
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
, 2-0. Jen Long was nominated for the Honda Award for her efforts. They also finished as NCAA runner ups in 2002, losing to Wake Forest in the title game 2-0 after defeating Old Dominion 3-2 in the semifinals. 2002 marked the first time Penn State reached the NCAA Finals and second time reaching the Final Four. The team won the AIAW national championships in 1980 and 1981. In 2011 the women's field hockey team won it's fifth ever Big Ten title after defeating Michigan 3-2, and first since 1998 when they again defeated Michigan 3-1.
Gymnastics
In 2007, the men's gymnasticsGymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
team won their NCAA record 12th national championship, by defeating powerhouse Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
at Rec Hall
Rec Hall
Recreation Building, or Rec Hall as it is more commonly known, is a field house located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. It was opened on January 15, 1929 and is still in use. Previously, Penn State's indoor sports teams played in a building known as the Armory,...
, with the score of 221.000-220.200, denying them a threepeat. The women's team won the AIAW national championship twice, in 1978 and 1980, edging out other dominant teams like Cal State-Fullerton and Utah.
Men's ice hockey
The popular men's ice hockey team, the Icers, currently competes at the American Collegiate Hockey AssociationAmerican 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....
(ACHA) Men's Division I level as a member of the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League
Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League
The Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League was created in 2007. The league is made up of 5 teams in the Northeast and mid atlantic region of the US. The Teams play at the ACHA Division I level.-Format:...
(ESCHL). Penn State has won 7 ACHA DI National Championships in 1990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. The men's hockey team were champions of the University Hockey League
University Hockey League
University Hockey League was an American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II club level hockey-only college athletic conference with teams in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina...
during the 2003-04 and 2001-02 seasons; they were runners-up during the 2002-03, 2000–01, and 1998-99 seasons. After years of speculation the men's and women's programs will be elevated to varsity status beginning with the 2012-13 season. The team will continue to play in the 1,350-seat Penn State Ice Pavilion
Penn State Ice Pavilion
The Penn State Ice Pavilion is an 1,350-seat ice arena on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania. The ice arena includes an NHL regulation sized 200' x 85' ice sheet as well as a 45' x 55' studio ice sheet....
until the new Pegula Ice Arena is complete in late 2013 or early 2014. The team will compete as an independent Division I team in the 2012-2013 season before joining the Big Ten, which is sponsoring men's ice hockey as a conference sport beginning with the 2013-2014 season.
Women's ice hockey
The women's ice hockey team, the Lady Icers, currently competes at the ACHA Women's Division I level and play in the Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey LeagueEastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League
Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League is an American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I club level hockey-only college athletic conference for women's hockey teams.-Membership:*University of Massachusetts Amherst*University of Rhode Island...
(ECWHL). The programs will move to the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) Division I level beginning in the 2012-13 season, in which they will join College Hockey America
College Hockey America
College Hockey America is a women's college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is currently made up of four women's teams in New York and Pennsylvania....
, becoming the fifth member of the conference. The lady Icers will continue to play in the 1,350-seat Penn State Ice Pavilion
Penn State Ice Pavilion
The Penn State Ice Pavilion is an 1,350-seat ice arena on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania. The ice arena includes an NHL regulation sized 200' x 85' ice sheet as well as a 45' x 55' studio ice sheet....
until the new Pegula Ice Arena is complete in late 2013 or early 2014.
Men's soccer
Before the NCAA began its tournament in 1959, the annual national champion was declared by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football AssociationIntercollegiate Soccer Football Association
The NCAA held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, with eight teams selected for the tournament. Before 1959, unofficial champions were declared by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association . These were the result of polls and the subjective opinion of the ISFA...
from 1926 to 1958, the result of polls and the subjective opinion of the ISFA administrators. In that time, Penn State shared eight national championships and was selected three times as champion outright (1929, 1938, 1954). The rival College Soccer Bowl was held from 1950-1952 in an attempt to decide a national champion on the field. Penn State gained a last-minute tie in the 1950 championship final. The team won in 1951; however, the ISFA failed to select Penn State that year.
Women's soccer
Women's soccer has also been particularly strong, as the program has won 14 straight Big Ten Championships through the 2011 season. The team capped its 2010 Big Ten season with four straight wins including a last-minute 1-0 double-overtime victory over Michigan on Nov. 7. The 14 consecutive Big Ten titles is an all-time Big Ten record for women's teams, surpassing the 12 by Michigan swimming & diving of the 1990s. Currently, PSU is ahead of Northwestern's women's tennis squad, which obtained its 14th straight title in 2011.Lacrosse
The Penn State women's lacrosse teams have won two NCAA titles, in addition to three United States Women's Lacrosse Association championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980.The Penn State men's lacrosse team dates to 1913 and made recent headlines with their hiring of Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni.
Cross Country
The men's cross country team won NCAA titles in 1942, 1947 and 1950. Before the NCAA began sponsoring the cross country championship in 1938, and unlike today, the annual ICAAAA meet was a premier national championship event for track and field and cross country. The team won ICAAAA championships in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1930. Penn State runners won the individual ICAAAA titles in 1920 (John Romig), 1927 and 1928 (William Cox, consecutively). PSU men also won ICAAAA team titles in 1950, 1951, 1960 and 2000, as well as individual crowns in 1938, 1946, 1987 and 2004.Indoor Track and Field
Before the NCAA began sponsoring a national championship in 1965, the men's indoor track and field team won ICAAAA titles in 1942 and 1959. PSU men also won ICAAAA team titles in 1984, 1987, 2001, 2003 and 2006.Current intercollegiate club sports
The university is home to a number of intercollegiate club sports that the university doesn't field at the NCAA level, and/or sports not sponsored by the NCAA.Ice hockey
In addition to the new varsity men's and women's ice hockey teams, PSU also field a club team in the ACHA DII playing in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey AssociationMid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association
The Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association is an ACHA Division II Southeast Region club hockey league in the east coast of the USA. Division II club hockey is a level just close to the level of ACHA Division I or NCAA Division III levels.-Format:...
.
Roller Hockey
The PSU Roller Hockey team competes in National Collegiate Roller Hockey AssociationNational Collegiate Roller Hockey Association
The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association , is non-profit corporation and is the national governing body of collegiate inline hockey in the United States...
at the NCRHA Division I level. The team is a Division I member of the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA). Penn State also field a team in the B Division of the NCRHA and ECRHA. The PSU B team won the NCRHA B Division Championship in 2010, the university's first national title in roller hockey.
Rugby
The men's and women's rugby team (Lady RuggersLady Ruggers
The Lady Ruggers are Penn State University's1 Women's Rugby Football Club sports team, established in 1991. They are a Division I college rugby team who play under USA Rugby2, American rugby's governing body. Although they are an official PSU team the women's rugby program at PSU is not funded as...
) participate in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) territory at large and the Potomac Rugby Union for local divisional play. Both teams field perennial competitive sides with the women's team winning national titles in 1997, 2000, 2004,2007, 2009, and 2010.
Cross country
Cross country, is a member of the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association.National championships
Penn State has won 68 national team championships all time, 40 of which are NCAA championships. The 40 Division I NCAA championships ranks seventh all time, trailing only UCLAUniversity of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, Oklahoma State, Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
, LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, and tied with Texas. Penn State has the most national championships of any Big Ten school. Most of the women's championships prior to 1982 occurred under the auspices of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships. It evolved out of the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women . The association was one of the biggest...
(AIAW). The NCAA did not start sponsoring women's championships until the 1981-82 academic year. Some of the men's championships occurred prior to the NCAA sponsoring a championship
Pre-NCAA intercollegiate championships
Before the various NCAA championships in the United States were inaugurated, intercollegiate national championships were conducted in sports that were destined to become part of the NCAA’s eventual offerings...
in that sport (for example, the NCAA did not start sponsoring a men's soccer championship until 1959) and some sports have never had recognized NCAA championships (such as Division I-A football).
- Men's
- Boxing - 1924, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1932
- Cross Country - 1942 (co), 1947, 1950
- Football - 1982, 1986
- Gymnastics - 1948, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2007
- Soccer - 1926 (co), 1929, 1933 (co), 1936 (co), 1937 (co), 1938, 1939 (co), 1940 (co), 1949 (co), 1954, 1955 (co)
- Volleyball - 1994, 2008
- Wrestling - 1921, 1953, 2011
- Women's
- Bowling - 1979
- Fencing - 1980, 1981, 1983
- Field Hockey - 1980, 1981
- Gymnastics - 1978, 1980
- Lacrosse - 1978, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1989
- Volleyball - 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
- Combined
- Fencing - 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010
Bold indicates an NCAA championship.
Big Ten championships
- 1992-93 - Women's Volleyball*
- 1993-94 - Women's Basketball*, Field Hockey, Men's Soccer, Women's Volleyball
- 1994-95 - Women's Basketball (season* and tournament), Football
- 1995-96 - Baseball, Women's Basketball (tournament), Field Hockey (tournament)
- 1996-97 - Field Hockey (tournament), Women's Volleyball*
- 1997-98 - Field Hockey (season* and tournament), Women's Volleyball*
- 1998-99 - Field Hockey (season and tournament), Women's Soccer (season and tournament), Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Volleyball
- 1999-00 - Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball
- 2000-01 - Women's Soccer (season and tournament)
- 2001-02 - Women's Soccer (season and tournament), Women's Swimming & Diving
- 2002-03 - Women's Basketball, Men's Gymnastics, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer
- 2003-04 - Women's Basketball, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball
- 2004-05 - Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Volleyball
- 2005-06 - Field Hockey, Football2005 Penn State Nittany Lions football teamThe 2005 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 2005–2006 college football season. The team's head coach was Joe Paterno...
*, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, Women's Swimming & Diving - 2006-07 - Women's Soccer (season and tournament), Women's Volleyball
- 2007-08 - Women's Soccer (season), Women's Volleyball, Men's Gymnastics, Women's Outdoor Track & Field
- 2008-09 - Women's Soccer (season* and tournament), Field Hockey (season), Women's Volleyball, Football*, Women's Outdoor Track & Field
- 2009-10 - Women's Cross Country, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, Women's Indoor Track & Field
- 2010-11 - Women's Soccer*, Women's Volleyball, Wrestling
- 2011-12 - Women's Soccer (season), Women's Field Hockey (tournament)
Olympians
Athletes from Penn State have won five gold medals, six silver medals, and 11 bronze medals. The most recent medalists came in 2008 when Kevin TanKevin Tan
-Early life:Tan was born in Fremont, California in 1981 to immigrants from Taiwan. He graduated from Mission San Jose High School, Class of 2000.He is of Chinese descent. His Chinese and legal name is Kai Wen and that is the name he uses in international competition...
won the bronze medal with the U.S.
United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics
The United States competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. American athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since the 1896 Summer Olympics except the 1980 Summer Olympics, which the U.S. boycotted. The United States entered the Games as the most successful nation in...
gymnastics team
Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, three different gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 9–19. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing...
and Adam Wiercioch
Adam Wiercioch
Adam Wiercioch is a Polish fencer who won a silver medal in Men's Team Épée at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, together with Tomasz Motyka, Radosław Zawrotniak, and Robert Andrzejuk....
won the silver medal with Poland
Poland at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Poland competed at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. The country's delegation included 268 athletes.Natalia Partyka, in table tennis, is one of only two athletes competing at both the Beijing Olympics and the Beijing Paralympics - the other being South Africa's Natalie du Toit in...
in the fencing team épée
Fencing at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Fencing competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 17 at the Olympic Green Convention Center.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's events:- Events :10 sets of medals were awarded in the following events:...
competition.
Facilities
Bryce Jordan Center
Bryce Jordan Center is a 15,261-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania. The arena opened in 1995 and is the largest such venue between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It replaced Rec Hall as the home to the Penn State University Nittany Lions men's and women's basketball team, the...
. Most of the other indoor teams play at Rec Hall
Rec Hall
Recreation Building, or Rec Hall as it is more commonly known, is a field house located on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University. It was opened on January 15, 1929 and is still in use. Previously, Penn State's indoor sports teams played in a building known as the Armory,...
, which was previously the long term home for the basketball teams as well. The school also is home to the Ashenfelter
Horace Ashenfelter
Horace Ashenfelter, III is a retired American athlete. He competed in international athletics from 1947 to 1956 after service in World War II and the completion of his degree at Penn State....
Multi-Sport Facility for indoor track. Other indoor facilities include Lasch Building & Holuba Hall for football; White Building houses gymnastics & fencing; and the Lorenzo Wrestling Complex is within Rec Hall.
A new 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...
stadium named Medlar Field at Lubrano Park
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park is a 5,406-seat baseball stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania that hosted its first regular season baseball game on June 20, 2006, when the secondary tenant of the facility, the State College Spikes, lost to the Williamsport Crosscutters, 5-3...
opened in June 2006. The stadium is host to both the University baseball team as well as the State College Spikes
State College Spikes
The State College Spikes are a minor league baseball team that currently plays in the New York – Penn League. The Spikes play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park located on the main campus of Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania. Medlar Field is...
, a minor league
Minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
baseball team. The ballpark is oriented towards the east, offering a view of Mount Nittany
Mount Nittany
Mount Nittany is the common name for Nittany Mountain, a prominent geographic feature in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The mountain is actually part of a complex of ridges that separates Nittany Valley from Penns Valley, with the enclosed Sugar Valley between them...
. The softball team will begin play at its new home, the Nittany Lion Softball Park in 2011. Jeffrey Field is home to the soccer and lacrosse programs as well.
Additionally, the university operates the Penn State Golf Courses
Penn State Golf Courses
The Penn State Golf Courses are two 18-hole courses located in State College, Pennsylvania, USA, operated by The Pennsylvania State University. The individual 18-hole courses are named after the school colors . They, along with their practice facilities, are the home of the men's and women's golf...
, two courses for the golf teams, students, faculty, and the general public. The Intercollegiate Athletics Department operates the Stone Valley Recreation Area
Stone Valley Recreation Area
Stone Valley Recreation Area is an outdoor recreational and educational facility operated by The Pennsylvania State University. It is located in Huntingdon County near the village of Mooresville. The property is located over the mountain from the village of Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania along...
, approximately twenty miles southeast of State College.
Penn State All-Sports Museum
The Penn State All-Sports Museum, a museum honoring all Penn State Nittany Lion athletes, is located near Gate B of Beaver StadiumBeaver Stadium
Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University. It is home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference. The stadium is named for James A...
. The upper level of the museum is dedicated to Penn State basketball
Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball
The Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team is a NCAA Division I college basketball team representing the Pennsylvania State University. They are a member of the Big Ten Conference and play home games at the 15,261-seat Bryce Jordan Center, moving there from boisterous Rec Hall during the 1995–96...
and other indoor sports, while the lower level of the museum is dedicated to outdoor sports. The football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
exhibit on the lower level features a Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
—won by John Cappelletti
John Cappelletti
John Cappelletti is a former professional American football running back for the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers. Prior to his professional career, he attended the Pennsylvania State University, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1973. He was inducted into the College Football...
—and a collection of several other trophies and awards, in addition to honoring the Penn State football team
Penn State Nittany Lions football
The Penn State Nittany Lions football team represents the Pennsylvania State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference. It is one of the most tradition-rich and storied college football programs in the...
, the Penn State Blue Band
Penn State Blue Band
The Penn State University Marching Blue Band, known generally as the Blue Band, is the marching band of Pennsylvania State University. Founded in 1899, it is the largest recognized student organization at the University Park campus of Penn State, presently with over 300 active student members...
, Penn State Cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, and the student athlete
Student athlete
A student athlete is a term used to describe a participant in an organized competitive sport sponsored by the educational institution in which he or she is enrolled, a term primarily used in the United States. It is used to describe the direct balance of a full-time student and a full-time athlete...
s who have portrayed the Nittany Lion
Nittany Lion
This article is about the Penn State mascot. For the Penn State fight song see "The Nittany Lion ".The Nittany Lion is the mascot of the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, USA and its athletic teams. It refers to the mountain lions that once roamed near the school, and...
mascot. The museum opened in February 2002.
See also
- List of college athletic programs in Pennsylvania, USA
- Lacrosse in PennsylvaniaLacrosse in PennsylvaniaLacrosse has been played in Pennsylvania since the 19th century. Today, there are many respected amateur programs at the club, college and high school level, as well as several respected past and present professional teams at the National Lacrosse League and Major League Lacrosse ...
External links
- Penn State athletics official website