San Francisco Dons
Encyclopedia
The San Francisco Dons is the nickname of the athletic teams at the University of San Francisco
(USF).
, S.J. organized ball games as recreation for the first students. However, intercollegiate competition only dates back to 1907, when then-Saint Ignatius College began playing organized baseball
, basketball
, and rugby
against other local colleges and high schools. Rivalries with neighboring Santa Clara University
and Saint Mary's College of California
have their origins in this early period.
Teams were originally known as the "Grey Fog", and red and blue were Saint Ignatius College's colors. However, as the college began to develop an identity distinct from the high school--the college became the University of San Francisco in 1930--it adopted green and gold as its colors in 1927 and chose the Don
as its mascot in 1932. The old Saint Ignatius High School later became Saint Ignatius College Preparatory and retained the red and blue colors.
USF competes in the NCAA's Division I and is a charter member of the West Coast Conference
.
s. Basketball, soccer, golf
, and tennis
have separate men's and women's teams; baseball
is men only and volleyball
is women only; track and field
and cross-country running are coeducational.
conference regular season championship, and a Top 25 ranking. However, USF lost in the WCC conference championship to Pepperdine but still was given an at large berth into their first ever postseason. USF did not advance in the tournament as they were beaten by the University of Miami
, and Manhattan College
.
Nino Giarrantano became head coach in 1998, previously serving as hitting coach at Arizona State University
. Giarrantano was named 3-time JC National Coach of the Year and 2005-2006 WCC
Coach of the Year. Since arriving at USF, the team has had its best four-year stretch in its program's history, 104-69 overall since 2004.
is named after Dante Benedetti, USF's head coach from 1962 to 1980. Benedetti attended then-Saint Ignatius College from 1937 to 1940, during which he lettered in Baseball, Football, and Boxing. During his tenure as head coach, he accumulated 373 career wins, and has been inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame. Also during his tenure as head coach, the university wanted to cut the program for financial reasons. However to keep the program alive Benedetti agreed to lower his salary. For the remaining 16 years of his coaching career he was paid $1 a year.
The field is also named after Max Ulrich, a benefactor of the University of San Francisco.
' Stadium, AT&T Park
. The proceeds of the game go to the Dante Benedetti Foundation, a charity that helps under-privileged youth in San Francisco play and learn the game of baseball.
USF is best known for its basketball program. The men's basketball team have won three national titles: the 1949 NIT
under Pete Newell
, and the 1955 and 1956 NCAA
championships. The latter two were under Phil Woolpert
, and led by player and National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
r Bill Russell
.
USF retained its status as a basketball powerhouse into the 70's and early 80's, holding the distinction of being a "major" program in a "mid-major
" conference (the WCC having declined somewhat in stature since the 1960s). It held the number one spot in the polls on numerous occasions. In 1977, led by All-American center Bill Cartwright, the Dons went 29-0 and were regarded as the #1 team in the nation in both major polls before dropping their last two games.
The situation finally came to a head in December 1981, when All-American guard Quintin Dailey
assaulted a female student. During the subsequent investigation, Dailey admitted taking a no-show job at a business owned by a prominent non-sports USF donor. The donor had also paid Dailey $5,000 since 1980. Combined with other revelations, school president Rev. John LoSchiavo announced on July 26 that he was shutting down the basketball program--the first time a school had shut down a major sport under such circumstances. The move was widely appluaded by several members of the coaching fraternity , as the Dailey matter revealed a program that was, in the words of San Francisco Chronicle
sportswriter Glenn Dickey, "totally out of control."
LoSchiavo resurrected the program in 1985 under former star Jim Brovelli
, who quickly returned the program to respectability. He was not able to reach postseason play, however, and resigned in 1995. The program has only reached the postseason twice since its revival--an NCAA berth in 1998 under Phil Mathews and a 2005 NIT berth under former coach Jessie Evans
.
The program regressed the next few years, and Jessie Evans was granted a request for a 'leave of absence' on December 27, 2007. Legendary basketball coach Eddie Sutton
took over on an interim basis, needing 2 wins for a personal milestone of 800 career coaching victories. At the time, Bob Knight was the only other Division I Men's coach to have accomplished the feat. After months of speculation, Evans was finally officially fired by USF on March 20, 2008. A national coaching search was launched which included a four-man committee of Chuck Smith
, vice chair of the USF Board of Trustees and former president and CEO of AT&T West, former player and coach Jim Brovelli; Walt Gmelch, dean of the USF School of Education, and Mario Prietto, rector of the USF Jesuit Community and a member of the USF Board of Trustees.
On March 29, 2008, USF hired a executive search consultant company, DHR International to help spearhead their efforts in hiring the next Dons' head coach. Among the possible candidates named, former UCLA Bruins
Head Coach Steve Lavin
, former USF All-American and current New Jersey Nets
Assistant Coach Bill Cartwright, former NBA player and current Golden State Warriors
Shooting Coach Sidney Moncrief
, current Cal Bears Assistant Head Coach Louis Reynaud, and former Golden State Warriors
and Sacramento Kings
Head Coach Eric Musselman
.
Rex Walters
was named as the Dons' head coach on April 14, 2008.
in 1995, 1996, and 1997 and a WNIT berth in 2002. The 1996 season represented their best ever, as the women's team made it into the tournament's Sweet Sixteen
. The team is presently coached by Jennifer Azzi
.
, including a co-championship with Penn State
in 1949. The program's successes came under alumnus Stephen Negoesco
, who coached from 1962 to 2000 and led the team to 540 wins and four national championships (1966, 1975, 1976, 1980). Under Negoesco's successor, alumnus Erik Visser, the men's team earned the 2004, 2005 and 2008 WCC titles.
Alejandro Toledo
, the former president of Peru
, played for USF on a partial scholarship.
team has made two NCAA tournament appearances: in 2003, under former coach Jeff Nelson, and in 2008 under current coach Gilad Doron. The 2008 season saw the Dons finish with a Top 25 national ranking, a 22-8 record, and five all-WCC players.
. Likas also won the 1948 individual men's title.
hall of famers (Gino Marchetti
, Ollie Matson
, and Bob St. Clair
). However, they did not receive any bowl invitations, as the team turned down any suggestions that they leave their two black teammates at home at the expense of a much-needed bowl bid. Due to the associated financial burden on the school that a bowl bid would have alleviated, USF's finest football team ever was to be its last in Division I. Though football made a brief comeback as a Division II sport during the 1960s and 1970s, USF has not fielded a varsity team since.
Kuharich was an indifferent recruiter who largely delegated that responsibility to his freshman coach, Brad Lynn. Lynn had little to offer prospective players in the way of scholarship inducements beyond tuition and room and board in an old ROTC barracks. However, Lynn would take recruits to the highest hill on campus, and would gesture out towards the sweeping panorama of San Francisco saying, "THIS is your campus." Only a handful of players from that 1951 team had been considered blue-ribbon prospects in high school. Two of the team's best players, Toler and guard Louis (Red) Stephens, had not even played high school football. Future Hall of Famer Marchetti was a high school dropout who had played only sparingly when he was in school.
The 1951 Dons were honored during the 2008 Fiesta Bowl
.
, boxing
, rifle
, karate
, and lacrosse
. Rugby, which was one of the first varsity sports in school history, is currently a club sport. Football
is played on the intramural level
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...
(USF).
History
Athletics at USF dates back to its founding in 1855, when founder Anthony MaraschiAnthony Maraschi
The Reverend Anthony Maraschi, S.J. was an Italian-born priest of the Society of Jesus. He was a founder of the University of San Francisco and Saint Ignatius College Preparatory as well as the first pastor of Saint Ignatius Church in San Francisco, California.Born in Piedmont, Italy in 1820,...
, S.J. organized ball games as recreation for the first students. However, intercollegiate competition only dates back to 1907, when then-Saint Ignatius College began playing organized 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...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball 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...
, and rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
against other local colleges and high schools. Rivalries with neighboring Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
and Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California is a private, coeducational college located in Moraga, California, United States, a small suburban community about east of Oakland and 20 miles east of San Francisco. It has a 420-acre campus in the Moraga hills. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church...
have their origins in this early period.
Teams were originally known as the "Grey Fog", and red and blue were Saint Ignatius College's colors. However, as the college began to develop an identity distinct from the high school--the college became the University of San Francisco in 1930--it adopted green and gold as its colors in 1927 and chose the Don
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
as its mascot in 1932. The old Saint Ignatius High School later became Saint Ignatius College Preparatory and retained the red and blue colors.
USF competes in the NCAA's Division I and is a charter member of the West Coast Conference
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
.
Varsity Teams
The San Francisco Dons currently field 12 varsity teamVarsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
s. Basketball, soccer, golf
Golf
Golf 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....
, and tennis
Tennis
Tennis 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...
have separate men's and women's teams; 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...
is men only and 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...
is women only; track and field
Track and field
Track 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...
and cross-country running are coeducational.
Baseball
2005 was a banner year for the baseball program, as the Diamond Dons finished with a 38-18 record (the best in team history), placed eight players in the all-conference team and earned Nino Giarrantano coach of the year honors. This was followed in 2006 with a 38-21 record, the WCCWest Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
conference regular season championship, and a Top 25 ranking. However, USF lost in the WCC conference championship to Pepperdine but still was given an at large berth into their first ever postseason. USF did not advance in the tournament as they were beaten by the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
, and Manhattan College
Manhattan College
Manhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...
.
Nino Giarrantano became head coach in 1998, previously serving as hitting coach at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
. Giarrantano was named 3-time JC National Coach of the Year and 2005-2006 WCC
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
Coach of the Year. Since arriving at USF, the team has had its best four-year stretch in its program's history, 104-69 overall since 2004.
| San Francisco Dons baseball | |
| Conference Titles (2) | 2006, 2011 |
| NCAA postseasonappearances (2) | 2006, 2011 |
Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field
The Dons' home fieldDante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field
Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field is a baseball venue in San Francisco, California, USA. It is home to the San Francisco Dons college baseball team of the NCAA's Division I West Coast Conference. Built in 1953, the facility has a capacity of 2,000 spectators.The venue was originally...
is named after Dante Benedetti, USF's head coach from 1962 to 1980. Benedetti attended then-Saint Ignatius College from 1937 to 1940, during which he lettered in Baseball, Football, and Boxing. During his tenure as head coach, he accumulated 373 career wins, and has been inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame. Also during his tenure as head coach, the university wanted to cut the program for financial reasons. However to keep the program alive Benedetti agreed to lower his salary. For the remaining 16 years of his coaching career he was paid $1 a year.
The field is also named after Max Ulrich, a benefactor of the University of San Francisco.
Dante Benedetti Classic
Since 2006, USF has played one game a season at the San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
' Stadium, AT&T Park
AT&T Park
AT&T Park is a ballpark located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2000....
. The proceeds of the game go to the Dante Benedetti Foundation, a charity that helps under-privileged youth in San Francisco play and learn the game of baseball.
Drafted Players
Over the years of USF's baseball tradition, a number of players have been drafted into professional baseball. Of these players, a few have had debuts in the Major Leagues:| Diamond Dons in Major League Baseball | ||
| Player Drafted | Years at USF | MLB Debut |
| Joe Giannini | 1908 - 1911 | 08-07-1911 |
| Clarence Fieber | 1932 - 1932 | 05-18-1932 |
| Ernie Sulik | 1929 - 1955 | 04-15-1936 |
| Jake Caulfield | 1937 - 1940 | 04-24-1946 |
| Neill Sheridan | 1940 - 1944 | 09-19-1948 |
| Con Dempsey | 1942 - 1944 | 04-28-1951 |
| Paul Schramka | 1947 - 1950 | 04-14-1953 |
| Stan Johnson | 1956 - 1960 | 08-18-1960 |
| Aaron Pointer | 1960 - 1961 | 09-22-1963 |
| Mike Buskey | 1968 - 1971 | 09-02-1977 |
| Justin Speier | 1992 - 1993 | 05-27-1998 |
| Jermaine Clark | 1995 - 1997 | 04-03-2001 |
| Joe Nelson | 1993 - 1996 | 06-13-2001 |
| Jesse Foppert | 1999 - 2001 | 04-14-2003 |
| Jeff Harris | 1995 - 1995 | 08-02-2005 |
| Aaron Poreda | 2005 - 2007 | 06-12-2009 |
| Scott Cousins | 2004 - 2006 | 09-02-2010 |
Men's Basketball
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
under Pete Newell
Pete Newell
Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses...
, and the 1955 and 1956 NCAA
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...
championships. The latter two were under Phil Woolpert
Phil Woolpert
Phil Woolpert was an American college basketball coach. He is best known for coaching the University of San Francisco Dons to two straight national championships in 1955 and 1956....
, and led by player and National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National Association of Basketball Coaches , located at the Sprint...
r Bill Russell
Bill Russell
William Felton "Bill" Russell is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association...
.
USF retained its status as a basketball powerhouse into the 70's and early 80's, holding the distinction of being a "major" program in a "mid-major
Mid-major
Mid-major is a term used in American Division I college sports, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the major six conferences...
" conference (the WCC having declined somewhat in stature since the 1960s). It held the number one spot in the polls on numerous occasions. In 1977, led by All-American center Bill Cartwright, the Dons went 29-0 and were regarded as the #1 team in the nation in both major polls before dropping their last two games.
Controversies
The Dons' prominence in the 1970s came at a price, however. The NCAA slapped the Dons with probation two times in the late 1970s. An in-house inquiry after the second resulted in the firing of head coach Dan Belluomini. It was also well-known that basketball players got special treatment; many of them were marginal students at best, and at least one instance where a player threatened another student was swept under the rug by school officials. It was also common for "tutors" to take tests and write papers for players.The situation finally came to a head in December 1981, when All-American guard Quintin Dailey
Quintin Dailey
Quintin "Q" Dailey was an American professional basketball player. A 6'3" guard who played collegiately at the University of San Francisco, he later went on to a career in the NBA, playing for the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, and Seattle SuperSonics over the course of his 10-year tenure in...
assaulted a female student. During the subsequent investigation, Dailey admitted taking a no-show job at a business owned by a prominent non-sports USF donor. The donor had also paid Dailey $5,000 since 1980. Combined with other revelations, school president Rev. John LoSchiavo announced on July 26 that he was shutting down the basketball program--the first time a school had shut down a major sport under such circumstances. The move was widely appluaded by several members of the coaching fraternity , as the Dailey matter revealed a program that was, in the words of San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
sportswriter Glenn Dickey, "totally out of control."
LoSchiavo resurrected the program in 1985 under former star Jim Brovelli
Jim Brovelli
Jim Brovelli is the former University of San Francisco Dons men's basketball head coach and hall of fame player.-Biography:As a player Brovelli was a three-year letterman for USF, helping lead the Dons to the NCAA Western Regional in 1963 and 1964. He earned All-WCC honorable mention honors in 1964...
, who quickly returned the program to respectability. He was not able to reach postseason play, however, and resigned in 1995. The program has only reached the postseason twice since its revival--an NCAA berth in 1998 under Phil Mathews and a 2005 NIT berth under former coach Jessie Evans
Jessie Evans
Jessie Evans is the former head men's basketball coach at the University of San Francisco. He was replaced by Eddie Sutton on December 26, 2007. He previously held the same position at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.-References:...
.
The program regressed the next few years, and Jessie Evans was granted a request for a 'leave of absence' on December 27, 2007. Legendary basketball coach Eddie Sutton
Eddie Sutton
Eddie Sutton is an American former college head coach with 36 years of Division I basketball coaching experience at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma State , and the University of San Francisco...
took over on an interim basis, needing 2 wins for a personal milestone of 800 career coaching victories. At the time, Bob Knight was the only other Division I Men's coach to have accomplished the feat. After months of speculation, Evans was finally officially fired by USF on March 20, 2008. A national coaching search was launched which included a four-man committee of Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith (businessman)
Charles H. "Chuck" Smith is an African-American businessman who is the retired President and CEO of AT&T West, a Fortune 500 company. Smith has a life-long interest in the Boy Scouts of America ....
, vice chair of the USF Board of Trustees and former president and CEO of AT&T West, former player and coach Jim Brovelli; Walt Gmelch, dean of the USF School of Education, and Mario Prietto, rector of the USF Jesuit Community and a member of the USF Board of Trustees.
On March 29, 2008, USF hired a executive search consultant company, DHR International to help spearhead their efforts in hiring the next Dons' head coach. Among the possible candidates named, former UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...
Head Coach Steve Lavin
Steve Lavin
Steve Lavin is an American basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head men's basketball coach at St. John's University in Queens, New York. Lavin previously served as the head coach for UCLA....
, former USF All-American and current New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
Assistant Coach Bill Cartwright, former NBA player and current Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
Shooting Coach Sidney Moncrief
Sidney Moncrief
Sidney A. Moncrief is a retired American professional basketball player. As an NCAA college basketball player from 1975–1979, Moncrief led the University of Arkansas Razorbacks trio known as "The Triplets" to the 1978 Final Four, which ended in a win in the NCAA Consolation Game versus #6 Notre Dame...
, current Cal Bears Assistant Head Coach Louis Reynaud, and former Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
Head Coach Eric Musselman
Eric Musselman
Eric P. Musselman is an American basketball coach and the former head coach of the NBA's Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors...
.
Rex Walters
Rex Walters
-External links:...
was named as the Dons' head coach on April 14, 2008.
Women's Basketball
Women's basketball also experienced recent successes, including appearances in the NCAA women's tournamentNCAA 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...
in 1995, 1996, and 1997 and a WNIT berth in 2002. The 1996 season represented their best ever, as the women's team made it into the tournament's Sweet Sixteen
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...
. The team is presently coached by Jennifer Azzi
Jennifer Azzi
Jennifer Lynn Azzi is the head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of San Francisco. Azzi is a former collegiate and professional basketball player.-College years:...
.
| San Francisco Dons basketball | |
| Men's NCAA Championships (2) | 1955 • 1956 |
| NIT Championships (1) | 1949 |
| Men's Conference Titles (17) * WCC Tournament title | 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1963 • 1964 • 19651972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 19801981 • 1982 • 1998* |
| Men's NCAA TournamentAppearances *Final Four appearance | 1955* • 1956* • 1957* • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 19721973 • 1974 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1981 • 19821998 |
| Women's Conference Titles (3) | 1995 • 1996 • 1997 |
| Women's NCAA Tournamentappearances (3) *Sweet Sixteen appearance | 1995 • 1996* • 1997 |
| 1949 San Francisco Dons men's basketballNIT Champions | |
| Record | 25-5 |
| Head coach | Newell Pete Newell Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses... |
| Players | Lofgran • Bennington • Kuzara • Herrerias Rene Herrerias Rene Herrerias is an American basketball coach. He served as head coach at University of California, Berkeley from 1960 to 1968. Herrerias played college basketball at the University of San Francisco, where he was a member of the 1949 NIT championship team coached by Pete Newell. He followed... • McNameeGiesen • Guidice • Sobek • Hanley • de Julio |
| 1954-55 & 1955-56 San Francisco Dons men's basketballNCAA Champions | |
| Record | 28-1 (1954-55)29-0 (1955-56) |
| Head coach | Woolpert Phil Woolpert Phil Woolpert was an American college basketball coach. He is best known for coaching the University of San Francisco Dons to two straight national championships in 1955 and 1956.... |
| Players | Russell Bill Russell William Felton "Bill" Russell is a retired American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association... • Brown • Boldt • Baxter • FarmerPerry • Jones • Mullen • Buchanan • Wiesbusch • Bush |
Men's Soccer
Men's soccer is USF's most successful program, earning five national titlesNCAA Men's Soccer Championship
The NCAA began conducting a Men's Division I Soccer Championship tournament in 1959 with an eight-team tournament. Currently, the tournament field consists of 48 teams...
, including a co-championship with Penn State
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
in 1949. The program's successes came under alumnus Stephen Negoesco
Stephen Negoesco
Stephen Negoesco or Stephen Negoescu is a Romanian-American former soccer player and coach.Born in New Jersey, Negoesco returned with his father to Romania after his mother's death. While living with relatives, he discovered and took up soccer...
, who coached from 1962 to 2000 and led the team to 540 wins and four national championships (1966, 1975, 1976, 1980). Under Negoesco's successor, alumnus Erik Visser, the men's team earned the 2004, 2005 and 2008 WCC titles.
Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique is a politician who was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in April 2001, defeating former President Alan García...
, the former president of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, played for USF on a partial scholarship.
| San Francisco Dons soccer | |
| Men's NCAA Championships (4) | 1966 • 1975 • 1976 • 1980 |
| Men's Conference Titles (32) | 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 19541955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1963 • 1965 • 1966 1971 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1978 • 1980 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1987 • 1988 • 1991 • 1993 1994 • 2004 • 2005 • 2008 |
Women's Volleyball
The 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...
team has made two NCAA tournament appearances: in 2003, under former coach Jeff Nelson, and in 2008 under current coach Gilad Doron. The 2008 season saw the Dons finish with a Top 25 national ranking, a 22-8 record, and five all-WCC players.
| San Francisco Dons volleyball | |
| Women's NCAATournament appearances (2) | 2003 • 2008 |
Men's Tennis
The men's tennis team, led by Harry Likas, Harry Roche and Arthur Larsen, won the 1949 NCAA Men's Tennis ChampionshipNCAA Men's Tennis Championship
The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...
. Likas also won the 1948 individual men's title.
| San Francisco Dons tennis | |
| Men's NCAA Team Titles (1) | 1949 |
| Men's NCAA Individual Titles (1) | 1948 (Harry Likas) |
Football
Compared to local rivals Santa Clara and Saint Mary's, USF's football teams were historically not as strong. However, the 1951 Dons entered college football lore by fielding a team that would go undefeated and produce three NFLNational 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...
hall of famers (Gino Marchetti
Gino Marchetti
Gino John Marchetti is a former professional American football player in the National Football League. A defensive end, he played in 1952 for the Dallas Texans and from 1953 to 1966 for the Baltimore Colts.-Early years:...
, Ollie Matson
Ollie Matson
Ollie Genoa Matson II was an American Olympic medal winning sprinter and professional American football running back who played in the National Football League, in 1952 and from 1954 to 1966...
, and Bob St. Clair
Bob St. Clair
Robert Bruce St. Clair, nicknamed "The Geek" is a former San Francisco American football player known for fine play and eating raw beef. Because of his eccentricities, his teammates nicknamed him "The Geek".St...
). However, they did not receive any bowl invitations, as the team turned down any suggestions that they leave their two black teammates at home at the expense of a much-needed bowl bid. Due to the associated financial burden on the school that a bowl bid would have alleviated, USF's finest football team ever was to be its last in Division I. Though football made a brief comeback as a Division II sport during the 1960s and 1970s, USF has not fielded a varsity team since.
Kuharich was an indifferent recruiter who largely delegated that responsibility to his freshman coach, Brad Lynn. Lynn had little to offer prospective players in the way of scholarship inducements beyond tuition and room and board in an old ROTC barracks. However, Lynn would take recruits to the highest hill on campus, and would gesture out towards the sweeping panorama of San Francisco saying, "THIS is your campus." Only a handful of players from that 1951 team had been considered blue-ribbon prospects in high school. Two of the team's best players, Toler and guard Louis (Red) Stephens, had not even played high school football. Future Hall of Famer Marchetti was a high school dropout who had played only sparingly when he was in school.
The 1951 Dons were honored during the 2008 Fiesta Bowl
2008 Fiesta Bowl
The 2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game sponsored by Tostitos. It was part of the 2007–2008 Bowl Championship Series of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Played annually since 1971, first at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe,...
.
| 1951 San Francisco Dons football | |
| Record | 9-0-0 (Final AP Poll AP Poll The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation... ranking: 14) |
| Head coach | Kuharich Joe Kuharich Joseph Lawrence Kuharich was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of San Francisco from 1948 to 1951 and at the University of Notre Dame from 1959 to 1962, compiling a career college football record of 43–37... |
| Assistant coaches | Brad Lynn, Ryan, Kerr, Daly, Zanazzi |
| Players | Arenivar • Arnoldy • Becker • Boggan • Brown Ed Brown (quarterback) Charles Edward Brown was an American football quarterback and punter in the National Football League.-Prior to the NFL:... • Bruna • Carley Chess • Colombini • Conte • Cronan • Dando • Dawson • DeBernardi Dwyer • Giorgi • Henneberry • Hillig • Holm • Huxley • Kearney Madden • Marchetti Gino Marchetti Gino John Marchetti is a former professional American football player in the National Football League. A defensive end, he played in 1952 for the Dallas Texans and from 1953 to 1966 for the Baltimore Colts.-Early years:... • Matson Ollie Matson Ollie Genoa Matson II was an American Olympic medal winning sprinter and professional American football running back who played in the National Football League, in 1952 and from 1954 to 1966... • McLaughlin • McMahon • Mergen • Montero Monti • Moriarity • Peacock • Retzloff • Roland • Sachs • Sakowski Scudero Joe Scudero Joseph Andrew Scudero is a former American football safety in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at the University of San Francisco.... • Schaeffer • Skalla • Slajchert • Springer • St. Clair Bob St. Clair Robert Bruce St. Clair, nicknamed "The Geek" is a former San Francisco American football player known for fine play and eating raw beef. Because of his eccentricities, his teammates nicknamed him "The Geek".St... • Stephens Thiel • Thomas • Toler Burl Toler Burl Abron Toler, Sr. was an American football official in the National Football League for 24 seasons from 1965 to 1989. He served as a field judge and head linesman throughout his career and is most notable for being the first African-American official in the NFL... • Tringali • Weibel • Welsh • Whitney • Wilwerding |
| Sports information officer | Rozelle Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.... |
Club Teams
USF participates in the following club sports: golf, 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...
, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, rifle
Shooting sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
, karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
, 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...
. Rugby, which was one of the first varsity sports in school history, is currently a club sport. 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...
is played on the intramural level