Boston College Eagles

The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams representing Boston College. They compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The women's rowing team competes in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges (EAWRC) as well as the ACC. The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete in Hockey East. Skiing, fencing, and sailing are also non-ACC. Boston College is one of only 15 universities in the country offering NCAA Division I football (Football Bowl Subdivision), Division I men's and women's basketball, and Division I hockey.

The BC mascot is Baldwin the Eagle, an American bald eagle whose name is derived from the bald head of the eagle and the word win. The school colors are maroon and gold. The fight song, "For Boston", was composed by T.J. Hurley, Class of 1885, and is America's oldest college fight song.

Principal athletic facilities include Alumni Stadium (capacity: 44,500); Conte Forum (8,606 for basketball), known as Kelley Rink for ice hockey (7,884); Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at John Shea Field; the Newton Soccer Complex; and the Flynn Recreation Complex. The Yawkey Athletics Center opened in the spring of 2005, and the Newton Campus Field Hockey Complex was completed that fall. BC students compete in 31 varsity sports, as well as a number of club and intramural teams. Boston College's athletics program has been named to the College Sports Honor Roll as one of the nation's top 20 athletic programs by U.S. News and World Report (March 18, 2002).

Boston College athletes are among the most academically successful in the nation, according to the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR). In 2006 Boston College received Public Recognition Awards with 14 of its sports in the top 10 percent of the nation academically. The Eagles tied Notre Dame for the highest total of any Division I-A university. Other schools having 10 or more sports honored included Navy (12), Stanford (11), and Duke (11). Teams honored were football, men's fencing, men's outdoor track, men's skiing, women's rowing, women's cross country, women's fencing, women's field hockey, women's indoor track, women's outdoor track, women's skiing, women's swimming, women's soccer, women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Boston College's football program was one of only five Division I-A teams that were so honored. The other four were Auburn, Navy, Stanford, and Duke.

A founding member of the Big East Conference, the Eagles joined the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, 2005. Up to that point, BC was the only BE member affiliated with the Catholic Church that played football in the conference. All the football-playing members of the BE are now secular (usually public) institutions.

Boston College has won five NCAA team national championships and six national championships in collegiate sailing.


 * Men's
 * Ice Hockey (5): 1949, 2001, 2008, 2010, 2012


 * Women's
 * Sailing (2): 2008, 2012 (ICSA Women's National Championship)


 * Co-ed
 * Sailing (2): 2008, 2009 (ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship)
 * Sailing (2): 2010, 2011 (ICSA/Gill Co-ed National Championship)

Baseball
In 2009, the Eagles' baseball team helped set an NCAA record for most innings in a baseball game, during the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship regional tournament at Austin, Texas. The University of Texas—which was designated the visiting team despite playing on its home field—won the game 3–2 in 25 innings. The game lasted seven hours three minutes.

Men's
BC's men's ice hockey team has long been considered one of the best programs in the nation. Three BC head coaches rank among the winningest coaches in NCAA history, including Len Ceglarski and the legendary John "Snooks" Kelley, after whom BC's rink is named. With 925 wins and counting, Jerry York, BC '67, is the winningest coach in NCAA history, passing Ron Mason on December 29th, 2012. Under his leadership, BC won four of their five national championships in 2001, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Recent BC alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL include Brian Boyle, Cory Schneider, Brian Gionta, Chuck Kobasew, Patrick Eaves, Marty Reasoner, Brooks Orpik, Bill Guerin, Brian Leetch, Andrew Alberts, Mike Mottau, Scott Clemmensen, Ryan Shannon, Bobby Allen, and most recently, Chris Kreider and Brian Dumoulin, with Paul Carey and Barry Almeida currently playing in the AHL. Tommy Cross was drafted by the Boston Bruins but has yet to see any action. There are also seven current Eagles who have been drafted by an NHL team.

Boston College has won five national championships in hockey, in 1949, 2001, 2008, 2010, and 2012. The Eagles won the 2001 national championship over the University of North Dakota, 3–2, on a thrilling overtime goal by Kris Kolanos. In 2008 the Eagles defeated Notre Dame in the national championship 4–1. In 2010 they defeated the University of Wisconsin 5–0. In 2012, they defeated Ferris State University 4–1.

BC won the postseason tournament in Hockey East in 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1990, 1987, and the ECAC postseason tournament in 1978 and 1965. Boston College won the 2012 Hockey East Tournament defeating Maine 4–1.

The hockey team won the Hockey East regular season crown in 2012, 2011, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1987, 1986, 1985, and the ECAC title in 1980.

BC has won the Beanpot 18 times: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2004, 2001, 1994, 1983, 1976, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1961, 1959, 1957, 1956, and 1954.

Boston College players have twice won the Hobey Baker Award, which honors college hockey's top player. David Emma won the award in 1991, and Mike Mottau won it in 2000.

Boston College played the Wisconsin Badgers for the National Championship in 2006, losing 2–1. They returned to the title game again in 2007, falling to the Michigan State Spartans 3–1.

Boston College defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 2008 National Championship game after defeating the North Dakota Fighting Sioux 6–1 in the National Semifinal. Two years later, BC defeated the University of Wisconsin 5–0 to win its third title in 10 years. In 2012, the Eagles knocked off the Minnesota Golden Gophers 6–1 and the Ferris State Bulldogs 4–1 to win the program's fifth National Championship (and fourth in the last 12 seasons).

Women's
Women's Hockey has not been historically successful at Boston College, but in four years under head coach Tom Mutch, the Eagles made tremendous progress. In 2006, they won their first Women's Beanpot, defeating powerhouse Harvard 2–0, and repeated the feat in 2007, topping Boston University 6–1.

The 2006–07 season was a one of remarkable change for the team. In March 2007 the Eagles were selected for the NCAA women's ice hockey tournament for the first time in program history. As the #6 seed, they pulled off a stunning upset over #3 Dartmouth College, 3–2 in double overtime, qualifying for the 2007 Women's Frozen Four in Lake Placid. In Lake Placid, BC lost to Minnesota-Duluth 4–3 in another double overtime thriller, ending their season.

On April 24, 2007, Tom Mutch resigned as head coach of the women's ice hockey team in the wake of allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a member of the team. Katie King has been named the team's newest head coach going into the 2007–08 season.

Move to the ACC
On July 1, 2005, Boston College moved from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In 2003 the ACC announced plans to expand from nine teams to twelve. Miami, Syracuse, and Boston College were rumored to be the three schools under consideration, and all three met with officials from the ACC regarding membership. It was later revealed that Miami had been dissatisfied with the Big East and its leadership since a formal letter of complaint was issued by them to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese several years prior in 1999. Their issues went unresolved, leading to Miami's interest in the ACC—a league who had been pursuing the college football superpower since the mid-1990s, at the request of neighboring football schools Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, representing UConn (whose membership in Big East Football was then pending) led the "remaining" football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in the filing of two lawsuits. One suit named the ACC, and the other named Miami and Boston College, accusing them of conspiring to weaken the Big East. Syracuse was not named as a defendant in part because they never made public comments about the ongoing situation.

In an unexpected turn, due in large measure to political pressure applied by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, the ACC replaced Syracuse with Virginia Tech in its expansion vote. Things became even more surprising when, reached by phone at a conference in Switzerland, then-N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox cast a shocking last-minute "no" vote against Boston College. As a result, the ACC extended invitations only to Miami and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech immediately accepted the invitation and filed court papers to get themselves out of the awkward position of suing their new conference. The remaining four plaintiffs removed Boston College from the list of defendants and asked both BC and Syracuse to join their suit. Boston College and Syracuse declined.

The Big East presidents and athletic directors met in summer 2003 to discuss replacing the departed members and establishing a process by which members would exit the conference in the future. The remaining members of the conference moved towards establishing a US$5 million exit fee and 27 month waiting period for any other schools who wished to leave in the future. At a Big East meeting in Newark on October 1, conference presidents asked BC president Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., about rumors surrounding the Eagles' intentions. Fr. Leahy conceded that the Eagles might indeed be leaving the conference. It has been suggested that BC might have remained if the Big East had spun out its non-football schools and reconfigured as an eight- or nine-team league. The Big East considered extending invitations to Penn State and Notre Dame, however neither school showed interest in joining the conference. Several models for a new conference were discussed; however it was eventually decided that the football schools would explore separating from the basketball-only schools and establish an 8-team all-sports conference. It was very quickly realized that this scenario would not be feasible due to the fact that the new conference would lose its automatic NCAA basketball tournament berth and possibly its BCS bid because the football schools had not been together long enough to satisfy certain NCAA rules. It was then decided that for the time being, the conference would add additional football and basketball schools and continue in its bifurcated structure until such time as the football schools could establish their own conference. Unhappy with this decision, the administration of Boston College once again entertained overtures from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Speculation that Chancellor Foxe, a Notre Dame trustee, cast her vote against BC so that the ACC might consider extending membership to Notre Dame was fueled by press accounts reporting that a bid to the Fighting Irish was imminent. But in October 2003, the ACC voted unanimously to invite Boston College to become their twelfth member. When BC accepted, they were returned to the lawsuit still pending against Miami by several Big East schools. In response, Boston College petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for a declaratory judgment to avoid paying the increased Big East "exit fee" that had been voted for but not yet amended to the Big East's constitution. Boston College won both decisions, but the Big East appealed. A secret settlement reported to be worth US$5 million was reached in May 2005, and as part of the settlement the ACC agreed to play a number of football games each year against Big East teams. However, this large settlement was offset by the cumulative legal fees incurred by the Big East in pursuing the litigation. Boston College joined the ACC in 2005, and was exempted from having to play football against their former conference colleagues who had been party to the lawsuit. Boston College officials have stated that the university will not schedule games against any of their former Big East Football colleagues with the exception of Syracuse. An eight-year deal to play Syracuse in football starting in 2010 has been signed, and a four-year deal to play Providence College in basketball begins in the 2006–7 school year.

Financially, the move to the ACC would appear to have been positive for the Eagles. Writing in the Charleston West Virginia Gazette, Mitch Vingle used the Big East's tax filings to examine payouts to full Big East members (schools playing both football and basketball schools) compared to payouts to ACC schools. ACC schools received an average of US$10.85 million for the tax year ending June 30, 2006, Big East full members averaged a little more than half what ACC programs took in at US$5,842,599. Additionally, Big East payments have dropped in each of the last three reporting periods.

Director of Athletics

 * Joseph Meagher: 1918–1920
 * Richard S. O'Brien: 1920–1924
 * John P. Curley: 1929–1957
 * William J. Flynn: 1957–1990
 * Chet Gladchuk, Jr.: 1990 – July 18, 1997
 * Gene DiFillippo: 1997–2012
 * Brad Bates: 2012–current