Athletics
Stony Brook University’s intercollegiate athletics teams, known as the Stony Brook Seawolves, compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level and are members of the America East Conference for all sports with the exception of football which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision's Big South Conference. Officials from the Colonial Athletic Association announced in early August 2012 that the Seawolves Football team would be joining the conference in the Fall of 2013.
Historically the team was known as the Patriots while participating at the Division III level. In 1994 Stony Brook initiated a transition to Division I successfully completed by 1999 offering scholarships in a range of sports, it didn’t offer scholarships in football until 2006. Since then, the Seawolves have participated in the NCAA tournament in 16 different occasions across a range of sports and have received numerous conference tournament championships primarily in Baseball, Football, Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s Soccer, and Women’s Cross Country.
Administratively, the athletics department’s budget has seen a rise in expenses under director Jim Fiore from $9 million to slightly over $20 million and widespread support by donations which have led to the construction of a new Student-athlete development center funded by a $1.2 million gift by alumnus Stuart Goldstein, the reconstruction of the new Joe Nathan Field partially funded by a $500,000 donation by alumnus Joe Nathan, a new athletic performance center funded by a $4.3 million donation by alumnus Glenn Dubin, the reconstruction of the University tennis courts, a $3 million reconstruction project for the track and field, a $1.3 million renovation of the Pritchard Gymnasium, and an upcoming $21.3 million overhaul of the Stony Brook University Arena with funds recently unfrozen by the State of New York.
In recent years the Seawolves have had increased success in the field particularly in the 2009-10 athletic season highlighted as one of the best performing season in the history of the University with five conference championships. Led by the football team with a Big South Co-Championship it was followed throughout the year with a string of championships by the Women’s Cross Country team, Men’s Soccer, Baseball, and Men’s Lacrosse who capped their season with a memorable NCAA Quarterfinal run, a first for the program with the largest crowd ever at LaValle stadium. The season also included a regular season championship by the Men’s basketball team falling short of their first NCAA bid but participating in their first ever post-season tournament, the National Invitation Tournament. Baseball captured their first ever win in the NCAA tournament despite being eliminated in the first round.
With increased expectations, the 2010-11 athletic season followed up with another football Big South Co-Championship but a failure to capture the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in a controversial tie-breaker rule that eliminated the team from contention the final day of the season. After increased expectations, the Men’s basketball team participated in their first conference championship game overcoming a season filled with injuries and adversity, the team came close to their first NCAA tournament berth but fell short at the end. The Men’s lacrosse team fell in the Conference championship game in a last second goal ending their 13-4 season short of the NCAA tournament after a quarterfinal run the previous season. The disappointment was followed by the Baseball team after earning a regular season championship with a school-record 41-10 season but were ousted early in the conference tournament. The season was highlighted by another outstanding performance by the Women’s Cross Country team in the NCAA Championship coming out ranked as the seventh best team in the nation.
However, the Seawolves returned to national prominence in 2011-12 season after an off year with six programs participating in NCAA sanctioned tournaments. The fall season took the football team to new heights with a record-breaking nine game winning streak which led the team to a 9-4, 6-0 Big South season earning their third consecutive conference championship and first outright followed by an NCAA tournament berth which saw the Seawolves advance to the second round for the first time ever. The season included multiple sellout games at LaValle stadium, a first for the program. Men’s soccer returned to the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years after winning their third America East championship at home but fell in their first round match after penalty shootouts. The success continued with Women's volleyball advancing to the Conference Championship game despite falling in three sets. After being predicted to finish second in the league, the Men's basketball program surpassed expectations and clinched another regular season championship with a 20-8, 14-2 regular season record and headed into the America East tournament as the top seed reaching the finals for the second consecutive year and falling just short of the NCAAs, with participation in the postseason NIT. In Track & Field, Lucy Van Dalen became Stony Brook's first NCAA individual National Champion after winning the mile at the NCAA Indoor Track championships. With the addition of Joe Spallina as head coach of Women's lacrosse, and several players from Adelphi, the program was chosen to finish third in the America East and ended their season with a trip to the conference championship game and 5-1, 14-5 overall record. Men's lacrosse also introduced Jim Nagle as the new head coach and the team was predicted to finish second in the America East. After a slow start through non-conference play they picked up in league play to earn their fourth consecutive regular season championship and then went on to earn conference championship and advance to the NCAA tournament for the third time with an early first round exit. Women's tennis earned their first Conference championship and entered the national tournament for their first time ever, but were ousted in the first round. The success included one of the most unlikely runs in intercollegiate athletics by the baseball program which captured a regular season and conference tournament and went on to the NCAA College World Series defeating along the way established national powers with seven players selected in the 2012 MLB draft, led by the 2012 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year Matt Senk.
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