Albany Great Danes

The Albany Great Danes are the intercollegiate athletic programs of the University at Albany, SUNY. The University's intercollegiate athletics date back to the late 1890s, but its development was hampered for several decades by inadequate facilities, uncertain financial support, and the relatively small number of male students in an institution designed to develop elementary school teachers. Tennis remained a constant from 1898 onward along with men’s basketball from 1909, but attempts to field teams in football (1922), baseball (1896–1901), swimming, and hockey were aborted. Expansion into men’s and women’s sports increased after World War II and then expanded greatly in the 1960s (men’s sports of lacrosse, track & field, cross-country and swimming moved from club to varsity status, and women’s tennis, softball, field hockey, basketball and swimming were introduced), as a direct result of the introduction of the new Uptown Campus and its expanded athletic facilities. A nickname change also occurred, the Pedagogues becoming the Great Danes - making Albany the only American college or university with that mascot.

All athletics are run by the University at Albany Department of Athletics and Recreation. After the 1972 NCAA restructuring, the university competed in Division III until the 1995–96 school year, when it moved to Division II. The university would remain in Division II until 1999. The school currently has 19 varsity sports (8 men, 11 women) competing at the Division I level. The school's sports teams have participated in the America East Conference since 2001. Football participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (former Division I-AA) as an associate member of the Colonial Athletic Association. After the 2008-09 school year, Women's Golf was discontinued in the America East. Along with Boston University and University of Hartford, the program began competing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) starting in the 2009-10 school year. The football program moved to the CAA from the Northeast Conference after the 2012 season.

In addition to varsity sports, Albany's intercollegiate club sports include Men's Ice Hockey, Men's & Women's rugby, and Men's & Women's Crew. However, these teams are not affiliated with the Department of Athletics and Recreation and are instead funded by the Student Association. Competition in these sports is at the club-level except for Crew which competes, almost exclusively, alongside NCAA (varsity level) opponents.

Read more about Albany Great Danes:  Football, Men's Lacrosse, Other Division I Athletic Success, Annual Sporting Events, Media Coverage, Fight Song