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 13 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)
Read more about Boston College Eagles: Baseball, Move To The ACC, Director of Athletics
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