The Boston University Terriers are the ten men's and fourteen women's varsity athletic teams representing

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

competition. Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, and the official mascot is

Rhett the Boston Terrier The Boston University Terriers are the ten men's and fourteen women's varsity athletic teams representing Boston University in NCAA Division I competition. Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, and the official mascot is Rhett the ...

. The

school colors School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms ...

are Scarlet and White. The majority of Boston University's teams compete as members of the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

, with the ice hockey teams competing in

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

and rowing competing in the EARC.

Conference change

On July 1, 2013, Boston University left the

America East Conference The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachu ...

and joined the

Sports sponsored

Boston University is one of 4 NCAA Division I schools to not sponsor at least one of women's volleyball or baseball (The other 3 being Detroit Mercy, Drexel, and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

Ice hockey

Boston University's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team is the most successful sports program at the school, with five national championships (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009) and 21 appearances in the Frozen Four. The Terriers have also been the national runners-up five times, and have won five ECAC tournament championships and seven Hockey East tournament championships. Many of Boston University's hockey players have gone on to successful careers in the NHL. Since 1984 the Terriers have played in the

conference, along with crosstown arch-rivals

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

(BC). The series with Boston College is known as the

Green Line Rivalry The Green Line Rivalry, also known as the B-Line Rivalry, the Battle of Boston and Battle of Commonwealth Avenue, is the name for the sports rivalry between Boston College and Boston University. The rivalry is named after the Green Line, a lig ...

or the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue. Under long-time coach and former player, Jack Parker, Boston University excelled in the 1990s, winning six Hockey East regular season titles, four Hockey East tournament titles, the 1995 National Championship and three National runner-up trophies. Boston University missed the Frozen Four for 11 consecutive seasons beginning in 1998 but returned to glory by winning the national championship in 2009. Boston University has dominated the annual Beanpot tournament, which has been contested by the four Boston metro area-based collegiate teams – the others being BC, Northeastern and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

– since the 1952–53 season. The televised tourney is a local institution, played in front of annual sellouts at the TD Garden, and is a fierce battle for bragging rights. As of 2010, the Terriers have won 29 of 58 Beanpots and 12 of the last 16.

Other varsity sports

For most other sports, Boston University competes in the

. The men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team earned post-season berths in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

tournament or NIT four straight seasons between 2002 and 2005 and also in 2011. They are known to have a rivalry with the Albany Great Danes and the Vermont Catamounts. The program is notable for grooming big name college coaches such as

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (; born September 18, 1952) is an American basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University. He was also the head coach of Greece national basketball t ...

, Mike Jarvis, and Patrick Chambers. The Terriers also have a history of national success in men's and women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, women's tennis,

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, and

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a field sport played at the international level with two opposing teams of ten players each (12 players per team at the U.S. domestic level). Originally played by indigenous ...

. The men's and women's rowing teams compete in the EARC and EAWRC respectively, the oldest and most competitive conference in collegiate rowing. The women's tennis team has won the most conference titles of any varsity sport at Boston University, holding 28 conference titles across the America East and Patriot League Conferences. In 1991 and 1992 the women's rowing team won back-to-back national championships. From 1884 to 1997, the Terriers also had an

American football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

Championships

National team championships

*Men's (5) **

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

(5): 1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009 *Women's (2) **

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

- Varsity Eight (2): 1991, 1992

Conference championships

Men's conference championships *Hockey (17): 1965, 1967, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2023 - Tournament (15): 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1986, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2015, 2018, 2023 *Basketball (8): 1980, 1983, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2014 - Tournament (7): 1983, 1988, 1990, 1997, 2002, 2011, 2020 *Football (5): 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1993 *Lacrosse (1): 2022 - Tournament (1): 2022 *Soccer (13): 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2023 - Tournament (8): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2023 *Tennis (4): 1988, 1993, 1994, 1996 *Swimming & Diving (3): 1993, 2002, 2013 *Cross Country (11): 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2010 Women's conference championships *Hockey (2): 2011, 2013 - Tournament (6): 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2025 *Basketball (3): 1988, 2009, 2012 - Tournament (3): 1988, 1989, 2003 *Soccer (12): 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 - Tournament (9): 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 *Tennis (28): 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2023 - Tournament (19): 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2023 *Lacrosse (6): 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012 - Tournament (9): 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 *Field Hockey (12): 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Tournament (8): 1991, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 *Softball (8): 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 - Tournament (9): 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 *Swimming & Diving (5): 1990, 1994, 2009, 2010, 2012 *Indoor Track & Field (13): 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 *Outdoor Track & Field (3): 1993, 2008, 2014 *Cross Country (13): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014 *Golf (13): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014

Facilities

In 2005, Boston University opened Agganis Arena for hockey and basketball, named after alumnus and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Harry Agganis. The facility was designed as a hockey

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

: a departure from Boston University's Walter Brown Arena which had the smallest playing ice in Division I. Depending on its configuration, Agganis Arena can seat up to 8,000 people, so it is sometimes utilized for events that would be too small for the 18,624-seat

TD Garden TD Garden (named the FleetCenter from opening until 2005 and TD Banknorth Garden until 2009) is a multi-purpose arena in Boston. It is located directly above the MBTA's North Station, and it replaced the original Boston Garden upon opening i ...

. Other facilities include the indoor Track and Tennis Center and the Fitness and Recreation Center ("FitRec"), which includes a pool and diving well for the swim teams. The 200-meter

indoor track Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

is modeled on the previous high-banked Armory track, which attracted programs looking to run fast times. The turns, banked up to 18.5 degrees help runners push through turns at normal speed and rhythm, and can produce many personal indoor bests. The Track and Tennis Center hosts the annual BU Invitational. At the 2018 BU Valentine Invitational,

Edward Cheserek Edward Cheserek (born 2 February 1994) is a Kenyan distance runner. He is a 17-time NCAA champion collegiate distance runner for the University of Oregon. Cheserek was the most highly recruited high school distance runner in the nation out of Sai ...

ran a 3:49.44 mile to become the second-fastest indoor mile runner of all time. Soccer and lacrosse are played on the artificial surface of

Nickerson Field Nickerson Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Northeastern United States, on the campus of Boston University (BU) in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned by BU, and is the home field for some Boston University Terriers athl ...

. Field hockey competes at New Balance Field.

Mascot

Rhett the Boston Terrier is the official costumed

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

and the Boston University Academy. In November 1922, the

Boston Terrier The Boston Terrier is a breed of dog originating in the United States of America. This "American Gentleman" was accepted in 1893 by the American Kennel Club as a non-sporting breed. Boston Terriers are small and compact with a short tail and ere ...

dog breed was chosen as the university's mascot in a student vote, winning over the alternatives of a bull (male)

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

. Aside from the breed's longtime association with the city of Boston, the breed was first bred in the United States in 1869, the year of Boston University's chartering. In October 1925, the Boston University football team adopted a terrier pup named Pep to serve as its mascot, though it was referred to as "Kappa" by ''BU News'', the university's newspaper, in an October 1927 issue. In 1933, Boston University students purchased another terrier named Danny to become the new mascot. Following Danny's death from drowning in the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

, another terrier named Danny II was purchased in November 1935. After Danny II ran away, a terrier pup was donated to Boston University Dean Atlee L. Percy in October 1949 and named Gulliver in a student vote. In 1956, Boston University acquired its next Boston Terrier mascot dog, which was initially named Fumbles before being renamed to Touchdown. In 1969, the current mascot dog, Terrier III, died without a replacement being purchased until 1980. When Boston University unveiled a costumed mascot at a home football game in November 1983, it was named Rhett, referencing Rhett Butler's affection for

Scarlett O'Hara Katie Scarlett O'Hara is the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 in literature, 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind (novel), Gone with the Wind'' and the 1939 Gone with the Wind (film), film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Le ...

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

's ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'' since Boston University's primary color is scarlet. The mascot costume has been changed in 1996, 2004, and 2008. In 2008, alumnus Calvin Iwanicki named his Boston Terrier pet dog Rhett, often showcasing him across campus buildings as the university's unofficial mascot. After Rhett's death in March 2020, Iwanicki purchased another Boston Terrier pup in August 2020, which he named Rhett the Second and nicknamed as Artoo. Rhett's nemesis is Baldwin, the

eagle. Rhett has participated in several

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

" This is SportsCenter" commercials and competed three times in the Universal Cheerleading Association's mascot nationals, placing as high as fourth in 2002. He was also named an All-American in 1996 and "Boston's Top Mascot" in 1998. During the 2020 George Floyd protests, Boston University President Robert A. Brown appointed a committee to consider renaming the mascot based on complaints that Rhett Butler's character associated with the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

and

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Patriot League