The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1991-92 season; within the Atlantic Division in any sports split into a divisional format since the 2005-06 season.
The Seminoles' athletic department fields 20 teams. They have collectively won 17 team national championships, and over 100 team conference championships, as well as numerous individual national and conference titles.
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Overview
Florida State Athletics began in 1902 when the then Florida State College football teams played three seasons. The 1905 Buckman Act reorganized the existing seven Florida colleges into three institutions, segregated by race and gender. As a result of this reorganization, the coeducational Florida State College was renamed the Florida State College for Women. The Florida State University became a co-ed institution in 1947 with most of the newly enrolled male students back from service in World War II. The "Seminoles" name, chosen by students in a 1947 vote, alludes to Florida's Seminole people who in the early nineteenth century resisted efforts of the United States government to remove them from Florida. Since 1978 the teams have been represented by the symbols Osceola and Renegade. The symbol represents an actual historical figure, Seminole war leader Osceola, whose clothing represents appropriate period dress. The athletic logo, in use since the early 1970s, shows a profile of a shouting Seminole warrior in circle. The model for the logo was Florida State music faculty member Thomas Wright, composer of the Florida State University Fight Song and Victory Song. The use of names and images associated with Seminole history is officially sanctioned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Athletic programs resumed and Florida State fielded its first football team in 43 years with FSU facing Stetson on October 18, 1947.
Florida State was a founding member of the Dixie Conference, in 1948, when other southern institutions seeking to create a "purely amateur" athletic conference based on the principle of complete amateurism, with no athletic scholarships. Three years later, FSU left the conference to become an independent, having won ten conference titles including three in football and two in men's track and field.
In 1976, Florida State joined the Metro Conference in all sports except football, which remained independent. For fifteen years FSU competed and won sixty-eight conference titles as well as five national titles including two in softball, two in women's track and field, and one in women's golf.
Since 1991, Florida State has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Since joining the conference, FSU has won eighty-five ACC titles and eight national titles including three in football, three in men's track and field, one in soccer, and one in cheerleading. After the 2005 conference expansion was complete, FSU was placed in the newly formed Atlantic Division.
Florida State's school colors of garnet and gold are a merging of the university's past. In 1904 and 1905, the Florida State College won football championships wearing purple and gold uniforms. When FSC became Florida State College for Women in 1905, the FSCW student body selected crimson as the official school color. The administration in 1905 took crimson and combined it with the recognizable purple of the championship football teams to achieve the color garnet. The now-famous garnet and gold colors were first used on an FSU uniform in a 14-6 loss to Stetson on October 18, 1947.
On April 11, 2014, as part of the university's 'Ignition Tradition' rebranding of the program, white and black were added to the official school colors. The addition of the two colors is to better represent the colors present on the flag of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Teams
Florida State University sponsors teams in nine men's and eleven women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Florida State competes as a member of the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association in beach volleyball.
Rivalries
Florida State maintains two traditional rivals in all sports with the Florida Gators and the Miami Hurricanes. Florida State University is the only school in the State of Florida to play both Florida and Miami year in and year out in all sports. Most notably is the football rivalry with the Gators who hold a 34-25-2 all-time lead against the Seminoles. This is due to the series beginning with Florida dominating for the first few years of the rivalry, but since then it has been more balanced. In the past forty meetings, FSU has gone 22-17-1. The rivalry with Miami dates to 1951, when the Hurricanes defeated the Seminoles 35-13 in their inaugural meeting. The schools have played uninterrupted since 1966, with Miami holding the all-time advantage, 31-30. Florida State holds a 10-3 advantage since the Hurricanes became a conference foe in 2004.
Florida State recently developed a rivalry with their Atlantic Division foe Clemson. Florida State leads the all-time series 20-10. The rivalry began when Bobby Bowden's son Tommy faced his father in their first meeting in 1999. This was the first time in Division I-A history that a father and a son met as opposing head coaches in a football game. During the time Tommy coached at Clemson, the game was known as the "Bowden Bowl". Bobby won the series in the 9 years it played before Tommy's resignation, going 5-4. In the post Bowden era Florida State has maintained a 5-4 advantage in games played, with a lone win at Death Valley in 2013. In addition to their in-state rivals, Florida State enjoys baseball rivalries, primarily with Georgia Tech.
Florida State University was founded with money donated by Francis Eppes VII, a grandson of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States (1801-1809), principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and founder of the University of Virginia. As a result, both teams play for the Jefferson-Eppes Trophy in football. With the recent realignment of the divisions, the Seminoles found themselves in one division and the Cavaliers in another.
Baseball
Florida State's baseball program is one of the most successful in collegiate sports, having been to twenty-two College World Series in fifty-five Tournament appearances, and having appeared in the national championship final on three occasions (falling to the USC Trojans in 1970, the Arizona Wildcats in 1986, and the Miami Hurricanes in 1999).
Under the command of Head Coach No. 11 Mike Martin (FSU 1966), Florida State is the second-winningest program in the history of college baseball. Since 1990, FSU has had more 50 win seasons, headed to more NCAA Tournaments and finished in the top 10 more than any other team in the country. Since 2000, FSU is the winningest program in college baseball with more victories and a higher winning percentage in the regular season than any other school. Despite their success, Florida State is still chasing their first CWS Championship.
Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium
The Seminoles home field is Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium which is also home to the Animals of Section B, a boisterous group of baseball fans whose name dates to 1978.
Basketball
The home court for the men's and women's basketball teams of Florida State is the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
Men's basketball
Florida State's basketball program has enjoyed modest success since their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1968. Since then, the Seminoles have made fifteen tournament appearances, played for the national title in the NCAA championship game in 1972, advanced to the Sweet Sixteen round in 1992 and 2011, the Elite Eight round in 1993, and won the ACC title in 2012.
The Tucker Center has 34 luxury suites, 468 club seats as well as a 450-seat arena-view restaurant. A four-sided Megavision video display is located in the center of the arena
A total of 42 Seminoles have been selected in the NBA Draft with eight first round picks. Among those first round selections are Dave Cowens, one of the greatest centers in NBA history, and George McCloud, the first lottery selection in school history. Recent draft picks include Tim Pickett by the New Orleans Hornets in 2004, Von Wafer by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2005, Alexander Johnson by the Indiana Pacers in 2006, Al Thornton by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2007, Toney Douglas by the Los Angeles Lakers (then traded to the New York Knicks) in 2009, Solomon Alabi by the Dallas Mavericks (then traded to the Toronto Raptors) in 2010, Ryan Reid by the Indiana Pacers (then traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder) in 2010 and Malik Beasley by the Denver Nuggets in 2016. There are currently two Seminoles on NBA rosters.
Women's basketball
Like the men's team, the women's team plays at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Florida State has made sixteen tournament appearances and has seen recent success under head coach Sue Semrau. In the 2006-07 season, Florida State advanced to its first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in school history with a 68-61 victory at Stanford. The Seminoles won the ACC regular season titles in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, the Seminoles made it to the Elite Eight round, the deepest advance in the tournament in program history, matching that run in 2015 and again in 2017.
Cross country
Men's cross country
Bob Braman, who also coaches track & field, is in his seventeenth season as the cross country coach.
Women's cross country
The women's cross country team is coached by Kelly Phillips.
Football
In 1902, the Florida State College in Tallahassee fielded its first varsity football team. The FSC program posted a record of 7-6-1 over the next three seasons, including a record of 3-1 against their rivals from the old University of Florida (formerly known as Florida Agricultural College) in Lake City. In 1904, the Florida State College football team became the first-ever state champions of Florida after beating both the University of Florida and Stetson University. In 1905, however, the Florida Legislature reorganized the state's higher education system by abolishing the existing state-supported colleges, and creating the new University of the State of Florida in Gainesville, and the new Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee. Many former Florida State College male students transferred to the new University of the State of Florida (renamed the University of Florida in 1909).
Following World War II, Florida State College for Women became coeducational and was renamed Florida State University in 1947, and the school once again started a football team. After its first season, FSU joined the Dixie Conference, which it won in each of the three years it was a member. It withdrew from the conference in 1951 and competed as an independent team for the next forty years.
Under head coach Bobby Bowden, the football team became one of the nation's most competitive football teams, greatly expanding the tradition of football at Florida State. The Seminoles played in five national championship games between 1993 and 2001, and have claimed the championship three times, in 1993, 1999, and 2013. The FSU football team was the most successful team in college football during the 1990s, boasting an 89% winning percentage. FSU also set an NCAA record for most consecutive Top 5 finishes in the AP football poll - receiving placement fourteen years in a row, from 1987 to 2000. The Seminoles were the first college football team in history to go wire-to-wire (ranked first place from preseason to postseason) since the AP began releasing preseason rankings in 1936. FSU also owns the record for most consecutive bowl game victories with 11 between 1985 and 1996 and have made a post-season appearance for thirty-five straight seasons. The Seminole football team has also won eighteen conference championships in the Dixie and Atlantic Coast. The Seminoles are currently coached by Jimbo Fisher.
Florida State's football program has produced many players who go on to NFL careers, including Fred Biletnikoff, Deion Sanders, Terrell Buckley, Derrick Brooks, Sebastian Janikowski, Walter Jones, Corey Simon, Anquan Boldin, Javon Walker, Warrick Dunn, Peter Boulware, Laveranues Coles, Brad Johnson, Samari Rolle, Christian Ponder, Peter Warrick, Jalen Ramsey, Dalvin Cook, Jameis Winston, Darnell Dodson, Dustin Hopkins, Kelvin Benjamin, Graham Gano, Rodney Hudson, Burt Reynolds, Lee Corso, many others.
Sod Cemetery
For Florida State Football, "sod games" and the Sod Cemetery have been a rich part of the Seminoles college football history, commemorating many of the greatest victories. Away from home and against the odds, Florida State sod games represent the most difficult battles on the football field. The Sod Cemetery stands as a tribute to those triumphs.
In 1962, as the Seminoles completed their Thursday practice in preparation to face Georgia at Sanford Stadium, Dean Coyle Moore - a long-time professor and member of FSU's athletic board - issued a challenge: "Bring back some sod from between the hedges at Georgia." On Saturday, October 20, the Seminoles scored an 18-0 victory over the favored Bulldogs. Team captain Gene McDowell pulled a small piece of grass from the field, which was presented to Moore at the next football practice. Moore and FSU coach Bill Peterson had the sod buried on the practice field as a symbol of victory. A monument was placed to commemorate the triumph and the tradition of the sod game was born.
Before leaving for all road games in which Florida State is the underdog, all road games at the University of Florida and all ACC championship and bowl games, Seminole captains gather their teammates to explain the significance of the tradition. Victorious captains return with a piece of the opponent's turf to be buried in the Sod Cemetery inside the gates of the practice field.
Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium
The stadium, named after former Florida State President Doak S. Campbell, hosted its first game against the Randolph-Macon College Yellowjackets on October 7, 1950 with the Seminoles winning the game 40-7. At that time the facility had a seating capacity of 15,000. Florida State began to play at Centennial Field during the team's inaugural 1947 season and would continue to play there for the following two years (1948 and 1949). The stadium has expanded numerous times; from 15,000 seats to 19,000 in 1954, to 25,000 in 1961 and to 40,500 between the years 1960 and 1970. Since that time, the stadium has expanded to almost 83,000, largely in part to the success of the football team under head coach Bobby Bowden coupled with the ever-growing student body. It now is the second largest football stadium in the ACC and the fourteenth largest in the NCAA.
The University Center
Doak Campbell Stadium is a unique venue in collegiate football. It is contained within the brick facade walls of University Center, a vast complex that houses the offices of the university, the Registrar, the School of Hospitality, the College of Communications and the College of Social Work as well as numerous other offices and classrooms.
The University Center A (East wing)
Building A houses the offices of the Registrar, Financial Aid, Admissions and Dean of Students. The Career Center was also located here until it is moved to the new Student Success Center. The award-winning Film School is Located in the 2nd wing of Building A. The top two floors are home to Skyboxes
The University Center B (South Wing)
Building B holds the Seminole Sportshop as well as Visitor Services. UCB is also home to the University Center Club and to the Osceola Sports Grill. The highly ranked Dedman School of Hospitality is located on the second floor of Building B.
The University Center C (West Wing)
Building C is home to the College of Communication, Florida State Testing Center as well as the College of Social Work. The Athletics Ticket office is also located here as are many of the offices of Seminole Boosters. Floor nine is home to the Press Boxes with two floors of Skyboxes below.
Moore Athletic Center (University Center D)
Located on the North Side of Doak Campbell, the athletic center houses nearly all of the athletic offices as well as some classrooms and lecture halls. Visitors are welcomed into the Great Hall showcasing the best of Seminole Athletics.
Cheerleading
The Florida State cheerleaders cheer at all football games as well as home basketball and volleyball games. The Seminoles won the National Cheerleaders Association championship in 1997. The dance team that performs at football and basketball games is known as the Golden Girls. Staci Sutton is the coach of the coed and all-girl squads and Shannon Dobbins is the coach of the dance squad while Natasha Goodman coaches the stunt team.
Golf
Men's golf
The men's golf team is coached by Trey Jones, in his thirteenth season. The Seminoles have made thirty NCAA tournament appearances including twenty-four national championship appearances and sixteen regionals. Florida State has won thirteen conference championships. The Seminoles have appeared in eight straight NCAA tournaments and were the top seed in the 2015 tournament, a year in which they won a school record four straight in-season tournaments.
Women's golf
The women's golf team is coached by Amy Bond, in her seventh season. The Seminoles have made eight AIWA tournament appearances, twenty-four NCAA tournament appearances including ten national championship appearances and twenty-one regionals. Florida State has won three conference championships.
Women's soccer
Since adding soccer as a sport, Florida State has made seventeen appearances in the NCAA tournament and nine appearances in the College Cup. The Seminoles won the national championship in 2014.
Seminole Soccer Complex
In 1998, FSU built a state-of-the-art soccer and softball complex. The 1,600-seat stadium is only for the women's soccer team since FSU doesn't field a men's soccer or lacrosse team. Florida State's women's soccer team is 152-33-11 at home.
Softball
The softball team plays at the Seminole Softball Complex; the field is named for JoAnne Graf, the winningest coach in softball history. Following the program's 25th 40-win season in 2006, Graf's 1,355 total wins are 149 ahead of the next closest coach. An 8-1 victory over Jacksonville on February 22, 2006, made her only the second coach in NCAA history to record 1,100 NCAA fast-pitch wins. In 1999, Florida State received a state-of-the-art softball complex, which also houses the soccer stadium.
Florida State's accomplishments include two AIAW national championships, nine trips to the Women's College World Series, thirty NCAA Tournaments, forty-two All-Americans, and fifteen conference titles.
For over two decades, FSU has been one of the most dominant softball programs in the history of collegiate softball. Only five teams in the history of the NCAA have been to more WCWS than Florida State and no school east of Arizona has been to more NCAA Tournaments than the Seminoles. Florida State has made a regional appearance every year since 2000. The Tribe has never endured a losing season and have achieved 34 forty-win seasons.
In 2015, Lacey Waldrop and Maddie O'Brien became the first players from the school to be drafted into the National Pro Fastpitch league and Jessica Burroughs became the school's first number one overall pick in 2017.
JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex
JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex is a state-of-the-art facility that includes locker rooms, meeting rooms and an exceptional playing surface. The complex was featured in Athletic Business Magazine's 2002 Architectural Showcase.
Ground was broken in the spring of 1998 on the new softball complex, which also includes the soccer stadium. Completed in 1999, it also includes ticket and concessions buildings, press boxes and radio/television booths. The two-level Mary Ann Stiles & Barry Smith Team Building features a reception area, softball and soccer coaches offices, which overlook their respective stadiums, a combined workroom, large team and coaches locker rooms and training and equipment rooms. On April 2, 2005, the softball stadium was officially renamed "JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex."
The Seminole Softball/Soccer Complex is located in between the Dick Howser Baseball Stadium and the Mike Long Track on Chieftain Way. The facility can be accessed from both Chieftain Way and Stadium Drive.
Swimming and diving
Men's swim team
The men's swim team is led by first-year head coach, Neal Studd. Team members have won seventy-eight ACC championships.
Women's swim team
The women's swim team members have won fifty-four ACC championships.
Tennis
Men's tennis
The men's tennis team is coached by Dwayne Hultquist, in his eighteenth season. The Seminoles have appeared in the NCAA tournament twenty-one times including fifteen consecutive appearances.
Women's tennis
The women's tennis team is coached by Jennifer Hyde, in her twelfth season. The Seminoles have made twenty-two NCAA tournament appearances.
Track and field
Bob Braham is the head men's and women's track and field coach.
Men's track and field
The men's track and field team has won back-to-back-to-back NCAA national championships and ACC championships. In 2006, head coach Bob Braman and associate head coach Harlis Meaders helped lead individual champions in the 200 m (Walter Dix), the triple jump (Rafeeq Curry), and the shot put (Garrett Johnson). Individual runners-up were Walter Dix in the 100 m, Ricardo Chambers in the 400 m, and Tom Lancashire in the 1500 m. Others scoring points in the national championship were Michael Ray Garvin in the 200 m (8th), Andrew Lemoncello in the 3000 m steeplechase (4th), Rafeeq Curry in the long jump (6th), and Garrett Johnson in the discus (5th). In 2007, Dix became the first person to hold the individual title in the 100 m, 200 m, and 4*100 m Relay at the same time.
Women's track and field
The women's track and field team has won a total of nine conference championships (seven outdoor, two indoor) and two NCAA championships (one outdoor, one indoor).
Volleyball
Women's volleyball
The women's volleyball team, coached by Chris Poole, in his ninth season, has won four ACC titles and made eighteen appearances in the NCAA tournament, going as far as reaching the Final Four during the 2011 season.
Beach volleyball
The university added beach volleyball as a sport in 2012. The team is coached by Brooke Niles, in her second season. The beach volleyball team completed the 2012-13 regular season with an undefeated record and finished the 2013-14 season as national runner-up. The Seminoles won the inaugural Coastal Collegiate Sports Association championship during the 2015-16 season and appeared in the inaugural NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship.
Rugby
The Florida State Rugby Football Club was founded in 1972, and plays Division 1 college rugby in the South Independent Rugby Conference. The Seminoles won the conference championship in 2012, defeating the University of Central Florida. With this conference championship, FSU qualified for the national playoffs and finished the spring 2012 regular season ranked 22nd in the country. In the national playoffs, Florida State defeated in-state rivals Florida 34-12 in the Sweet 16, before losing to Tennessee 45-27 in the quarterfinals. FSU is led by head coach Kirk Swanner.
All-sports program rankings
NCAA all-sports rankings
Directors' Cup Florida State Athletics has made great strides in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) standings in the last twenty years. Since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, FSU has been ranked among the top fifty NCAA Division I athletic programs in the country. From the 2006-2007 through 2014-2015 academic years, Florida State cracked the top 15 every year, including two top 5 finishes in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012, and two top 10 finishes in 2010-2011 and 2014-2015.
NACDA All-Sports Rankings
Championships
Florida State has won seventeen national team championships (including seven sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), three by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), two by the Bowl Championship Series, and one by the Bowl Coalition), and its individual athletes have numerous individual NCAA national championships.
NCAA team championships
Florida State University has won 7 NCAA team national championships:
- Men's (4)
- Gymnastics (2): 1951, 1952
- Outdoor Track & Field (2): 2006, 2008
- Women's (3)
- Indoor Track and Field (1): 1985
- Outdoor Track and Field (1): 1984
- Soccer (1): 2014
Other national team championships
Below are the 10 national team titles that were bestowed by other college athletics entities:
- Men's (6):
- Football (3): 1993, 1999, 2013
- Volleyball (3): 1955, 1957, 1958
- Women's (4):
- Cheerleading (1): 1997
- Golf (1): 1981
- Softball (slowpitch) (2): 1981, 1982
Florida State has also been national runners-up twenty times in eight sports: baseball (3), men's basketball (1), beach volleyball (2), men's cross country (1), women's cross country (2), football (2), women's golf (1), women's soccer (2), men's indoor track and field (2), men's outdoor track and field (2), and women's outdoor track and field (2).
Conference championships
- Total Conference Championships (174)
- Atlantic Coast Conference (88)
- Metro Conference (68)
- Dixie Conference (10)
- Southeastern Independent (3)
- Florida Intercollegiate Conference (3)
- Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (2)
Division championships
Athletic facilities
Florida State University has invested and continues to invest largely in the athletic centers and facilities around campus. The most visible stadium is Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium which is surrounded by the University Center, which houses the university administration, several colleges and departments.
Coyle E. Moore Athletics Center
Bill Harkins Field at the Manley R. Whitcomb Band Complex
Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium
Donald L. Tucker Center
Seminole Basketball Training Center
Don Veller Seminole Golf Course
JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex
Lucy McDaniel Volleyball Court at Tully Gymnasium
Florida State University Beach Volleyball Courts
Mcintosh Track and Field Building at Mike Long Track
Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium
Morcom Aquatics Center
Scott Speicher Tennis Center at the Donald Loucks Courts
Indoor Tennis Facility
Seminole Soccer Complex
Notable alumni
Currently, 75 FSU alumni compete in professional basketball, football, baseball, softball and golf.
FSU Hall of Fame
The first hall of fame class was inducted in 1977.
Olympians
The following FSU alums have participated in the Olympic Games, winning twelve Olympic medals: four gold, four silver, and four bronze. Florida State has been represented at every Summer Olympics since 1972, sending a school-record 21 athletes in 2016.
2006-2010 NCAA penalties
The athletic department emerged in January 2010 from NCAA sanctions resulting from the discovery of academic cheating by athletes in 2006-2007. This discovery involved athletes in ten sports programs who were taking an online course in music history. An NCAA investigation resulted in scholarship limits and negation of wins involving compromised athletes. Florida State appealed parts of the decision. The penalties removed fourteen football wins from the career total of Seminoles football coach Bobby Bowden, yet the coach temporarily claimed the all-time record for Division 1 football wins in 2012 when a far larger number of victories was deducted from the career total of Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno's wins were later reinstated, however, following an appeal from the Penn State Board of Trustees in January 2015., leaving Coach Bowden with the 2nd all-time winningest record in Division 1 football.
Additionally, FSU vacated 22 wins in men's basketball, a NCAA post season baseball victory, one national championship in men's track and field, a NCAA tournament victory in women's basketball, as well as other wins in these and several other men's and women's sports.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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