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SU Athletics

10 Fun Facts on Syracuse Athletics: Everything from attendance records to national titles

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Win your next bar bet with one of these factoids about all things Syracuse.

By Andrew GrahamSenior Staff Writer

From attendance records to three Olympic medals, a Heisman and national titles, Syracuse athletics is full of interesting statistics, accolades and people. Bolster your knowledge of the Orange with these 10 facts about everything SU athletics.

  1. The Carrier Dome holds the record for the largest crowd to ever see a college basketball game on a college campus: 35,446. The record was set on on Feb. 1, 2014 when then-undefeated Syracuse beat Duke, 91-89, in overtime.
  1. The men’s lacrosse team has won 15 national titles, five titles pre-date the NCAA’s existence, most of any team at SU. However, the Orange’s last title was in 2009, the program’s longest title drought since 1983.
  1. Dino Babers is the first black head coach to lead the SU football team. After his hire in December 2015, Babers put up a 4-8 mark in a rollercoaster first season.
  1. Syracuse football has only one Heisman winner in 128 years of existence: Ernie Davis in 1961.
  1. Women’s soccer head coach Phil Wheddon has spent time with both the men’s and women’s national teams as an assistant and goalkeepers coach. He’s worked with the likes of Tim Howard and Hope Solo.
  1. Among the best teams on campus are men’s cross country and field hockey. Both teams won national titles in 2015, the last SU teams to do so.
  1. Syracuse has had a women’s ice hockey team for only nine seasons, and despite making the conference title game six times, it has never made an NCAA tournament appearance.
  1. Women’s lacrosse coach Gary Gait was a four-time All-American and three-time national champion playing for SU’s men’s lacrosse team from 1987 to 1990.
  1. Along with over 900 wins — 1,000 plus, unofficially — Jim Boeheim also has three Olympic gold medals from his assistant coaching role with the U.S. men’s team.
  1. In late February of 2017, the women’s basketball team bulldozed the program’s previous home attendance record, piling 11,021 fans into the Carrier Dome in a 85-80 loss against Notre Dame.





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