Georgia Bulldogs
| Georgia Bulldogs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | The University of Georgia |
| Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Division | Division I |
| Athletic director | Damon Evans |
| Location | Athens, Georgia (U.S. state) |
| Varsity teams | 19 |
| Football stadium | Sanford Stadium |
| Arena | Stegeman Coliseum |
| Mascot | Uga VII Hairy Dawg |
| Nickname | Bulldogs, 'Dawgs |
| Fight song | Glory, Glory |
| Colors | Red and Black |
| Website | www |
The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams of The University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in the Southeastern Conference. All Georgia athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs, and Uga the Bulldog, of whom Uga VII is the latest in a much-beloved lineage, is the official school mascot. They also have a costumed mascot, Hairy Dawg.
Bulldog legends Vince Dooley, Dan Magill, Wally Butts, Howell Hollis, Forrest "Spec" Towns, Herman Stegeman, Herschel Walker, and Fran Tarkenton, along with current coaches Mark Richt, Andy Landers, Suzanne Yoculan, Manuel Diaz, and Jack Bauerle, are all considered to be among the best in their respective sport. They are currently ranked #10 in the 2008-2009 NCAA Football Polls.
Overview
The University sponsors nineteen sports - baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's equestrian, football, men's and women's golf, women's gymnastics, women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track, and women's volleyball. Those 19 teams have won a combined 31 team national championships and 127 Southeastern Conference championships as of the conclusion of the 2006-07 academic year.
The first mention of "Bulldogs" in association with Georgia athletics occurred on November 28, 1901, at the Georgia-Auburn football game played in Atlanta. The Georgia fans "had a badge saying 'Eat `em Georgia' and a picture of a bulldog tearing a piece of cloth";[1] however, it was not until 1920 that the nickname "Bulldog" was used to describe the athletic teams at the University of Georgia. Traditionally, the choice of a Bulldog as the UGA mascot was attributed to the alma mater of its founders and first president, who graduated from Yale University.[2] On November 3, 1920, Morgan Blake, a sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal wrote a story about school nicknames for football teams and proposed:
The Georgia Bulldogs would sound good because there is a certain dignity about a bulldog, as well as ferocity.[3]
Shortly thereafter, another news story appeared in the Atlanta Constitution in which the name "Bulldogs" was used several times to describe the Georgia football team and the nickname has been used ever since then.
The athletic department suffered through several controversies in the early 2000s, including a major scandal within the men's basketball program. In 2003, a power struggle between University President Michael Adams and athletic director and beloved Bulldog legend Vince Dooley stole headlines across the country when Adams refused to renew Dooley's contract, effectively firing him. The battle became one painted as academics versus athletics, though this idea was rejected when the University's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences faculty issued a vote of "no confidence" on Adams' leadership in 2004.
The firestorm has calmed slightly since then, however, largely due to the success of Dooley's successor, Damon Evans. In 2006, the Bulldogs recorded the highest profit margin of any athletic program in the country (according to the EADA report[4]), pulling in USD$23.9 million, and also recorded another highly-successful year on the field.
Tennis
Men's Tennis
Under the direction of college sports legend Dan Magill from 1954 to 1988 and his successor (and current head coach) Manuel Diaz, the Georgia Men's Tennis program ranks among the nation's best. The team has won a total of eight tennis national championships in 1985, '87, '99, 2001, '06 (indoor), 07 (indoor and NCAA Division I), and 2008. The Bulldogs' six NCAA team championships rank second all-time behind Stanford, who has won the team title 15 times. The 2007 indoor championship made Georgia only the sixth team in history to successfully defend the ITA Indoor title. [5]
The squad has won 24 Southeastern Conference championships, including four since 2001.
The NCAA Men's Tennis Championship has been held in Athens 24 times in the past 35 years, including consecutively from 1977-1989 and in 2007. All but one (2008) of UGA's NCAA team championships have been won in Athens.[6]
Women's Tennis
UGA alum Jeff Wallace has coached the Georgia Women's Tennis program since 1985, and is currently the winningest active NCAA women's tennis coach. His teams have won two NCAA team championships (1994 and 2000), three ITA Indoor Championships (1994, 1995 and 2002) and seven SEC titles.
The NCAA Women's Tennis Championship has been held in Athens 3 times.
Women's Gymnastics
No Bulldog team has dominated its sport as much in the past 20 years as the Georgia Gym Dogs, under the direction of Suzanne Yoculan.
Since 1986, the Gym Dogs have brought home 9 gymnastics national championships (1987, '89, 1993, '98, '99, 2005, '06, '07, '08)[7] and 16 Southeastern Conference titles.
The Gym Dogs consistently draw upwards of 10,000 fans to their meets, ranking them second only to football in average attendance among Georgia sports.
On October 18, 2007, Yoculan announced that she will retire as head coach after the 2009 season.[8] Longtime assistant Jay Clark will succeed Yoculan as head coach.
Golf
Men's Golf
From 1946-70, Howell Hollis built the Georgia men's golf team into a conference power, claiming 13 SEC titles and laying the groundwork for the team's future successes.
Current coach Chris Haack has led the team to two golf national titles (1999, 2005) and keeps them in contention for the crown each year.
Overall, the men's golf team leads all Georgia sports with 26 conference championships, including four since 2000.
Women's Golf
First organized by women's athletics pioneer Liz Murphey, the Georgia women's golf team is a fixture among the nation's top finishers. Todd McCorkle coached the Georgia women's golf team from 2001 to 2007, when he abruptly resigned before the NCAA Women's Golf Championship under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations.[9] His inaugural UGA team won the national championship. UGA's sixth place tie at the 2006 national event marks the seventh top-10 final ranking in the last nine years. The progam has won ten SEC titles. Former players include Vicki Goetze, now on the LPGA Tour.
Basketball
Women's Basketball
Coach Andy Landers, a pioneer in the sport, has coached the Lady Bulldogs since 1979, leading them to seven regular-season SEC titles, four SEC tournament championships, twenty 21-win seasons (an average of 24.4 wins per season), 23 NCAA tournaments, and five Final Fours. Landers currently stands as the winningest women's college basketball coach not to have won the national championship. The Lady Dogs' all-time AP ranking stands at 4th as of 2005.
The Lady Dogs have also produced two U.S. Olympians who have combined to earn six Gold Medals (Teresa Edwards and Katrina McClain Johnson), 16 former players who have continued to the WNBA (second-most nationally), and six WNBA first-round draft picks in the past five years (second-most nationally). There were eight Lady Bulldogs on WNBA rosters in 2006: Kara Braxton, Detroit Shock; Kedra Holland-Corn, Detroit Shock; Deanna Nolan, Detroit Shock; Kelly Miller, Phoenix Mercury; Coco Miller, Washington Mystics; Christi Thomas, Los Angeles Sparks; Sherill Baker, New York Liberty; and Keisha Brown, New York Liberty.[10]
Men's Basketball
While often overshadowed by the accomplishments of the Lady Dogs, Georgia's men's basketball program has enjoyed several impressive seasons, including a run to the 2008 SEC Championship and berth in the NCAA tournament under current head coach Dennis Felton.
While Dominique Wilkins is considered the greatest player in school history[11], the team's most successful season came one year after his graduation. The Bulldogs made their first NCAA appearance in 1983 - which would have been Wilkins' senior year had he not opted for the NBA. That team advanced to the Final Four before falling to eventual national champion NC State.
Since making its first postseason tournament in 1980, Georgia has received 21 postseason invitations under coaches Hugh Durham, Tubby Smith, Ron Jirsa, Jim Harrick, and Dennis Felton, including 10 trips to the NCAA tournament.
Women's Swimming and Diving
In his 27th year with the Georgia Swimming and Diving program, Coach Jack Bauerle has placed the women's program among the nation's elite. In the past eight years, the team has taken four national championships (1999, 2000, '01, '05) and posted four national runner-up finishes (2002, '03, '04, '06). The Lady Bulldogs have also brought home six SEC team championships (1997, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '06) in the past ten years. Bauerle has coached 11 female Olympians and 88 SEC individual champions. Graduates of the Georgia Swimming and Diving program include three individual recipients of the NCAA Woman of the Year Award: Lisa Coole in 1997, Kristy Kowal in 2000 and Kim Black in 2001.
Baseball
The Georgia Baseball team has seen most of its success in recent years, including winning the 1990 College World Series, as well as making the trip to Omaha in 1987, 1990, 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2008. The Diamond Dawgs, as they are called, are coached by David Perno.
In its history, the team has claimed five Southeastern Conference tournament titles, in 1933, 1954, 1955, 2001, and 2004, and five regular season conference titles, in 1933, 1953, 1954, 2004, and 2008.
The program dates back to 1886 and, according to former Sports Information Director Dan Magill, was once the most popular sport on campus. However, from the mid-1950s to the late-1980s, and then through most of the 1990s, there were only scattered bright spots as the team managed only a modicum of success.
Since 2001, however, the program has enjoyed quite a resurgence, winning three championships in the perennial stalwart Southeastern Conference and participating in the College World Series four times in those seven seasons.
The Georgia-Georgia Tech baseball rivalry is one of the South's most fierce, and the teams' annual Spring Baseball Classic at Turner Field draws some of the largest crowds in college baseball (the 2004 game was seen by 28,836 spectators, the second-largest crowd in college baseball history).
The team has seen several of its former players move on to successful professional careers, most notably former New York Yankees pitcher Spud Chandler. Also, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Cris Carpenter (not to be confused with Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter), pitcher Derek Lilliquist, Seattle Mariners pitcher Dave Fleming, and Georgia high school football coaching legend Billy Henderson played for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs play in the 3,291-seat Foley Field stadium.
Equestrian
UGA's newest varsity team first competed in the 2002-2003 season. Head coach Meghan Boenig guided the team to a national championship in the Varsity Equestrian National Championships (VENC) that year as well as a repeat national championship the following year (2003-2004). After a series of runner-up finishes, the team reclaimed the top spot in 2007-2008.
Other sports
Other notable sports teams include the perennial power men's swimming team. [12] Notable track and field athletes include Olympic gold medalists Forrest Towns and Gwen Torrence as well as bronze medalist Debbie Ferguson.
References
- ^ Stegeman, John F. The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. pp. p.59. LCCN 66-0 – 0.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ http://www.secsportsfan.com/georgia-bulldogs-football-history.html
- ^ "Georgia Traditions from Georgiadogs.com". Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ^ "Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool Website". Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ^ "UGA repeats as indoor champs". NCAA. February 22, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Georgia 4, Illinois 0s". NCAA. May 22, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Gym Dogs Win Third Straight NCAA Championship". GeorgiaDogs.com. University of Georgia Athletics Association. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
- ^ "Yoculan to Retire After 2009 Season". University of Georgia Athletics Association. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Alleged sexual comments led to McCorkle's resignation".
- ^ "Georgiadogs.com listing of WNBA players". Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ^ "UGA Men's Basketball". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- ^ "UGA Swim and Dive Teams". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
External links
- Official University of Georgia Athletics site
- Georgia Bulldog Fan Forum and Official Team Merchandise
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