Syracuse University was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation for school spirit, according to the Princeton Review, and here are 10 things you might not know about SU Athletics:

1. Only 23 years ago, Otto was the new mascot in town

Otto the Orange is the famed mascot of SU Athletics, but it wasn’t always that way. SU’s original mascot was the Saltine Warrior. A series of protests led to the Saltine Warrior’s removal as mascot. After 15 years as the unofficial mascot, Otto became the official mascot of SU in 1995.

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2. Baseball isn’t Syracuse’s past time

Syracuse is the only team in the Atlantic Coast Conference that doesn’t have a baseball team. The Orange first hosted baseball in 1870, with the program being disbanded in 1972. John Wildhack, SU’s director of athletics, in 2017 said baseball wasn’t under consideration for organization as an additional, official university sport.

3. The Dome carries them all

Syracuse men’s basketball averaged 21,460 fans per game in the 2017-18 season, the highest attendance average in the ACC and second in the nation only behind Kentucky. The Carrier Dome hosted the three highest attended regular season games in 2018.

4. A school of champions

Of SU sports teams, the SU men’s lacrosse team holds the most national titles with 10, but men’s lacrosse has not been Syracuse’s most successful team as of late. Men’s cross country and field hockey both won NCAA championships in 2015.

5. Running into the record books

With an official time of 29:00.1, Justyn Knight won the men’s cross country NCAA championship in November 2017. He won as a senior after top-5 finishes in both his sophomore and junior seasons.

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6. Double March Madness

Only 10 schools in NCAA history have had both their men’s and women’s basketball teams make the Final Four during the same year. Syracuse became the ninth in 2016 when Jim Boeheim and Quentin Hillsman both coached their respective teams into the national semifinals. The men’s team lost in the semis to North Carolina, while the women lost in the championship to Connecticut.

7. Boeheim’s bunch

Jim Boeheim has been the head coach at Syracuse for 42 seasons. In those 42 years, he’s won 926 games officially (the NCAA vacated 101 wins in 2015 following sanctions stemming from an eight-year investigation of the school). The Orange won a national championship in 2003 and appeared in six Final Fours. Boeheim has also won three Olympic gold medals as an assistant of the U.S. men’s basketball team.

8. Sporting success doesn’t stop after college

ESPN ranked Syracuse sixth for producing professional draft talent. The “Ultimate Draft Ranking,” released in July, analyzed which schools produce the best draft talent in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA, MLL (lacrosse) and NFP (softball).

9. Breaking down barriers

One of Syracuse’s famed football alumni is Ernie Davis, whom the Carrier Dome field is now named after (Ernie Davis Legends Field). Davis — the only SU player to win the Heisman trophy — became the first black player to win the award in 1961. Davis died at 23 due to complications of leukemia before ever playing a professional game. He was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

10. Coaching accolades

Since 2014, Syracuse has had six different coaches win ACC awards for individual sports. Justin Moore (women’s rowing), Gary Gait (women’s lacrosse), Ian McIntyre (men’s soccer), John Desko (men’s lacrosse), Chris Fox (cross country and track and field) and Ange Bradley (field hockey), have all been honored by the conference in the last four years. Moore and Fox both left SU this summer to pursue other opportunities.

Published on August 21, 2018 at 11:48 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo