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Michigan State Spartans
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceThe Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty. The school colors are green and white. The university participates in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big Ten Conference in all Varsity sports except ice hockey, which competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Michigan State offers 11 varsity sports for men and 12 for women.
The university's current Athletic Director is Ron Mason, who served as head hockey coach from 1979 to 2002, retiring with a 608-261-64 record at MSU. MSU's marching band plays the fight song at every university event, and both students and alumni sing along. Michigan State University is the only NCAA Division I Athletic program to have multiple National Championships in football, basketball, and hockey. Michigan State University was the first program to win multiple National Championships in both football and basketball.
MSU's football team has won or shared 6 national championships 1951,1952,1955,1957,1965 & 1966 (some listing organizations only recognize 1952,1965 & 1966 as there is much controversy over determining pre 1960 champions) and has won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988. Its men's basketball team won the NCAA National Championship in 1979 and 2000. The MSU men's ice hockey has won national titles in 1966, 1986, and 2007. MSU's golf team won the Big Ten Championship in 1969 and again in 2005.
History
As an agricultural college, the school's origin mascot was the Aggies. In 1909 for one season MSU's mascot was a live brown bear. However, in 1925, the institution changed its names to Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. Looking to move beyond its agricultural roots, Michigan State held a contest to find a new nickname. They decided to call the teams the "Michigan Staters". Local sports writers for the Lansing State Journal and the Capital News went through the losing entries to find a shorter and more heroic name. They decided on the "Spartans". By coincidence, Justin Morrill had once compared the Land Grant colleges to the schools of ancient Sparta. With a heroic name and a historic precedent, the "Spartans" quickly caught on as the teams' new nickname. Within a few years, the College changed the lyrics of the Fight Song to reflect the name change of the College and its sports teams.| Rose Bowls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Michigan State | 28 | UCLA | 20 |
| 1956 | Michigan State | 17 | UCLA | 14 |
| 1966 | UCLA | 14 | Michigan State | 12 |
| 1988 | Michigan State | 20 | Southern California | 17 |
As the college grew in size, it looked to join a major collegiate conference. When the University of Chicago eliminated varsity football and withdrew from the Western Conference (now the Big Ten) in 1946, Michigan State president John A. Hannah lobbied hard to take its place. The Big Ten finally admitted M.S.C. in 1949. After joining the conference, head football coach Clarence L. "Biggie" Munn led the Spartan football team to the Rose Bowl in the 1953-54 season, beating UCLA 28-20. Successor coach Hugh "Duffy" Daugherty lead the football team to a second Rose Bowl where it again defeated UCLA, 17-14.
In more recent years, Michigan State's successes and failures in the Final Four have led to clashes involving the police in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Local and national news referred to the disturbances as riots. After several years without any major incidents, another disturbance broke out on April 2, 2005 after the North Carolina's men's basketball team defeated MSU in the 2005 NCAA Final Four. Officially called a "civil disturbance," the ensuing violence sparked accusations of police brutality in East Lansing.
Varsity Sports
Michigan State has 23 NCAA Division I-A varsity teams: 11 varsity sports for men and 12 for women. They participate in the Big Ten Conference in all Varsity sports except ice hockey, which competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.Golf has had a long tradition at MSU. Hall of Fame Coach Bruce Fossum led MSU to its first Big Ten title in 1969. The Big Ten title would elude the Spartans until 2005, when arguably, the best team ever assembled, took home the rings in stellar fashion. Not only did the Spartans win the Big Ten Championship in 2005, but they captured two other titles along the way and rose all the way to #5 in the U.S.
Baseball/Softball
As in many other NCAA institutions, Michigan State has a baseball team for men and a softball team for women. David Grewe is the current head coach of the MSU baseball team. Hired at age 29, Grewe is one of the youngest head coaches in the nation. Former Michigan State players in Major League Baseball include Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey, Robin Roberts, and Mark Mulder.The MSU women's fastpitch softball team won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division I national title in 1976. Its current coach, Jacquie Joseph, has led the program since 1994. Since taking over the program, Joseph has led MSU to a record of 445-372-1 and four NCAA Regional appearances.
Basketball
Men's basketball
| Retired Basketball Jerseys | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Years | ||
| 4 | Scott Skiles | 1982-1986 | ||
| 12 | Mateen Cleaves | 1996-2000 | ||
| 21 | Steve Smith | 1987-1991 | ||
| 24 | Johnny Green | 1955-1958 | ||
| 24 | Shawn Respert | 1991-1995 | ||
| 31 | Jay Vincent | 1978-1981 | ||
| 32 | Greg Kelser | 1976-1979 | ||
| 33 | Earvin "Magic" Johnson | 1977-1979 | ||
| Coach | Jud Heathcote | 1976-1995 | ||
On December 13, 2003, Michigan State and Kentucky played at the most-attended basketball game in history, when they held a match in front of 78,130 at Ford Field, a stadium in Detroit. Kentucky won 79-74. Since 1995, the team has been coached by Tom Izzo, who has a 300-120 record. Izzo's coaching helped the team make four of nine NCAA Final Fours from 1999-2007, winning the title in 2000. Michigan State basketball has been selected for ten consecutive NCAA tournament bids from 1998-2007, making four final fours during that span. Overall, Michigan State has made it to the final four six times and has made 23 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Spartans formerly or currently in the NBA include Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent, Steve Smith, Scott Skiles, Jason Richardson, Mateen Cleaves, Alan Anderson, Zach Randolph, Morris Peterson, Eric Snow, and Charlie Bell.
Women's basketball
Suzy Merchant is the head coach of the woment's basketball team. Taking over in 2007, Merchant replaced Joanne P. McCallie who left MSU to coach for Duke University. Before coming to Michigan State, Merchant spent nine years as head coach of Eastern Michigan University's team, where she was the winningest coach in school history.Boxing
Though no longer an NCAA varsity sport, MSU's boxing team won national titles in 1951 and 1955.Crew
The women's crew coach is Matt Weise. In his third year as MSU head coach, Weise coached the Spartans to a program-best sixth-place team finish at the NCAA Championship.Football
Football has a long tradition at Michigan State. Starting as a club sport in 1884, football gained varsity status in 1896. During the 1950s when Detroit was known as the world's leading automobile manufacturer, Michigan State was often referred to as the nation's "football factory." It was then that the Spartans churned out such impressive models as Lynn Chandnois, Dorne Dibble, Don McAulliffe, Tom Yewcic, Sonny Grandelius, Earl Morrall and Dean Look. In 1951, the Spartans finished undefeated and untied to claim a share of the national championship with Tennessee. The following year the team was again unbeaten and untied. They ended the 1952 season with the nation's longest winning streak (24 games) and were named the undisputed national champions by every official poll.After waiting for several years, the team was finally admitted into the Big 10 as a regular member in 1953. They promptly went on to capture the league championship (losing only one game during the season) and beating UCLA in their first Rose Bowl game. After the 1953 season Biggie Munn, the legendary Spartan coach, turned the team over to his protégé and future legend Duffy Daugherty. He won the Rose Bowl in 1954 and 1956. George Perles was the head coach when the Spartans defeated USC in the Rose Bowl in January of 1988.
All told, Michigan State has won or shared a total of 6 national championships (1951, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1965 and 1966) and nine Big Ten championships.
Today, the football team competes in Spartan Stadium, a renovated 75,005 person football stadium in the center of campus. The current coach is Mark Dantonio, who was hired on November 27, 2006. Dantonio had an 18-17 record in his three year tenure at the University of Cincinnati, including a 1-0 Bowl Game record. Dantonio replaced John L. Smith, who finished with a 22-26 record as the Spartans' head man.
MSU's traditional archrival is the University of Michigan, against whom they compete for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. MSU is traditionally the underdog, with a 28-66-5 record in the annual game. Michigan State is one of three Big Ten teams to have an annual non-conference football game against Notre Dame. MSU's record against the Fighting Irish is 25-44-1. One of the most memorable games in this series was in 1966 when the teams were ranked 1st (Notre Dame) and 2nd (MSU) in the country. The result of the game was a 10-10 tie when Notre Dame elected not to attempt a score when they had the ball late in the game.
On the American Football League's All-Time Team are tight-end Fred Arbanas and safety George Saimes. In the National Football League, MSU alumni include Morten Andersen, Plaxico Burress, Andre Rison, Derrick Mason, Muhsin Muhammad, T.J. Duckett, Flozell Adams, Julian Peterson, Charles Rogers, Jim Miller, Earl Morrall, Wayne Fontes, Bubba Smith, and Drew Stanton. Former MSU quarterback Jeff Smoker now plays in the Arena Football League.
Golf
Sam Puryear coaches the men's golf team. A former assistant coach at Stanford University, this is his first year as a head coach. Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll coaches the women's team. In the last ten seasons, she has led the Spartans to nine straight NCAA regional appearances.Gymnastics
The Men's Gymnastics team won one national title, which they shared with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1958. In 2001, the MSU Board of Trustees disbanded the team in order to comply with Title IX regulations. The women's team retained its varsity status. Its current coach is Kathie Klages, who has had sixteen winning seasons in a row.Hockey
Michigan State has two varsity hockey teams: a men's ice hockey team and a women's field hockey team.Field hockey
Rolf van de Kerkhof is the head coach of the women's field hockey team. A native of Tilburg, Netherlands, van de Kerkhof's first win as head coach came on Sept. 3, 2006, with a 2-1 overtime victory against Temple University.Ice hockey
The men's ice hockey team plays at the Munn Ice Arena. The current head coach is Rick Comley, who has a 116-73-19 record at MSU. Since the Big Ten Conference does not cover Division I ice hockey, Michigan State competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Along with the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University, it is one of three Big Ten schools in the CCHA. As with other sports, the hockey rivalry between MSU and U-M is a fierce one, though MSU's rivalry against Lake Superior State University has grown in recent years. On October 6, 2001, the team was involved in the most-attended hockey game in history: The Cold War. The Spartans set up a hockey rink in the middle of their football stadium, Spartan Stadium and played U-M before a crowd of 74,554. The game ended in a 3-3 tie.
The MSU ice hockey program has seven CCHA regular season championships and 11 CCHA Tournament titles. MSU has also won 11 Great Lakes Invitational titles. The Spartans have been in the NCAA tournament 23 times, with nine Frozen Four appearances and three national titles (1966, 1986, and 2007). On April 7, 2007 the Michigan State Spartans won their third Collegiate Championship by beating the Boston College Eagles 3-1.
Former Michigan State players in the National Hockey League include Rod Brind'Amour, Anson Carter, Donald McSween, Adam Hall, John-Michael Liles, brothers Kelly Miller and Kip Miller, as well as their cousins, brothers Ryan Miller and Drew Miller. Two players for MSU have won the Hobey Baker Award: Kip Miller in 1990 and Ryan Miller in 2001.
Soccer
The Spartan men's soccer team won two back-to-back championships in 1967 and 1968. (They shared the 1968 title with the University of Maryland, College Park.) The current men's coach is Joe Baum, who is in his thirty-first year as head coach at Michigan State. Coaching the women's team is Baum's former assistant, Tom Saxton.Swimming & Diving
Matt Gianiodis is the head coach of both the men and women's swimming and diving In his four years as head coach, Spartan swimmers and divers have broken fourteen varsity records.Tennis
Gene Orlando is the coach of the men's tennis team. In his seventeen years as MSU head coach, Orlando has taken the Spartan men to four NCAA Championship singles qualifiers. Coaching the women's team is Erica Perkins, a second-year head coach who, in her first year, led the Spartan women to a 12-11 record (2-8, Big Ten.)Track & Field/Cross Country
MSU's Men's cross country team won the NCAA Division I championship eight times from 1939 to 1959. Walt Drenth is the current director of both the men's and women's cross country and track & field programs. After joining MSU in 2004, Drenth lead men's cross country team to an NCAA Championship bid during the 2004 season. The women's cross country team also advanced to the NCAA Championship Meet after winning the Great Lakes Regional race.Volleyball
Cathy George has been the head coach of the women's volleyball team since 2005. During her first year at Michigan State, she led her team to a 12-18 record, including a 5-15, ninth-place finish in the conference standings.Wrestling
Wrestling was one of the earliest sports formed at the Michigan Agricultural College. While the sport was dropped in 1906, it was reformed by the college fifteen years later. The wrestling team has won the NCAA Division I championship once, in 1967. Its current coach, Tom Minkel, has produced 33 All-Americans, 11 Big Ten Champions and one NCAA Champion.Notes
See also
- Michigan State University
- Michigan State Spartans football
- List of Michigan State Spartans championships
External links
- Official MSU athletics site
- Complete Catalog & History of Michigan State Football Jerseys, Helmets and Pants
- Championship rings - Michigan State men's ice hockey
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Last updated on Saturday March 08, 2008 at 22:26:53 PST (GMT -0800)
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