The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers were the 21 teams that represented St. Francis College in athletics. The Terriers were members of NCAA Division I and participated in the Northeast Conference (NEC) except in two sports that the NEC does not sponsor—men's and women's water polo. The water polo teams respectively competed in the Collegiate Water Polo Association and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The school's mascot was Rocky the Terrier, who was officially introduced in 1933 by the college's athletic association. Previously the St. Francis's student-athletes were referred to as the Boys from Brooklyn. Notably, the St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball program was founded in 1896 and was the oldest collegiate program in New York City. The basketball, volleyball, water polo, and swimming and diving teams for the Terriers competed in the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex. The soccer teams completed at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5.
On March 20, 2023, St. Francis College announced that it would end intercollegiate athletic competition at the close of the spring semester due to financial and enrollment concerns.
History In 2006, St. Francis College added women's bowling, while dropping men's baseball and women's softball.
St. Francis College previously sponsored a football team, but was dropped in 1935. Their last coach was Julius "Indian" Yablok a former quarterback at Colgate University, who replaced Salvatore "Tut" Maggio.
In 2007, Irma Garcia became the athletic director of the Terriers replacing longtime director Edward Aquilone. When hired in 2010, she was the country's only female Latina athletic director in Division I sports. For the 2014–15 academic year, Garcia was named NACWAA D1 (FCS) Administrator of the Year. The award was in part because of the Terriers success in Men's Soccer (NEC Champions and NCAA tournament Participants), Men's Basketball (NEC Regular season Champions and NIT Participants) and Women's Basketball (NEC Champions and NCAA tournament Participants).
Beginning on November 27, 2012, St. Francis College rebranded its athletic programs from St. Francis (NY) to St. Francis Brooklyn. The college previously came to be known as St. Francis (NY) when the athletics program joined the Division I Northeast Conference in 1981. In 2018 it was announced that women's soccer and men's volleyball would be added as sports programs to the existing teams at St. Francis College. Both teams started play in the 2019–20 school year, with women's soccer starting in fall 2019 and men's volleyball in spring 2020.
On September 30, 2021, the NEC announced it would start a men's volleyball league in the 2023 season (2022–23 school year). The new league was intended to start with SFC as one of six members, but two more schools were announced as single-sport members before the league began play. Before the launch of NEC men's volleyball, SFC had played the 2022 season in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, which it had joined in July 2021.
On March 20, 2023, the school announced all athletics programs would be terminated at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. Students on athletic scholarship will be able to keep them until graduation or transfer to another school.
Teams A member of the Northeast Conference, St. Francis Brooklyn sponsored teams in 10 men's and 11 women's NCAA sanctioned sports:
Men's Intercollegiate Sports Basketball (team article) Cross Country Golf Soccer (team article) Swimming & Diving Tennis Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor) Volleyball Water Polo
Women's Intercollegiate Sports Basketball (team article) Bowling Cross Country Golf Soccer (team article) Swimming & Diving Tennis Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor) Volleyball Water Polo
Basketball Both the men's and women's teams hosted their home games at The Pope and were members of the Northeast Conference. The fiercest rival of the Terriers was LIU; the men's teams have competed since 1928 and the women's teams since 1973. Both the men's and women's Terrier teams played in the Battle of Brooklyn tournament against the Sharks, which was played annually since 1974–75. The Terriers also competed against the Wagner Seahawks, and it was referred to as Battle of the Verrazano due to St. Francis College in Brooklyn being separated from Wagner College in Staten Island by the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge. The Battle of the Verrazano dates back to the 1973–74 season. The team played its home games on the Peter Aquilone Court at the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex.
Men's
The St. Francis College's men's basketball program, founded in 1896, was the oldest collegiate program in New York City. The Terriers' best finish was the 1955–1956 season, with a 21–4 record that ranked them at 13th nationally in the AP polls. Throughout their history the Terriers played as NCAA Division I independents, in the Metropolitan New York Conference (1946–1963), in the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference (1966–1968) and since 1981 in the NEC. In that time span, the Terriers were regular season conference champions 6 times and have had 17 different head coaches, the latest of which is Glenn Braica. Braica was an assistant under Norm Roberts at St. John's University. Glenn Braica replaced Brian Nash who resigned after five seasons, 3 of which his team did not make the postseason.
The Terriers coach with the most wins is Daniel Lynch who from 1948 to 1969 accumulated a 282–233 record and won 3 regular season conference championships. Lynch also led the Terriers to 3 NIT bids, reaching the first-round in 1963, the quarter-finals in 1954 and the semi-finals in 1956. Second is Ron Ganulin, who over 14 seasons, from 1991 to 2005, accumulated a 187–206 record along with 2 regular season conference championships.
Men's basketball yearly record Year Head coach Overall record (W-L) NEC Record Standing NEC Tournament Record Postseason Tournament Record 2005–2006 Brian Nash 10–17 7–11 T-8th DNQ 2006–2007 Brian Nash 9–22 7–11 T-6th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2007–2008 Brian Nash 7–22 5–12 T-8th DNQ 2008–2009 Brian Nash 10–20 7–11 8th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2009–2010 Brian Nash 11–18 8–10 T-8th DNQ 2010–2011 Glenn Braica 15–15 10–9 5th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2011–2012 Glenn Braica 15–15 12–6 4th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2012–2013 Glenn Braica 12–18 8–10 8th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2013–2014 Glenn Braica 18–14 9–7 T-4th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2014–2015 Glenn Braica 23–12 15–3 1st 2–1 Finals NIT First round 0–1 2015–2016 Glenn Braica 15–17 11–7 T-2nd 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2016–2017 Glenn Braica 4–27 2–16 10th DNQ 2017–2018 Glenn Braica 13–18 10–8 T-4th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2018–2019 Glenn Braica 17–16 9–9 T-5th 0–1 Quarter-Finals CIT First round 0–1 2019–2020 Glenn Braica 13–18 7–11 T-6th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
Women's
The women's team kicked off intercollegiate athletics at St. Francis College in 1973. Since the 1988–89 season the women's basketball team was a part of the Northeast Conference. The Terriers coach with the most wins was John Thurston who from 2012 to 2018 accumulated a 73–110 record. Thurston also was the first coach in program history to win a Northeast Conference tournament Championship and participate in an NCAA tournament. Also under Thurston, the 2013–14 squad set the single-season program record with 19 victories. In 2018, Linda Cimino was announced as the head coach. Previously, Cimino was the head coach at Binghamton. In Cimino's first year at the helm, she set the Terrier record for conference wins in a season, 12.
Women's basketball yearly record Year Head coach Overall record (W–L) NEC record Standing NEC Tournament record Postseason Tournament record 2012–13 John Thurston 11–19 8–10 7th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2013–14 John Thurston 19–11 10–8 5th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2014–15 John Thurston 15–19 9–9 5th 3–0 ChampionsNCAA first round 0–1 2015–16 John Thurston 7–22 4–14 9th DNQ 2016–17 John Thurston 8–22 6–12 T-7th 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2017–18 John Thurston 13–17 9–9 T-3rd 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2018–19 Linda Cimino 18–13 12–6 3rd 0–1 Quarter-Finals 2019–20 Linda Cimino 8–21 4–14 10th DNQ
Baseball St. Francis won the very first Northeast Conference tournament in 1993. They never reached the NCAA Tournament. They discontinued the program in 2006.
Water polo
Both the men's and women's water polo teams played at the St. Francis College Aquatics Center, located at the college in Brooklyn Heights. The men's team competed in the CWPA and ECAC and the women's team in the MAAC, both participated in Division I leagues.
Men's
The St. Francis College Men's Water Polo club began its program in 1952. In the 1970s, St. Francis helped to form the association of East Coast schools that eventually became the Collegiate Water Polo Association. The Terriers have enjoyed much success and are one of the better teams on the east coast. In consecutive years from 2004 to 2008, they've won the ECAC Championships and the CWPA Northern Division Championships. The Terriers have finished between first and fourth in the Eastern Championships from 1999 to 2007. In 2005 they finished first and qualified for the NCAA National Championships and finished fourth at the Final Four.
The team was headed by coach Carl Quigley, whom in 1999 was the coach of the year for the CWPA Northern Division. Coach Quigley headed the Terriers for 34 years, 1974–2008, and for many years had compiled a successful and diverse team, composed of Americans, Serbians, Hungarians and Israelis. From 2005 to 2008 under coach Quigley, the Terriers had a combined 82–25 record with four ECAC Championships, four CWPA Northern Division Championships, 1 NCAA Final Four berth and have been ranked as high as 11th nationally by the NCAA.
From 2009 to 2012, Igor Samardzija was the head coach; he finished his inaugural season at 12–6. At the end of the 2009 season, the Terriers were ranked in the NCAA Top 20 of the nation at #18. In 2010, the Terriers, under Igor Samardzija, finished the season having been ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation and made their second trip to the NCAA Final Four, finishing in fourth place. Also in 2010, the Terriers won the ECAC Championships, the Northern Division Championship tournament and the CWPA Eastern Championship. In the 2011 season, the Terriers won the CWPA Northern Division Championships, finished third in the Eastern Championships and ended the season ranked at 16th in the nation. For the third time in the programs history, the 2012 Terriers won the Eastern Championships and earned an NCAA final four birth. The Terriers also went on to defeat Air Force to win their first national tournament match for a third-place finish.