FSU's ACC Team Championships

By Jim Joanos

2010 ACC Baseball Champions

There is a lot of news these days about college athletic conferences. We appear to be in the middle of significant change in the memberships of the major ones. All of the big five conferences, the Southeastern, the Atlantic Coast, the Big 12, the Pac-12, and the Big East are being altered by the addition or loss of member colleges.

Twenty years ago, Florida State University became a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the time, FSU became the ninth member of the conference, along with Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina State. Since that time, the University of Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech have been added to the conference. In addition, it has been announced that Syracuse and Pittsburgh will be joining the group within the next two to three years.

One of the most important aspects of the conferences is the competition among the school members in regard to winning the conference championships in the various sports. Looking back over its twenty years in ACC conference competition, it seems that FSU has done quite well in winning conference championships. So far, FSU has won sixty-two ACC conference team championships and several more seem likely during this school year. The FSU ACC conference team championships, so far, are as follows.

FOOTBALL - 12: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 & 2005. Football is, of course, FSU's most important sport. Although its last football conference championship came in 2005, FSU has won considerably more than its share during its membership period.

SOFTBALL - 12: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004 & 2011. FSU dominated in the early years of ACC Conference membership and is the current defending champion in softball having won the 2011 crown.

MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD - 9: 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011. In recent years, FSU has become a major powerhouse nationally in track and field. In addition to racking up national team and individual championships, Coach Bob Braman's track teams have more than taken care of business in the conference. They will be the defending champs in this Spring's outdoor competition.

MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD - 9: 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010. While the indoor team did not win the conference championship last season, they appear to have a good chance to do so this winter.

BASEBALL - 5: 1995, 1997, 2002, 2004 & 2010. In Baseball, although FSU's eye has been primarily focused on NCAA post-season competition, the Seminoles have also done well in the conference tournaments at the end of the regular seasons.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY - 5: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011. The Women's Cross Country team recently kept its streak alive by winning the school's first conference championship of the current school year.

WOMEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD - 2: 2000 & 2009. Although competitive nearly every year, the women's outdoor team has only won two ACC team championships so far. We believe there will be more soon.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL - 2: 1998 & 2009. As this is being written, the FSU volleyball team is leading the conference and, hopefully, is on its way to another championship.

WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD - 1: 2009. There is a lot of optimism as the Women's Indoor team approaches the coming competition.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY - 1: 2010. The FSU men are much stronger in recent years in cross country competition. While they did not win this Fall, they were a close second in the conference and won the regional NCAA competition. The future looks very bright for FSU in this competition.

WOMEN'S SOCCER - 1: 2011. It took six trips to the conference championship game to finally win a conference championship this Fall. It has been easier to make it to the national College Cup, which the Seminoles have done several times, than to win a conference championship in a league that includes a North Carolina team that is often the best in the nation.

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING - 1: 2004. FSU has had lots of individual stars but only managed to win one ACC conference championship in this sport.

WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING - 1: 2006. Lots of emphasis has been put on the water sports at FSU in recent years which should pay off soon in more championships.

MEN'S GOLF - 1: 2008. There are several very strong golf programs in the ACC. While FSU is among the better programs, it has managed to win the conference crown only once so far.

Although in several of them, FSU teams have come close, there are remaining five conference competitions in which the school participates in which they have not yet won an ACC team championship. They are: Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Tennis, and Women's Golf. Hopefully, that will change in the near future.