History
Following Long Island University's founding in 1927, its sports teams wore blue uniforms and became known as the Blue Devils. After the school's uniforms were changed to black in 1935, a ''Brooklyn Eagle'' reporter from the Midwest saw the new look as the basketball team dribbled up and down the court and stated that the team looked like the blackbirds from back home; the comment struck home, and a new nickname was born. During the 1930s and '40s, the basketball team was often called the "Beemen," while they were coached by the legendary Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach,Unification
On October 3, 2018, Long Island University announced that it was unifying the athletic programs of its two campuses into one Division I program, effective with the 2019–20 academic year. The unified LIU program continues to sponsor all varsity sports that either campus sponsored before the merger. The new program's nickname of Sharks was announced on May 15, 2019. The LIU Sharks inherited the athletic legacy of the Brooklyn campus, including its membership in the Northeast Conference. The Division II LIU Post teams for sports that had not been sponsored by LIU Brooklyn immediately moved to Division I without the usual transition period for an institution moving to a different division. Teams for sports sponsored by both campuses were merged. LIU added two completely new women's sports effective in 2019–20. Shortly before the athletic merger was announced, LIU Brooklyn announced that it would add women's ice hockey and shortly after the merger announcement, LIU announced it would add women's water polo, placing that sport in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The university incorporated athletic facilities on both the Brooklyn and Brookville campuses with basketball, bowling, fencing, ice hockey, swimming, track and field (indoor & outdoor), volleyball, and water polo based out of the Brooklyn campus while baseball, cross country, esports, equestrian, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, tennis, and wrestling operating from the Brookville campus.Teams
Long Island University fields 35 teams that compete in 14 men's and 20 women's sports and 1 co-ed e-sports team. Most teams compete in the Northeast Conference (NEC). Affiliations outside the Northeast Conference are as follows: * Women's equestrian: Independent * Esports: Eastern College Athletic Conference * Women's fencing: Independent * Women's gymnastics: East Atlantic Gymnastics League * Men's ice hockey: Independent * Women's ice hockey: New England Women's Hockey Alliance * Men's lacrosse: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (from 2022–23) * Women's rowing: TBD (2022–23) * Women's rugby: National Intercollegiate Rugby Association * Men's volleyball: Independent (2021–22 only, after which the NEC will begin sponsoring men's volleyball) * Women's water polo: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference * Men's wrestling: Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling AssociationNCAA team championships
*Men's Division II Lacrosse Championship – 1996, 2009, 2010 *Women's Division II Lacrosse Championship – 2001, 2007, 2012, 2013 * Both competing as LIU Post Pioneers.Footnotes
References
External links
* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, LIU Sharks, color=white , list = {{Northeast Conference navbox {{Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference navbox {{NCAA Division I ice hockey independents {{Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association navbox {{East Atlantic Gymnastics League navbox {{New England Women's Hockey Alliance navbox {{National Intercollegiate Rugby Association {{New York Sports {{NewYorksports * Sports teams in the New York metropolitan area Sports in Brooklyn