The Richmond Spiders represent the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

as a member of the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

for most sports.

The Spider name

From 1876 through the early 1890s, Richmond's sports teams were known as the "Colts", reportedly for their play as an "energetic group of young colts." At some point variously reported as 1892, 1893, or 1894, the school's athletic teams took on the "Spiders" name. The origins of the name are somewhat uncertain, an apocryphal version describes a baseball team composed of Richmond students and city residents that was said to have taken on the "Spiders" name after Ragland Chesterman of the ''

Richmond Times-Dispatch The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia. Circulation The ''Times-Dispatch'' has the second-highest circul ...

'' used the term to refer to pitcher Puss Ellyson's lanky arms and stretching kick. This story is not true, as the ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' did not exist until 1903. And while Ragland Chesterman did write for the ''Richmond Times'', he wrote a society column, not sports news. It is most likely the team took the nickname from the

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followe ...

who, at the time, were highly successful. To this day, Richmond is the only university in the United States with the

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

as its official nickname.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The University of Richmond baseball team has been coached by former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player

Tracy Woodson Tracy Michael Woodson (born October 5, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player and college coach. He played all or part of five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1987 to 1989 and 1992 to 1993, primarily as a third bas ...

since 2013. The Spiders have qualified for the NCAA Tournament eight times, including a Super Regional appearance in 2002, with the last tournament appearance coming in 2003. The Spiders play their home games at Malcolm U. Pitt Field on campus.

Men's basketball

UR's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

program has developed a reputation as a "giant killer" in the NCAA tournament, defeating the

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

-led Auburn Tigers in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

by defeating defending national champion

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

and

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, beating #3 seeded

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, and becoming the first #15 seed to knock off a #2 seed when the Spiders defeated

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Women's basketball

The University of Richmond women's basketball team is coached by

Aaron Roussell Aaron Roussell is an American college basketball coach, currently the women's head coach at the University of Richmond. Roussell is a 2001 graduate of the University of Iowa and he began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Min ...

, who was hired in 2019 after seven seasons as head coach at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

. Roussell succeeded Michael Shafer, who had served as the Spiders' head coach for 15 seasons. The Spiders have made the NCAA tournament three times (1990, 1991, 2005) and the

Women's National Invitation Tournament The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament. It used to feature both a preseason and postseason version played every year, but the preseason tournament was last held in 2023. It is operate ...

nine times (1989, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015). The women's basketball team plays its home games in the

Robins Center The Robins Center is a 7,201-seat multi-purpose arena in Richmond, Virginia. Opened in 1972, the arena is home to the University of Richmond Spiders basketball. It hosted the ECAC South (now known as the Colonial Athletic Association) men's baske ...

Men's cross country

The Spiders men's cross country team is coached by Steve Taylor, who has been the head coach since 2001. Lori Taylor serves as the overall director of all of Richmond's cross country and track and field teams. In 2010, the men's team won the Atlantic 10 Championship as a team for the first time ever. They went on to place fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship. Seeded in 28th place, the Richmond Spiders placed 24th at the NCAA National Championship, beating, among others, top-ranked Notre Dame, Texas, Louisville, Penn State, and Georgetown. Richmond previously sponsored men's indoor and outdoor track and field in addition to cross country, but the track and field programs were discontinued at the end of 2012–13 season as part of a realignment that also saw Richmond discontinue men's soccer and add men's lacrosse as varsity sports. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Richmond recruited several strong Kenyan runners, including three who qualified for Olympic teams: Sosthenes Bitok and

Edwin Koech Edwin Koech (born 23 July 1961) is a Kenyan middle-distance running, middle-distance runner. He competed in the Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres, men's 800 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Competing for the Richmond ...

, who both competed in the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, and Hillary Tuwei, who qualified for both the

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

and

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

but was unable to compete due to boycotts.

Women's cross country and track & field

The Richmond Spiders women's cross country and track & field teams have been coached by Lori Taylor since 2001. The Spiders' cross country teams have won the Atlantic 10 conference championship six times under Taylor (2003, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017, and 2018).

Field hockey

The University of Richmond's women's field hockey team has been coached by Jamie Montgomery since 2018. The Spiders are celebrating their 100th season of field hockey in 2019 and play their home games at Crenshaw Field, which has been upgraded for the 2019 season with a new support facility including team rooms, restrooms, a press box, filming positions, and a new entrance to the field. The Spiders have won seven Atlantic 10 regular season championships (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011) and eight Atlantic 10 tournament championships (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2014). Each of those conference tournament championships earned the Spiders a bid to the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship.

Football

Men's golf

The University of Richmond's men's golf team has been coached by Adam Decker since 2005. The Spiders' home course is Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, Virginia, and a new training facility for the Spiders was completed at the club in 2018. The Spiders have seen five golfers win individual conference tournament titles, and have won the Atlantic 10 team title twice. As a team, the Spiders have qualified for NCAA regionals five times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, and 2017) and advanced to the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships in 1999. In addition, Spider individual golfers have qualified for NCAA regionals three times (Daniel Walker in 2013, Danny Pizetoski in 2014, and Matthew Lowe in 2016), with Walker advancing to nationals in 2013.

Women's golf

The University of Richmond's women's golf team has been coached by Calle Nielson since 2019 and has competed as a member of the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

since the 2014-15 season. The Spiders' home course is Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, Virginia. The Spiders have won three Patriot League tournament championships (2016, 2017, and 2018), advancing to NCAA Regionals each of the three years. In addition, Sophie DiPetrillo captured the 2018 individual Patriot League title.

Men's lacrosse

The Richmond men's lacrosse team has been coached by Dan Chemotti since it began play as a varsity program in 2014, with the team playing its home games at

E. Claiborne Robins Stadium E. Claiborne Robins Stadium is an 8,217-seat multi-purpose stadium at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. It is home to the Richmond Spiders football, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, and women's track and field ...

. The Spiders played their first season as associate members of the Atlantic Sun Conference, now known as the

ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

, before a cooperative agreement between the Atlantic Sun and the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

(SoCon) saw sponsorship of men's lacrosse shift to the SoCon following the 2014 season. UR remained in SoCon men's lacrosse until the A-10 established a men's lacrosse league, with play starting in the 2023 season. The Spiders have won at least a share of the Southern Conference title four times and have qualified for the

NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament is an annual tournament organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA to determine the national champion of men's college lacrosse, collegiate field lacrosse among its NCAA Division ...

four times (2014, 2018, 2019 and 2022).

Women's lacrosse

The University of Richmond's women's lacrosse team has been coached by Allison Kwolek since 2012, and the Spiders' home field is

. The Spiders have won six Atlantic 10 regular season championships (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2018, and 2019) and five Atlantic 10 conference tournaments (2005, 2006, 2007, 2018, and 2019). Each of those five conference tournaments championships earned the Spiders a berth in the

NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship The NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament is annual single-elimination tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the national champion women's collegiate lacrosse among its Division I members in the Un ...

Women's soccer

The history of the program dates to 1996, and the Spiders have won the Atlantic 10 conference regular season title once (2000) and the conference tournament title once (2002). The Spiders advanced to the

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's natio ...

in 2000 and 2002, including an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2002 tournament where the Spiders fell to the

University of Portland The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Da ...

, the eventual national champion. Marty Beall was named head coach of the Spiders in 2017, and the team's home field is Presidents Field on the University of Richmond campus.

Women's swimming and diving

The University of Richmond's women's swimming and diving team was established in 1965 and has been led by Matt Barany since 2005, with Nathan Parker serving as head dive coach since 2018. Since joining the Atlantic 10 in 2001, the Spiders have captured 15 of a possible 18 Atlantic 10 championships.

Men's tennis

The Richmond men's tennis team has been coached by Houston Barrick since 2017, and the team has won four A-10 tournament titles (2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006), advancing to the

NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship The NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship is an annual men's college tennis national collegiate championship sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for teams in Division I. The tournament crowns a team, individual ...

in each of those four seasons.

Women's tennis

The Richmond women's tennis team has been coached by Mark Wesselink since 1991, and the Spiders have won nine Atlantic 10 championships during his tenure (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012). The Spiders have made 11 appearances in the

NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship The NCAA Division I women's tennis championships are contested at an annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the national champions of women's team, singles, and doubles collegiate tennis among its ...

(1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012).

Facilities

, named in honor of E. Claiborne Robins, Sr. and his historic philanthropy to the school, serves as the home for Richmond's football, soccer, lacrosse, and track and field programs. Robins Stadium, which opened in 2010 with seating for 8,700 people, was built on the site of a smaller, previous stadium known at various times as the Soccer/Track Complex and First Market Stadium. * The

arena serves as home to the men's and women's basketball programs. The building originally opened in 1972, and underwent a $17 million renovation in 2013–14 to modernize the facilities. The renovation reduced seating capacity from 9,071 to 7,201, replacing seats in the upper corners with terrace hospitality areas. In addition to the basketball arena, the Robins Center includes a natatorium, home of the women's swimming and diving program, as well as offices and support facilities for most of the Spider athletic programs. The Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness, the university's recreational fitness facility, is attached to and integration with the Robins Center. * Malcolm U. Pitt Field is Richmond's baseball stadium with bleacher seating for 600 spectators. The stadium opened in 1975 and in 2015 was upgraded with an artificial turf field. Indoor training areas for the baseball program are located in Millhiser Gymnasium, adjacent to the Robins Center. * Crenshaw Field serves as home to the women's field hockey program. The facility includes an AstroTurf field installed in 2011, and lights were added in 2014 to allow for night practices and games. * The Westhampton Tennis Complex is home to the men's and women's tennis programs. The outdoor facility includes eight courts, an electronic scoreboard, and amphitheater-style seating for spectators. A $1 million renovation of the complex in 2017 will expand the facility to ten courts with an all-new playing surface and spectator facilities. * As of 2014, Richmond's men's and women's golf teams call Independence Golf Club in

Midlothian, Virginia Midlothian ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated area and census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. Settled as a coal town, Midlothian village experienced suburbanization effects and is now part of t ...

home. The club was fully renovated in 2014 and includes an 18-hole championship course, a nine-hole par-3 short course, two driving ranges, three putting greens, and a short game practice area.

Discontinued varsity sports

Men's track and field

The men's track and field program was one of the oldest sport teams at the University of Richmond. Initially, in the late nineteenth century, the only sports at Richmond College were baseball, football, and basketball. A field day was also held in the spring when various track and field events were staged. In 1906, an official track and field team was first organized. It was discontinued in April 2013.

Men's swimming

The men's swimming team was established in the fall of 1948 under Coach William Lumpkin with practices at the Mosque Theater swimming pool. After one season, however, the team was discontinued. The team was restarted in the fall of 1972 under the direction of Coach Norris Eastman with practices at Crenshaw Pool on the Westhampton side of campus. The team's first meet was against

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

in December 1972. The sport was downgraded from the varsity level to the club level in spring 1999.

Men's water polo

The men's water polo team was established by Coach Norris Eastman in the fall of 1971 and was downgraded to the club level in spring 1999.

Men's soccer

The history of the program dates to 1975, and the Spiders won or shared three conference titles and advanced to three NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship tournaments (

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

). The final permanent head coach of the Spiders was

Clint Peay Clint Peay (born September 16, 1973, in Columbia, Maryland) is an American soccer coach and former player who is currently serving as an assistant coach of the MLS team New England Revolution. He was a regular on the U.S. junior national teams ...

, who led the team from 2009 to 2012, with Leigh Cowlishaw leading the team on an interim basis in its final season. Notable alumni of the Spider program include

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

general manager

Tim Bezbatchenko Timothy "Tim" Bezbatchenko (born October 13, 1981) is an American retired soccer player and director of Black Knight Football Club. Playing career As a youth player, Bezbatchenko was part of the United States National Pool in 1999–2000 and ...

, defender

Craig Ziadie Craig Ziadie (born 20 September 1978) is a Jamaican-American soccer player, who last played right back for the MetroStars of Major League Soccer. Youth and college Although he was born in Florida, Ziadie grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. He ca ...

, who was selected 28th overall by

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

in the

2001 MLS SuperDraft The 2001 Major League Soccer MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft was held on February 5, 2001, at the Signature Grand in Davie, Florida. Player selection ;Key Round 1 Round 1 trades Round 2 Round 2 trades Round 3 Round 3 t ...

, and former

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

head coach Oliver Weiss. The program played its final game on November 2, 2012, a 3–3 draw against crosstown rival VCU.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Richmond Spiders, color=white , list = {{Atlantic 10 Conference navbox {{Colonial Athletic Association navbox {{Patriot League navbox {{Richmond Sports {{Virginia Sports