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William & Mary Tribe

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William & Mary Tribe

The William & Mary Tribe is a moniker for the College of William & Mary's athletic teams and the university's community more broadly.

William & Mary has won two team national championships (both in men's tennis), the AIAW championships in women's golf, the NAIA championships in women's gymnastics, thirteen USA Gymnastics Collegiate Championships, and various individual national championships. The College has more conference championships than any other school in the Coastal Athletic Association. As of the end of the 2010–11 academic year, the Tribe had won 101 conference championships. Dating back to the athletic program's beginning, there have been about 160 conference titles in all.

William & Mary is the second-oldest university in the United States. Since the founding of its athletic program in 1893 the school's athletes have worn different colors and nicknames. From 1893 to 1909 William & Mary football players were known simply as the Orange and White; this reflected the official school colors at that time. From 1910 to 1916 the team colors changed, and the new nickname, "The Orange and Black", reflected this. From 1916 to the mid-1980s William & Mary athletic teams were known as the Indians. Since 1978 the school's teams have been known simply as the Tribe. During the 2006–07 school year then–College President Gene Nichol removed two tribal feathers from the William & Mary athletic logo to bring the program into compliance with newly passed NCAA regulations. On April 6, 2010, after student discussion and subsequent polling, the griffin was announced as the school's new mascot.

In 1995 William & Mary discontinued the sport of wrestling. In September 2020, William & Mary announced it would discontinue seven sports – men's indoor and outdoor track and field, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's gymnastics, and women's volleyball – at the conclusion of the 2020–21 academic year. After a considerable amount of backlash and controversy, Samantha Huge resigned as athletic director on October 6, 2020. Jeremy Martin was named interim athletic director. Brian Mann is the current athletic director.

The three women's sports that had been cut were completely reinstated on October 19, 2020. Then on November 5, 2020, the four men's sports that had been cut were reinstated through the 2021–22 school year, and possibly beyond after a more thorough review.

In 2024, William & Mary started an Australian Rules Football club team at the university, becoming just the second American college in recent history to offer this club sport to their students.

In the 1960s Joe Plumeri, future Chairman & CEO of Willis Group Holdings and owner of the Trenton Thunder, who later donated $2 million to build the team's Plumeri Park, played on the baseball team as a second baseman and outfielder. Plumeri also funded the Joseph J. Plumeri Endowment Fund for baseball scholarships for the school. The baseball team has qualified for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 1983, 2001, 2013 and 2016, with the most recent appearance including an upset of the Tribe's rival (and defending College World Series champion) Virginia Cavaliers.

The football team has won eight conference championships. While a member of the Southern Conference, W&M were champions or co-champions in 1942, 1947, 1966, and 1970. The William & Mary scandal of 1951, which involved improper alteration of athletic recruit transcripts, brought disfavorable national attention and effectively resulted in the College downgrading football going forward as the faculty revolted and it was not invited to join the Atlantic Coast Conference when that league was established in 1953.

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