University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Welcome Charlotte and St. Louis To The New Atlantic 10
06/30/2005 | Men's Basketball
June 30, 2005
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Richmond Spiders will welcome two new members to the Atlantic 10 Conference Friday, July 1, as Charlotte and Saint Louis begin official A-10 memberships.
"This is an exciting time for all of us in the Atlantic 10 Conference," A-10 Commissioner Linda Bruno said. "In Charlotte and Saint Louis, we are adding two members who will tremendously boost the national profile of all our sports and expose our programs to two new markets in which our universities actively recruit."
On Nov. 6, 2003, the Presidents Council of the Atlantic 10 Conference extended invitations of membership to Charlotte and Saint Louis. Both institutions immediately accepted. With that, the Atlantic 10 became a 14-team entity. The A-10, which has not been at 10 members since the 1990-91 season, will do away with divisions employed in baseball and men's and women's basketball. Divisional play will begin, however, in women's volleyball.
Saint Louis sponsors the Atlantic 10 sports of baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's tennis, and women's volleyball. Saint Louis, which boasts a student enrollment in excess of 11,000, has seen its men's basketball team qualify for postseason play in seven (four NCAA Tournament bids, three NIT appearances) of the past 12 years while the women's basketball program made its first postseason appearance in the 2003 WNIT. On the soccer field, the Billiken men have won a record 10 NCAA national championships and qualified for the NCAA Tournament 42 times in the 46-year history of the event. The women have also achieved success. In only its fourth year of existence, the Billiken women's soccer program produced a league championship and left C-USA as the defending regular-season league champion.
The Billiken men's soccer program has led the nation in average attendance in three of the last six seasons at Robert R. Hermann Stadium, one of the premier college soccer venues in the country; and the men's basketball team ranked among the top 30 nationally in average attendance in nine of the past 12 seasons at Savvis Center, finishing as high as sixth in 1997-98. In its 10-year membership in Conference USA, Billiken student-athletes won the league's academic Institutional Excellence Award in each year of the league's existence.
The Spiders' field hockey program is the only Richmond squad to hold an all-time mark against the Billikens. Richmond's hockey squad is 2-0 in the series which dates back to 1993 when the Spiders topped SLU 1-0 in Richmond. Two years later, Richmond extended a streak to two games with a 3-2 win in Missouri.
Charlotte, which has over 19,000 students, sponsors the Atlantic 10 sports of baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field, and women's volleyball. The 49ers men's basketball team has been to 11 NCAA Tournaments, including seven in the last nine years. The 49ers advanced to the Final Four in 1977, with a team led by future Boston Celtic great Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell. In addition, Charlotte's men's soccer team reached the Final Four in 1996. Since 1990, the 49ers have won league titles in nine sports and been represented at the NCAA Championships in 12 sports.
Over the last 12 years, the 49ers have constructed over $40 million in new facilities, including the Barnhardt Student Activity Center/Halton Arena (1996) and the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center/Transamerica Soccer Field (1996). Charlotte junior track star Sharonda Johnson, the 49ers' first-ever combo All-America and Academic All-America, was named the Arthur Ashe National Sports Scholar of the Year this past year, given by Black Issues in Higher Education.
Richmond has faced the 49ers in three different sports all-time and hold a combined record of 4-4 in those events. Leading the way is Ron Atkins' baseball team which is 3-1 all-time against Charlotte. The Spiders began the series in 1988 with a win and have won the last two meetings dating back to 1995 and 1996.
Charlotte's men's soccer squad owns a 1-0-0 mark against the Spiders. The teams met at the 1999 Nike-Wake Forest Classic in Winston-Salem, N.C., where the 49ers came out on top 2-1.
Richmond's men's basketball team also trails in the all-time series with Charlotte. The team began the series during the 1973-74 season. Richmond Head Coach Lewis Mills' squad dropped a 112-68 contest to the 49ers in Buffalo, N.Y. at the Queen City Classic. The two teams were reunited during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. Richmond traveled to Charlotte Dec. 8, 2001 and brought home a 62-42 loss. In 2002-03, the Spiders welcomed the 49ers to the Robins Center. Richmond snapped its losing skid to Charlotte and grabbed its first win in the all-time series (1-2) with a 64-60 overtime triumph.
Charlotte and Saint Louis, the first schools to join the Atlantic 10 since Richmond was added in the 2001-02 academic year, help the conference boast institutions in 12 of the top 61 television markets in the country, encompassing 19.7 percent of the television households nationally. Atlantic 10 schools are also located in eight states and the District of Columbia which combine for a population in excess of 72.8 million people, or roughly one-quarter of the total population of the United States.
CHARLOTTE
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Founded: 1946
Enrollment: 19,608
UNIVERSITY
ATHLETICS
SAINT LOUIS
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Founded: 1818
Enrollment: 11,274
UNIVERSITY
ATHLETICS
