A Great Time To Be A Falcon!

With Derek Spencer’s walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday afternoon, the Bowling Green athletic department earned its eighth Mid-American Conference championship in the past three years. I keep a document updated with conference championships through the years and as I plugged baseball in today, I came to the realization that we are witnessing one of the greatest eras of BG athletics and the only other times that compare are the early 1980’s and the early 1990’s. So I thought I’d take a look back, but first, let’s look at the conference titles in the past three seasons:

2007-08: Baseball (32-20, 16-8 MAC); Football (8-5, 6-2 MAC); Women’s Basketball (26-8, 13-3 MAC)
2008-09: Baseball (28-22, 18-8 MAC); Men’s Basketball (19-14, 11-5 MAC); Women’s Basketball (29-5, 15-1 MAC)
2009-10: Baseball (28-21-1 currently, 18-9 MAC); Women’s Basketball (27-7, 14-2 MAC)

I haven’t done the research fully but I doubt any other MAC school can claim a conference or division title over the past three years in each of the (arguably) three highest-profile sports in the conference – Football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball.

Going back through the years, the early 1990’s was the last time Bowling Green had anything close to a run of championships like that.

1991-92: Football (11-1, 8-0 MAC); Volleyball (29-5, 15-1 MAC)
1992-93: Football (10-2, 8-0 MAC); Women’s Basketball (25-5, 17-1 MAC); Softball (34-18, 26-9 MAC); Volleyball (30-8, 17-1 MAC)
1993-94: Women’s Basketball (26-4, 17-1 MAC)

And then probably the most impressive stretch came in the early 1980’s, highlighted by a school-record six league titles in 1982-83 and, of course, the 1984 hockey national championship.

1980-81: Men’s Basketball (15-12, 10-6 MAC); Women’s Cross Country; Women’s Track and Field
1981-82: Women’s Cross Country; Ice Hockey (27-13-2, 20-7-1 CCHA); Gymnastics (7-4 overall)
1982-83: Men’s Basketball (21-9, 15-3 MAC); Women’s Cross Country; Football (7-5, 7-2 MAC); Men’s Golf; Ice Hockey (28-8-4, 24-5-3 CCHA); Gymnastics (11-6 overall)
1983-84: Women’s Cross Country; Ice Hockey (34-8-2, 22-4-2 CCHA)

All in all, it’s definitely not a bad time to be a Falcon!