Vanderbilt University

==Athletics==
{{Main|Vanderbilt Commodores}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Varsity sports
!Men's
!Women's
|-
|[[Vanderbilt Commodores baseball|Baseball]]
|[[Vanderbilt Commodores women's basketball|Basketball]]
|-
|[[Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball|Basketball]]
|Bowling
|-
|Cross country
|Cross country
|-
|[[Vanderbilt Commodores football|Football]]
|Golf
|-
|Golf
|Lacrosse
|-
|Tennis
|Soccer
|-
|
|Swimming
|-
|
|Spirit - Cheer and Dance 
|-
|
|Tennis
|-
|
|Track and field
|}
[[File:Memorial Gymnasium Vanderbilt.jpg|thumb|right|Vanderbilt's basketball teams play in Memorial Gymnasium.]]
Vanderbilt is a founding member of the [[Southeastern Conference]] and for a half-century has been the conference's only private school.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/042207/col_042207044.shtml|title=SEC's only private school, Vanderbilt, thriving without athletic director – Lubbock Online – Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|first=Teresa M. |last=Walker |website=lubbockonline.com}}</ref> The university fields six men's and ten women's intercollegiate teams and has won five NCAA championships.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vucommodores.cstv.com/ot/nav-sports.html |title=Sports |publisher=Vanderbilt University Athletics |access-date=May 20, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316053456/http://vucommodores.cstv.com/ot/nav-sports.html |archive-date=March 16, 2009   }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=vanderbilt&s=all&id=221999 |title=College Navigator&nbsp;– Varsity Athletic Teams |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education |access-date=May 20, 2009}}</ref> With about 7,000 undergraduates, the school is also the smallest in the conference; the SEC's next-smallest school, [[Mississippi State University]], has nearly twice as many undergraduate students. Additionally, the school has outside conference memberships in two women's sports that the SEC does not sponsor. The [[women's lacrosse]] team plays in the [[American Athletic Conference]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://theamerican.org/news/2017/10/11/GEN_1011175626.aspx |title=American Athletic Conference to Sponsor Women's Lacrosse Beginning in 2019 |publisher=American Athletic Conference |date=October 11, 2017 |access-date=October 16, 2017}}</ref> In [[Ten-pin bowling|bowling]], a sport which the NCAA sanctions only for women, Vanderbilt is a member of [[Conference USA]]. Conversely, Vanderbilt is the only SEC school not to field teams in [[softball]] and [[volleyball]], though the university plans to reintroduce the latter during the 2025&ndash;26 academic year.<ref>{{cite news|last=Patton|first=Maurice|title=Success may add teams at Vandy|work=The Tennessean|date=May 14, 2007|url=http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070514%2FSPORTS0602%2F705140359%2F1002%2FSPORTS&template=pdaart|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715232947/http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070514/SPORTS0602/705140359/1002/SPORTS&template=pdaart|archive-date=July 15, 2012|access-date=May 24, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-19 |title=Vanderbilt Adds Volleyball as Varsity Sport |url=https://vucommodores.com/vanderbilt-adds-volleyball-as-varsity-sport/ |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website |language=en-US}}</ref>

Both basketball teams play in [[Memorial Gymnasium (Vanderbilt University)|Memorial Gym]], built in 1952.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vucommodores.com/facilities/memorial-gym.html |title=Vanderbilt Official Athletic Site&nbsp;— Facilities |publisher=Vucommodores.com |access-date=March 23, 2015 |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315070416/http://www.vucommodores.com/facilities/memorial-gym.html  }}</ref> Vanderbilt's [[home court advantage]] has been nicknamed "Memorial Magic".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vucommodores.com/genrel/011707aaa.html |title=The Magic of Memorial is Historical |publisher=Vucommodores.com |access-date=March 5, 2013 |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527181651/http://www.vucommodores.com/genrel/011707aaa.html  }}</ref>

===Athletics restructuring===
[[File:Hawkins Field.JPG|right|thumb|Hawkins Field in June 2007]]
The university is unique in [[NCAA Division I]] in that for several years the athletics department was not administered separately from other aspects of campus life; Vice Chancellor David Williams, who was over intercollegiate athletics, also was university counsel and in charge of other aspects of undergraduate campus life such as intramural sports.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bechtel|first=Mark |title=A Process of Elimination: Vanderbilt has found greater sports success since losing its athletics department |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |date=June 6, 2007}}</ref> Despite fears that Vanderbilt would lose coaches and recruits or would be forced out of the SEC, the university experienced considerable success after the change; 2006–07 was one of the best in the school's athletic history. At one point, seven of Vanderbilt's 16 teams were concurrently ranked in the Top 25 of their respective sports.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Seven Vanderbilt teams ranked in Top 25 |publisher=Vanderbilt University |date=February 23, 2007 |url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2007/2/23/seven-vanderbilt-teams-ranked-in-top-25 |access-date=May 24, 2007  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327193634/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2007/2/23/seven-vanderbilt-teams-ranked-in-top-25 |archive-date=March 27, 2008 }}</ref>  Women's bowling won the NCAA championship, bringing the university its first team championship since the advent of the NCAA.<ref>{{cite web |title = Vanderbilt Bowlers Make History |publisher = Vanderbilt University |url = http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/w-bowl/recaps/041407aab.html |access-date = April 14, 2007 |archive-date = September 29, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110929224549/http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/w-bowl/recaps/041407aab.html  }}</ref> The baseball team qualified for the NCAA Super Regionals in 2004, had the nation's top recruiting class in 2005 according to ''[[Baseball America]]'',<ref>{{cite web|last=Kimmey|first=Will|title=Vandy Recruits Stay For Top Recruiting Class |work=Baseball America|date=October 11, 2005|url=http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/051011vandy.html|access-date=January 10, 2007 }}</ref> made the NCAA field again in 2006, and won the 2007 SEC regular-season and tournament championships. Vanderbilt was ranked first in most polls for a large portion of the 2007 season, and the team secured the top seed in the [[2007 NCAA Division I baseball tournament|2007 NCAA tournament]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Vanderbilt Awarded No. 1 National Seed|publisher=Vanderbilt University|date=May 28, 2007|url=http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/052807aae.html|access-date=May 29, 2007|archive-date=July 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727232956/http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/052807aae.html}}</ref> In more recent years, the team has reached the pinnacle of college baseball winning the [[College World Series]] in both 2014 and 2019. The team's triumph in 2014 was the school's first national championship in a men's sport.

===Mascot===
Vanderbilt's intercollegiate athletics teams are nicknamed the Commodores, in honor of the nickname given to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who made his fortune in shipping.<ref>{{cite news |title=Commodore Vanderbilt's Life|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1877/01/05/80358542.pdf |newspaper=New York Times |date=January 5, 1877}}</ref> The term ''[[commodore (rank)|commodore]]'' was used by the [[United States Navy|Navy]] during the mid-to-late 19th century. A commodore was the commanding officer of a task force of ships, and therefore higher in rank than a captain but lower in rank than an admiral. The rank is still used by the British Royal Navy and other Commonwealth countries, but the equivalent modern-day rank in the U.S. Navy is [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral lower half]]. Since the term was used most during the 19th century, Vanderbilt's mascot, "Mr. C", is usually portrayed as a naval officer from the late 19th century, complete with [[sideburns|mutton chops]], [[cutlass]], and uniform.

In addition to Mr. C, Vanderbilt fans often use the cheer "Anchor down!" accompanied by the "VU" hand sign, created by extending the thumb along with the index and middle fingers (essentially identical to the [[Three-finger salute (Serbian)|Serbian three-finger salute]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2013/09/vu-football-traditions-101/|title=VU Football Traditions 101|access-date=August 3, 2015}}</ref>