[5] The university currently sponsors varsity athletic teams in 20 men's and women's sports, which compete at the NCAA Division I level.

Longstanding tensions within the Southern Conference culminated in 1951, when it passed a ban on participation in bowl games midway through the football season.

[8][9] As a result of a committee's recommendation to cut athletics costs, funding for eight teams was eliminated on November 21, 2011, a move supported by University President Wallace Loh.

[10] On November 19, 2012, the University of Maryland's Board of Regents voted to withdraw from the ACC to join the Big Ten Conference effective July 1, 2014.

[13] Bud Millikan became head coach in 1950 and soon led Maryland to consistent respectability[clarification needed] within the Southern Conference.

[15] In 1955, the small Ritchie Coliseum was replaced by [clarification needed]; games were moved to the larger Cole Field House, centrally located on campus, and when Maryland became a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the fanbase rapidly expanded.

At 12:03 a.m. on October 15, 1971, Driesell held a one-mile run at the track around Byrd Stadium, where a crowd of 1,000 fans had gathered after learning of the unorthodox practice session.

Maryland Terrapins women's basketball has become one of the most celebrated sports on campus, due to significant success in the Brenda Frese era.

[32] An unofficial football team composed of Maryland Agricultural College students played games against local high schools in 1890 and 1891.

In 1945, Paul "Bear" Bryant began his long and distinguished career as a head football coach at the University of Maryland.

[39] In 1962, Darryl Hill transferred to Maryland from the United States Naval Academy, making the school the first team in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a black player.

The Terrapins finished the 1976 regular season with an undefeated 11–0 record, but lost to Houston in the Cotton Bowl Classic, which ended national championship speculation.

In 1984, Maryland quarterback Frank Reich led the Terrapins to the then greatest halftime comeback against the defending national champions, Miami.

[47] The Maryland Terrapins men's soccer team has won four NCAA Division I College Cup national championships, most recently in 2018.

[48] Under the guidance of head coach Sasho Cirovski, the soccer team has reached nine Final Fours and won three College Cups since 1997.

Maryland has finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships each year since the 2010 season and produced multiple all Americans since 2009, a school record.

[54] The Maryland Terrapins Black are the reigning 2018 Eastern Sectional Champions Archived February 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine in the Open Collegiate division Skaters from across the three teams have, by invitation, performed demonstrations for a variety of publications, most recently being featured in the Washington Post: ter.ps/FigSkateWaPo.

[59] The CRC is the highest-profile college rugby tournament in the country, held at PPL Park in Philadelphia and broadcast live on NBC.

The two states, and their eponymous flagship universities based in Charlottesville, Virginia and College Park, Maryland, respectively, share close historical and cultural ties.

When the conference reorganized in 2005, Maryland and Virginia were placed in separate divisions, but designated as cross-divisional rivals that continue to meet annually.

The intensity of the rivalry is increased by a long history in the series of comebacks, shutouts, and spoilers that prevented one team from securing a conference championship or bowl game appearance.

In 2003, the schools discussed reviving the trophy tradition, but it was ultimately rejected by Virginia, due to concerns over the reorganization of the ACC.

Mote asserted that, in academic terms, Virginia was "highly overrated these days ... U.S. News & World Report places them at the top of the pile with Berkeley, which is ridiculous."

Virginia eliminated Maryland in the NCAA baseball (2015) and men's lacrosse tournaments (2019), en route to Cavalier titles, which has deepened the animosity between the two schools.

One year, most fans in the student section right behind the basket had to leave or turn their t-shirts inside-out because they had a FCC-banned explicative ("F**K DUKE") that could not be shown on television.

"[69][70][71][72][73][74] In 2014, the Washington Post produced a short documentary on the peak of the rivalry from 2001 and 2002 which included interviews with Coach Williams and several former players from both teams.

While the matchup with Penn State has been traditionally one-sided in favor of the Nittany Lions and the series with Rutgers is still relatively new, either school could end up becoming a rival due to proximity.

During Football games, it is played after every touchdown the Terps score, regardless of whether the team is winning or losing, celebrating the immediate victory of accomplishment.

Students have incorporated the phrase into Gary Glitter's popular sports anthem "Rock and Roll Part Two" (often referred to as the "Hey Song").

Recently, Maryland and some other schools have moved the start of Midnight Madness to earlier in the day - generally around 7 o'clock - with permission of the NCAA.