President Dr. Taylor R. Randall

The University of Utah officially adopted the nickname “Utes” for its athletic teams in 1972. The school uses the nickname with permission of the Ute Tribal Council.

“What is a Ute?” The Utes are an Indian tribe that originally settled Utah. Two of the more common definitions of Ute are “top of the mountains” and “people of the mountains.” Other references have Ute defined as “land of the sun.” The Utes refer to themselves as “Noochew,” meaning “the People.”

There are four Ute tribes: The Northern and White Mesa Tribes are based in Utah, while the Southern and Ute Mountain Tribes are in Colorado. The Northern Utes are most closely affiliated with the University of Utah and have a tribal membership of around 3,000. Many of them live on the Uintah and Ouray reservation. The Utes operate their own tribal government, oversee approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land and operate several businesses.

“The Pride of Utah” Marching Utes began in the 1940s as a military band. In the turbulent ’60s, support for the band dwindled, and in 1969, the Associated Students for the University of Utah (ASUU) discontinued its funding. The band was revived in 1976, and since then, the “Pride of Utah” Marching Utes have performed at all home football games, as well as numerous NFL and college bowl games.

The Block U (elevation 5,300 feet above sea level) was built on Mount Van Cott bordering the Utah campus in 1907. Originally built with limestone, the Block U was later replaced by a cement version. In 1969, the design was modified and 124 lights were installed. A fund-raising campaign in 2006 raised $400,000 to renovate the aging landmark. Slabs of concrete and steel rebar now reinforce the 5,000-square feet of surface area.

Another major improvement was the installation of LED red and white lights, which are controlled through a wireless system. Lights on the 100-foot-tall landmark are illuminated primarily for athletic events and to notify people in the Salt Lake valley that the Utes are playing at home. After Utah victories, the football team gathers in front of the MUSS to Light the U and sing the school fight song.

Flashing the U is one of Utah’s newest and most popular traditions. It is a hand motion of bringing your thumbs together with index fingers pointed to the sky and others rolled downward. The Ute cheerleading squad began forming a U shape with their hands during free throw attempts at basketball games in 1997-98, and soon thereafter implemented the motion into their performances at other events. Utah gymnastics helped popularize it in 2001 when they began flashing a U to interact with fans at meets and eventually incorporated it into their routines. More and more athletes from other sports soon caught on, and the football team started using it in 2003. The tradition went through another major growth spurt with high visibility during the 2008 undefeated Sugar Bowl season. The University incorporated a #FlashTheUFriday social media campaign in 2013.

The MUSS, one of the most avid and vocal student fan clubs in the nation, is in its 21st year in 2022-23. The group is 7,000 strong at Ute home football games and was named the Live Mas Student Section of the Year by Taco Bell and ESPN in 2021.

Originally known as the Student Fan Club and the Utah Fan Club, the group adopted the name MUSS for the 2002 football season. The name was originally derived from the school fight song lyrics (… No rival band of college fans dare meet us in the muss). Members now refer to MUSS as an acronym for “Mighty Utah Student Section.”

MUSS members are easily identified by their customized t-shirts and their policy of standing throughout the entire game. They have a number of other traditions during football games, including the Third Down Jump, in which members jump around and make noise every time the opposing team prepares for a third down play. Other rituals include the U of U Chop, which occurs every time the band plays a specific percussion song and involves MUSS members forming a U with their hands and “chopping” to the beat of the music, and the First Down Chant (members raise their hands in unison, yelling “first down,” and mimic the referees by pointing their arm in the direction of the first down).

The line of “5s” hanging in front of the MUSS section refers to the False Start Tally. Whenever the opposing team is charged with a false start, the MUSS hangs a numeral five in front of its section indicating a five-yard penalty.

Every time the Utes score, the band plays the school fight song, signaling the MUSS to sing along to the words of the Utah Fight Song. After every game, Ute team members congregate in front of the MUSS section and join in the singing of the Utah Fight Song.

The MUSS currently sponsors fan clubs for the Utah football, men’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics teams. The football team began sporting a MUSS decal on the back of its helmets in 2004.

Utah skiing claimed its 15th national championship in 2022, winning for the fourth time in the last five NCAA competitions.

Utah gymnastics won its 10th national championship in 1995. The Red Rocks are the only program to qualify for all 46 national gymnastics championships.

The latest chapter in Ute athletics history began on July 1, 2011, when Utah officially became a member of the Pac12 Conference. But Utah’s reputation as an athletics power was established long before it joined the “Conference of Champions.”

The move to the Pac-12 has fueled some of Utah’s most successful seasons across a broad spectrum of sports in recent years. Skiing has been crowned the NCAA Champion four of the last five years the event was staged in 2017, ‘19, ‘21 and ‘22. Gymnastics has advanced to five of the last eight NCAA finals and captured eight combined Pac-12 Conference regular-season and post-season Championships. Football has played in three Pac-12 Conference Championship games, hoisting the trophy in 2021.

In 2021-22, Utah achieved its highest ranking through the final Winter standings in the Learfield Director’s Cup since 1997-98, ranking 25th in Division I and second among all Pac-12 schools behind Stanford. The final standings also saw Utah garner its highest finish since ‘97-’98, placing 44th. Eight of Utah’s sport programs earned NCAA postseason berths or played in a bowl game, the most since joining the Pac-12 in 2011-12. For the first time since joining the Pac-12, four sports earned conference championships, including two Pac-12 titles (Football and Gymnastics), one RMISA (Skiing) and one ASUN (Lacrosse).

Utah claims 29 team national championships and 115 individual national titles in its history, including 80 in skiing and 30 in women’s gymnastics.

Football has a 701-473-31 all-time record in 128 seasons. All but two of its 24 bowl appearances have come since 1992 as the Utes have evolved into a national force. Utah won nine consecutive bowl games from 1999-2009, tying for the second-longest bowl winning streak on record. The original “BCS Buster,” Utah has gone 2-1 in games that are now part of the CFP New Year’s Six with wins in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl (Pittsburgh) and 2009 Sugar Bowl (Alabama), and an appearance in the 2022 Rose Bowl. The Utes have finished in the Top 25 national polls 11 times, including a No. 2 ranking in 2008, No. 4 in 2004, No. 10 in 1994 and No. 12 in 2021. Utah has sold out every attended game in Rice-Eccles Stadium since the 2010 opener.

Men’s Basketball has thrived throughout its history, winning an NCAA Championship in 1944 and finishing as the runner-up in 1998. The Runnin’ Utes also won national championships in 1916 (AAU) and 1947 (NIT). Utah advanced to its 10th NCAA Sweet 16 in 2015. Utah ranks in the NCAA’s top 25 in all-time victories (1,859) and winning percentage (.638). Utah’s 29 NCAA Tournament appearances and 38 NCAA Tournament wins also rank in the top 30.

Women’s Gymnastics boasts 10 national championships and nine runner-up finishes. Utah is the only school to qualify for all 40