Utah Athletics History

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

NCAA Gymnastics Championships and has captured the most All-America awards. The Red Rocks claimed the school’s first-ever Pac-12 Championship in 2014 and captured the postseason trophy again in ‘15, ‘17, ‘21 and ‘22. Utah has won at least a share of the first three Pac-12 regular season titles from 2020-22. Utah holds every gymnastics attendance record, including highest single-meet attendance (16,019 in 2015) and highest season attendance average (15,273 in 2020). Utah has led the nation in gymnastics attendance 36 times and won its 10th all-women’s sports attendance title in 2019-20.

Women’s Basketball has averaged more than 20 wins a season since its start back in 1974-75 and ranks in the NCAA top 25 in all-time winning percentage (.664). The Ute women advanced to the NCAA second round in 2022. They have earned 18 NCAA Tournament invites since 1982, advancing to the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite Eight in 2006, and 22 conference championships.

The Men’s and Women’s Ski Team has captured 14 NCAA Championships and 15 national titles all time, the last coming in 2022. Volleyball has participated in 18 of the last 24 NCAA Tournaments, making the NCAA regional semifinals twice since 2017.with four Sweet 16 finishes all-time. Softball has qualified for the postseason 21 times with five College World Series appearances (four NCAA). It has also been to 16 NCAA Regionals and a pair of Super Regionals in 2016 and ‘17.

Women’s Cross Country has made four NCAA Championships appearances in the last seven years (2015, ‘16, ‘19, ‘21) and was the Pac12 Conference runner-up in 2021. In its early days, the program was the 1981 AIAW Division II National Champion. Women’s Soccer has played in the NCAA Tournament eight times since 2002 and made the regional semifinals in 2016.

Men’s Golf has qualified for NCAA Regionals the past two years, advancing to the 2022 NCAA Championships. Men’s Tennis claims 24 conference championships and has made 17 NCAA appearances all-time. Three of those have come since 2018 with Utah advancing to the second round in 2022. Baseball has advanced to NCAA Regionals twice since 2009, the last coming during its Pac-12 championship season in 2016—the school’s first for a men’s sport in the league.

Men’s Lacrosse won the ASUN regular season title during its first year as a league member in 2022. Women’s Tennis made three-consecutive NCAA appearances from 2010-12. Men’s Swimming & Diving had a No. 22 NCAA finish in 2015 and has captured 24 conference championships. Women’s Swimming & Diving was the 2006 MWC champion. TEAM NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 29 SKIING (14 NCAA, 1 AIAW) WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS (9 NCAA, 1 AIAW) MEN’S BASKETBALL (1 NCAA, 1 NIT, 1 AAU) WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY 1 (DIVISION II) INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: 115 Includes 80 in skiing and 30 in women’s gymnastics ALL-AMERICANS: 503 Includes 225 in skiing, 95 in women’s gymnastics, 60 in football and 18 in men’s basketball

OLYMPIANS: 67 SKIING WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS MEN’S BASKETBALL WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

46 9 4 4 SOFTBALL 2 MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING 1 WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD 1

PAC-12 TITLES

WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS Postseason: 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022 Regular Season: 2020, 2021, 2022 FOOTBALL Championship: 2021 South Division: 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 BASEBALL 2016

OTHER LEAGUE TITLES SINCE 2011-12

LACROSSE ASUN Regular Season: 2022 SKIING RMISA Championships: 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022 RMISA Regular Season: 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022