Since the beginning of the modern sports era, and with the exception of 2007-08, there have been 1,641 NCAA Division I National Champions. Today there are 36 such championships awarded each academic year. Since the NCAA National Basketball Tournament when I noticed the UCLA Bruin’s men’s team uniforms were slightly different from normal, I decided to take a look at who has won all of these NCAA Division I National Championships. This then led me to break the country into regions and finally to look at it in terms of the Division I conferences.
Single season UCLA phenom, Kevin Love... Notice the "C".
The thing that caught my eye about the Bruin’s uniforms was that the “C” in UCLA instead of being blue like the other three letters, was gold. After a little research I found that the gold C represented one hundred NCAA National Championships. UCLA is the first school to get that many titles and they were happy to use this avenue to gain national recognition.
So what did I find? Well 168 schools share those 1,641 national championships. I thought about posting them all with their titles but reason got the best of me. If you know the universities in your home state, you should be able to figure out which schools have won championships over the past 107 years. If you need specific information, ask in the comments and it will be provided. Here is a breakdown by geographical region and state…
Boston Col. Men's Hockey, Syracuse Men's Lacrosse, Brown Women's Rowing Crew
NORTHEAST Schools Titles
Connecticut 2 38
Delaware 1 2
Maine 1 2
Maryland 3 35
Massachusetts 5 20
New Hampshire 2 5
New Jersey 3 24
New York 10 54 3.29%
Pennsylvania 7 65 3.96%
Rhode Island 3 7
Vermont 1 5
Washington DC 3 3
41 24.40% 260 15.84%
North Carolina Field Hockey, Wake Forest Soccer, Georgia Women's Gymnastics
SOUTHEAST Schools Titles
Alabama 2 28
Florida 4 38
Georgia 3 35
Kentucky 5 15
Mississippi 1 1
North Carolina 4 50
South Carolina 3 6
Tennessee 3 20
Virginia 5 31
West Virginia 3 18 .
33 19.64% 242 14.75%
Ohio State Buckeye's Fencing Team Celebrates
MIDWEST Schools Titles
Illinois 6 33
Indiana 4 51
Iowa 5 42
Michigan 8 83
Minnesota 2 24
Montana 2 3
Nebraska 1 20
North Dakota 1 7
Ohio 4 35
South Dakota 0 0
Wisconsin 2 26
Wyoming 1 3
36 21.43% 327 19.93%
LSU Tigers National Championship Football Team
University of Denver Pioneers National Champion Ski Team
Kansas Jayhawks National Championship Basketball Team
SOUTHWEST Schools Titles
Arkansas 1 42
Colorado 3 49
Kansas 2 11
Louisiana 4 48
Missouri 2 12
New Mexico 1 1
Oklahoma 3 75 4.57%
Texas 11 99 6.03%
27 16.07% 337 20.54%
Stanford Women's Cross Country National Champion
University of Alaska-Fairbanks National Championship Rifle Team
WEST Schools Titles
Alaska 1 9
Arizona 2 34
California 15 364 22.18%
Hawaii 1 3
Idaho 3 7
Nevada 1 2
Oregon 3 18
Utah 2 30
Washington 3 8
31 18.45% 475 28.95%
Totals 168 1,641
* * * * *
Regional Comparison:
Schools %Total Titles % Total
WEST 31 18.45 475 28.95
SOUTHWEST 27 16.07 337 20.54
MID WEST 36 21.43 327 19.93
NORTHEAST 41 24.40 260 15.84
SOUTHEAST 33 19.64 242 14.75
* * * * *
Conference Comparison:
Schools %Total Titles % Total
Pacific 10 10 5.95% 374 22.79%
Big Ten 11 6.55 245 14.93
Big 12 12 7.14 191 11.64
Southeast 12 7.14 185 11.27
Atlantic Coast 12 7.14 114 6.95
Conference USA 12 6.55 48 2.93
Big East 8 4.76 47 2.86
Mountain West 9 5.36 41 2.5
WAC 9 5.36 17 1.04
MAC 13 7.74 7 .43
Sun Belt 8 4.76 4 .24
Independents 4 2.38 36 2.19
120 71.43% 1,309 79.77%
* * * * *
Finally, the 2007-08 academic year is winding down… With Baseball and Outdoor Track and Field yet to determine their champions, here are the schools that have won titles this year:
Five titles have been won by affiliate members of Division I and three titles remain unclaimed…
Arizona State University National Championship Softball Team
* * * * *
Are there any conclusions to be drawn from all of this?
Well… The obvious one has to be that the western region has dominated Division I NCAA athletics since 1900. By state, California is dominant, while the Pacific 10, the premier conference of the west, is also the most dominant.
UCLA National Championship Women's Tennis Team
Men's Golf National Championship
UCLA's National Champion Women's Water Polo Team
Here are the top twenty National Championship schools in NCAA Division I (including the 2007-08 results):
School Titles % of Total
1. UCLA 103 6.14%
2. Stanford 96 5.72
3. USC 95 5.66
4. Oklahoma St. 48 2.86
5. Louisiana St. 45 2.68
6. Texas 43 2.56
7. Arkansas 42 2.50
8. Michigan 41 2.44
9. Penn State 38 2.27
10. No. Carolina 33 1.97
11. California 30 1.79
12. Ohio State 29 1.73
13. Georgia 27 1.61
13. Yale 27 1.61
15. Oklahoma 26 1.55
15. Denver 26 1.55
17. Notre Dame 25 1.49
17. Wisconsin 25 1.49
19. Indiana 23 1.37
19. Iowa 23 1.37
* * * * *
I’ve heard comments about the weather in California that makes the athletes from this area better… If that’s the case, then why isn’t the Southeast region one of the strongest in the country? Another reason I’ve heard is that the sports being played are more favorable to warm weather. Sports like swimming and water polo. I have to say that these types of sports are more than offset by ice hockey and skiing. Then there are the sports almost exclusively played at the Division I level in other parts of the country. These include lacrosse and fencing…
Taking all of this into consideration, can you think of any other reasons why the far west produces the most NCAA Division I National Championships?
Great post D-man its surprising Oklahoma State has that many probably in Wrestleing and Baseball I dont think they ever won a championship in football maybe in basketball..
Here's the breakdown on Oklahoma State... Men's Baseball (1), Basketball (2), Cross Country (1), Golf (10), Wrestling (34). I was surprised they had more than their in-state rival Sooners...
There are some different sports in the NCAA... They did away with boxing a few years back.
Pretty interesting the top three are head and shoulders above everyone else... USC won women's golf and soccer, but alas, UCLA has won 3 titles this year... Baseball and Track to go...
Cut me some slack, will ya? I wanted a fair representation of the country... That made the Southwest come out at 8 states while the Northeast is 12, Southeast 10, Mid West 12 and the West is 9 states... As far as schools go the breakdown is NE - 41, SE - 33, MW - 36, SW - 27, and West - 31... Not a bad split...
The city gov and the stae are fighting over bonds, the neighbors are complaining about traffic. They got stalled last week that lasted about 2 days but I believe everything is back on track. Kellyscott is following it closer than I am.
UCLA has half a natl football title with Ohio St from 1954. They've never really been competitive nationally in football with Sou Cal.
It is impressive that UCLA has these titles in the low revenue sports but, one must wonder how intensely they were competed against in those sports as the Bruins seem to have put a lot of effort, time, and money into those sports in order to dominate.
Regarding basketball, UCLA has one national title in the past 33 years, same number as Maryland. Lefty always wanted to make Maryland the UCLA of the East, it seems that has come to be.
Kinda sounds like you're passing off on UCLA's accomplishments since the titles aren't football. Don't you think that's a little bit narrow minded? Of the 36 potential titles only football means anything? Women's sports must not be too high on your list either...
So you would consider Notre Dame, with 12 football titles (the last of which was many years ago BTW) out of 25 total titles should be rated higher than UCLA with 103 titles (one in football)?
Sorry, that doesn't cut it with me... We're talking sports not just football.
Damn fine post! And I thought the 'C' in UCLA referred to the golden state...
btw, geography isn't a study in the midwest, southeast, or northeast as it is out west. You may just have to give those folks in flyover country a short disclaimer that 'regional boundaries do not equate to new football power conferences' :)
windy 1, no one will contest the fact that UCLA has great minor sports to go along with their legendary basketball traditions. It's just that you're in the same town with one of the 3 or 4 most dominant football programs of alltime and you tend to get overshadowed in the sport that pays for all these other goings on. If the athletes in the South concentrated on that type of sport they would do well at it also.
dwindy!!!! extra time on our hands??? but great post!!!! i thought the C on the bruins jerseys was for captain???? and the university of oregon mens basketball won the 1st!!!! ncaa basketball title in 1939.....
Dwindy,
Something you need to take into consideration is us Southern schools do not have Hockey teams or skiing for that matter. I'm sure their are a few other sports as well like Lacrosse we do not play either.
Also you can add this years LSU woman as outdoor track Champs.
Dwindy
This was a great write up from start to finish. But a I also believe that it's the coaching more than anything else and to a lesser extent the the talent that makes a great deal of a difference. That being said each of the championships won by these schools was done so on merit.
Now with that being said when will there be poker playing be part and parcel of the NCAA in terms of it being defined as a sport ? That way some of the students I tutor in Maths, Economics and English'll be able to pay for themselves when they decide to enroll into college. 'cause their parents' 401K's won't be able to stretch that far in today or the future economic climate.
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And KS and MO are more midwest, or Plains states, not southwest...
And of course the schools represent many things, but for instance, Notre Dame and Duke players are not primarily from Indiana and North Carolina, respectively. They represent kids from all over the world and the country, from all regions...
Anyway, these stats and straight up numbers are fascinating.
