The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, located in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

. The Hawkeyes have

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

s in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams participate in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and are members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Currently, the school's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Gary Barta Gary Barta (born September 4, 1963) is the current athletic director at the University of Iowa. Before coming to Iowa, Barta was the athletic director at the University of Wyoming from 2003 to 2006. In early 2005, Barta was a finalist for the at ...

. Historically, Iowa has been very successful in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, with 37 team Big Ten championships and 24 team national championships. The Hawkeyes have also won national championships in five other sports: men's

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

, rifle and women's track and field.Iowa Field Hockey: 1986 NCAA Champion
Big Ten Conference. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. In

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, Iowa has reached the NCAA Final Four on four occasions. The men's team has done this three times, most recently in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, while the women's team has done it once, in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. The

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team has reached the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

once, in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. Iowa's

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

team has played in the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

on four occasions, most recently in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. Football home games are played at

Kinnick Stadium Nile Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team. First opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds up to 69,250 peo ...

, while basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, and wrestling events are held at

Carver–Hawkeye Arena The Carver–Hawkeye Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Iowa City, Iowa. Opened in 1983, it is the home court for The University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the university's wrestling, and gymnas ...

. The school's baseball team plays at Duane Banks Field and the softball team plays at Bob Pearl Softball Field.

Sports sponsored

The University of Iowa currently fields 22 varsity teams, competing in the

. Three men's teams - gymnastics, swimming and diving, and tennis - were eliminated after the 2020–21 academic year to help address a projected $60–75 million deficit related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Men's sports

Baseball

Iowa began playing baseball in 1890, when the Hawkeyes went a combined 2–1 (two wins and one loss) against two teams,

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and Vinton. To date, Iowa has won eight Big Ten titles, and in 1972 Iowa earned its way to the CWS at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha with a 13–3 Big Ten record, which is still the best Big Ten winning percentage in Iowa baseball history. That record included another school record that still stands, an 11-game Big Ten winning streak. It was Iowa's first outright Big Ten baseball title since 1939, and the last one since, although the Hawkeyes did earn ties for the conference championship in 1974 and 1990. But that 1972 Iowa team fought its way to Omaha the hard way, losing its first game in the regional tournament, then winning doubleheaders on consecutive days on the campus of Bowling Green University in Ohio. Lose one of those four games, and Iowa goes home. In 1972, only conference champions competed for the eight World Series berths. The Hawkeyes opened the 1972 CWS against #1-ranked Arizona State, who entered the game with an incredible record of 60 wins and only 4 losses. But Iowa, a huge underdog, outhit the Sun Devils 8–3 only to lose, 2–1. Iowa had the tying run thrown out at the plate in the 9th inning, and left another runner at third as the final out was made. Iowa had also threatened in the 7th with a lead-off double, but could not score. The Hawkeyes then played in the losers' bracket the next day against Temple. But after taking a 6–2 lead into the sixth inning, the Hawkeyes ended up being knocked out of the Series with a 12–8 loss. Arizona State lost the championship game that year to Southern Cal, while Temple finished 3rd. The Hawkeyes finished ranked No. 9 in the nation, still the highest national ranking in the history of Iowa Hawkeye baseball. Future Major Leaguer

Jim Sundberg James Howard Sundberg (born May 18, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player, television sports analyst and executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1974 to 1989. A three-time All-Star player, Sundberg estab ...

, catcher from Galesburg, Ill., was one of the team leaders. The Hawkeyes featured several Iowans in the starting lineup, including Tom Hurn (1B – Cedar Rapids), Mike Kielkopf (2B-Ottumwa), Brad Trickey (3B-Cedar Rapids), along with the top two starting pitchers, Mark Tschopp (Cedar Rapids) and Bill Heckroth (Dysart).Baseball: All-Time Results
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 16, 2008. Iowa plays its home games at

Duane Banks Field Duane Banks Field is a baseball stadium in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home field of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes college baseball team. The stadium holds 3,000 people and opened in 1974. It is named after former Iowa Hawke ...

, whose namesake is the winningest baseball coach in school history.Duane Banks Field
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 16, 2008.

Rick Heller Rick Heller is an American baseball coach and former shortstop, who is the current head baseball coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Heller played college baseball at Upper Iowa for head coach Bill Prochaska from 1982 to 1986. He then served as the head ...

replaced Jack Dahm as the Hawkeyes' head baseball coach in 2013. In his first season in Iowa City, Heller helped guide the Hawkeyes to a 9–1 start—the program's best start since 1940—a Big Ten tournament berth and conference tournament win. Iowa finished the year with a 30–23 record for just the third 30-win season since 1993. The 30 victories are the most by a first-year coach in Iowa history.

Basketball

Men's basketball as a varsity sport at the University of Iowa began in 1902,Men's Basketball: Iowa Basketball Yearly Record
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 30, 2008. but it was on January 18, 1896, that Iowa played the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in the first five-on-five college basketball game. The

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

won that game, 15–12.2007–08 Men's Basketball Media Guide: Section 1
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 30, 2008. Six years later, men's basketball became a sanctioned varsity sport under head coach Ed Rule. Rule coached the Hawkeyes in four non-consecutive seasons until 1908, compiling a 37–15 record. Iowa began competing in Big Ten games in 1909, and since then the Hawkeyes have won eight regular season Big Ten championships, the last in 1979. Iowa's first Big Ten title came in 1923, under coach

Sam Barry Justin McCarthy "Sam" Barry (December 17, 1892 – September 23, 1950) was an American collegiate coach who achieved significant accomplishments in three major sports - football, baseball, and basketball. He remains one of only three coaches to ...

. Barry also led the Hawkeyes to their second conference championship in 1926. Following Rollie Williams' 13 seasons, which lasted until 1942,

Pops Harrison Lawrence C. "Pops" Harrison (August 29, 1906 – August 19. 1967) was an American basketball coach and administrator. He was the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball, Iowa Hawkeyes from 1942 to 1950. Harrison was born and raised in Io ...

became coach. Harrison coached at Iowa until 1951, leading the Hawkeyes to their first unshared Big Ten championship in 1945. Perhaps the most-successful time period in Iowa basketball came under head coach Bucky O'Connor, who coached at Iowa until his death in 1958. Under O'Connor, the Hawkeyes played in two Final Four events, while winning two unshared Big Ten championships.Men's Basketball: Tournament Archives
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 28, 2008. Iowa played in the national championship game against

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1956, but lost by 12 after taking an early double-digit lead.National Collegiate Athletic Association (2004). ''NCAA March Madness''. Chicago,: Triumph Books. . The Hawkeyes played in a third Final Four in 1980, and have also won the Big Ten tournament thrice since its 1998 inception, in 2001, 2006, and 2022. Iowa's current coach is

Fran McCaffery Francis John McCaffery (born May 23, 1959) is an American college basketball coach and the current men's basketball head coach at the University of Iowa. He has taken four Division I (NCAA), Division I programs to postseason tournaments, includi ...

, who coached at

Siena College Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...

before coming to Iowa in 2010.Todd Lickliter
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 30, 2008.
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com, March 13, 2008. Retrieved on July 10, 2008. The Hawkeyes have played their home games in

since 1983; the arena can currently hold up to 15,500 people.Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2008.

Cross country

The Hawkeyes' men's cross country team won team Big Ten titles in 1961 and 1966 and have also had nine individual Big Ten champions, most recently with Larry Wieczorek in 1967. Wieczorek's time in the 8,000 meter race still stands as the sixth-quickest time in school history.Cross Country: School & Course Records
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 10, 2008. To date, Deacon Jones is Iowa's lone national champion, having won the award in 1957. Both Jones and Wieczorek were all-Americans for the Hawkeyes, along with Kevin Herd, Stetson Steele, and Ted Wheeler.Cross Country: Honors & Awards
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 31, 2008.

Football

Football at the University of Iowa dates back as far as November 27, 1872, when the Iowa Academics played a game against the University of Iowa College of Law. However, football was not officially recognized as a varsity sport until November 16, 1889, when the Hawkeyes played against and lost to Grinnell. The next year, Iowa got its first win against Iowa Wesleyan, and since then, the Hawkeyes have won 11 Big Ten championships and have played in 30 post-season

bowl games In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

. The Hawkeyes are 17–15–1 in such games, having most recently won against Southern California in the 2019 Holiday Bowl. Iowa won the 2010 Orange Bowl vs

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

24–14. The Orange Bowl is a BCS bowl game. Iowa's first bowl game was the

1957 Rose Bowl The 1957 Rose Bowl was the 43rd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday, January 1. The third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference defeated the #10 Oregon State Beavers of th ...

, which ended in a 35–19 win over

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

.Iowa bowl history
ESPN.com, December 3, 2006. Retrieved on July 12, 2008. The Hawkeyes' lone claim to a national championship came after winning the Rose Bowl following the 1958 season, when they were awarded the Grantland Rice trophy by the Football Writers Association of America.
Football Writer's Association of America. Retrieved on October 24, 2009. The Hawkeyes' current head coach is

Kirk Ferentz Kirk James Ferentz (born August 1, 1955) is an American football coach. He is the current head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the ...

. In nineteen seasons under Ferentz, the Hawkeyes have won a

BCS bowl The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

, two Big Ten titles and have played in fifteen bowl games. Ferentz is the all time Iowa football wins leader with 151 after surpassing his predecessor, Hayden Fry, during the 2018 football season. Fry, who coached the Hawkeyes for 20 seasons, had 143 wins, three Big Ten titles, and 14

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

trips in his tenure at Iowa. Fry also led the Hawkeyes to eight-straight bowl games from 1981–1988, the longest such streak in program history.Kirk Ferentz
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 11, 2008. Fry was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 2003. In 2015, the Hawks made it to the Rose Bowl and lost to Stanford. Since 1929, the Hawkeyes have played their home games in

. Renamed in 1972 in honor of Iowa's lone

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner,

Nile Kinnick Nile Clarke Kinnick Jr. (July 9, 1918 – June 2, 1943) was an American naval aviator, law student, and college football player at the University of Iowa. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. He died during a trainin ...

, the stadium can currently hold up to 70,585 fans.Kinnick Stadium
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 8, 2008. Kinnick won the Heisman Award following the conclusion of the 1939 season, but died on June 2, 1943, in the

Gulf of Paria The Gulf of Paria ( ; es, Golfo de Paria) is a shallow (180 m at its deepest) semi-enclosed inland sea located between the island of Trinidad (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) and the east coast of Venezuela. It separates the two countries ...

during a World War II training flight. His face can still be seen today, on the coins that officials toss at the beginning of all Big Ten games.

Golf

Since Iowa began competing in men's golf, the Hawkeyes have won the Big Ten team title once, in 1992. Brad Klapprott won an individual Big Ten championship that year, becoming only the second Iowa men's golfer to do so. He was preceded only by John Jacobs, who achieved the individual conference championship in 1946. Sean McCarty also added to the 1992 team's accolades in winning the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. In 1995, McCarty became Iowa's first and only men's golf all-American.Men's Golf: Iowa Records and Honors
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 14, 2008.

Gymnastics

Iowa's men's gymnastics team is credited with winning the first NCAA national championship in school history in 1969. This, in turn, allowed the University of Iowa to become the last of all the Big Ten schools to have won a national championship in an NCAA-sponsored sport.Iowa's First National Championship
Iowa Men's Gymnastics. Retrieved on May 15, 2008. The Hawkeyes have also won seven Big Ten team titles, the last coming in 1998. On the individual level, 12 Hawkeyes have won national championships. Michael Reavis is Iowa's most-recent national champion, having won on

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

in 2005.2008 Men's Gymnastics Media Guide
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 12, 2008.

Swimming and diving

Men's swimming became a sanctioned varsity sport at the University of Iowa in 1917, with David Armbruster as the team's coach. Coaching from 1917–1958, Armbruster led the Hawkeyes to one Big Ten championship, in 1936. He was followed by Robert Allen, who coached the Hawkeyes until 1975. Under Allen, Iowa's best finish in the Big Ten was fifth, on two occasions. Glenn Patton was next in the line of coaches, and during his tenure, the Hawkeyes won two Big Ten championships and finished as high as eighth on the national level.Iowa Swimming & Diving: Men's Year-By-Year Records
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 18, 2008. Currently, Marc Long is Iowa's men's and women's swimming coach.
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 18, 2008. On 19 occasions has a men's swimmer at Iowa won an individual national championship. Ray Walters was the Hawkeyes' first national champion, having won the 50 meter

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

in 1936. Nine of Iowa's national championships in men's swimming, however, are credited to

Artur Wojdat Artur Wojdat (born 20 May 1968 in Olsztyn) is a former international swimmer from Poland, who won the bronze medal in the men's 400 metres freestyle at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He also competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics i ...

, who competed at the collegiate level from 1989–1992. Wojdat was an 18-time all-American, a 10-time Big Ten champion, and a four-time national champion in the 500 yard freestyle event. Wojdat also won the bronze medal in the 400 meter freestyle at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

.Iowa Swimming & Diving: Individual All-Americans
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 12, 2008. Receiving NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 2010 & 2011 while on the University of Florida swim team, Olympian

Conor Dwyer Conor James Dwyer (born January 10, 1989) is a former American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. He competed in freestyle and medley events, and won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team a ...

swam with the Hawkeyes swim team on scholarship for his first two collegiate seasons: the Hawkeyes were the only university to offer Dwyer a scholarship after high school.University of Iowa Conor Dwyer profile
at HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on August 2, 2012.University of Florida Conor Dwyer profile
at GatorZone.com. Retrieved on August 2, 2012.National Team Conor Dwyer profile
at USASwimming.org. Retrieved on August 2, 2012.

Tennis

Men's tennis became a varsity sport at Iowa in 1939, and from that time to the present, the Hawkeyes have won the Big Ten championship once, in 1958. That year, the Hawkeyes recorded a 10–1 team record and finished third at the national level.
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 26, 2008. In 1998, Tyler Cleveland won the Big Ten Freshman of the Year Award. He later won the Big Ten Player of the Year Award twice, in 2000 and 2001. Cleveland and 14 other men's tennis players have named to an all-Big Ten team; Stuart Waters is the most-recent player to have accomplished this, doing so in 2002 and 2003.Men's Tennis: Team Awards & Honors
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 26, 2008. The team is currently coached by Ross Wilson who is in his 7th year with the program.

Track

In indoor track, the Hawkeyes have won three team Big Ten titles, the last coming in 1963. On the individual level, Iowa has had 64 Big Ten championships. Nine-time Big Ten champion Bashir Yamini won three of his Big Ten titles in indoor competitions. Named the 1996 Big Ten Indoor Freshman of the Year, Yamini won the indoor

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

every year from 1997 through 1999. 10 Iowa

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

s have also been named Big Ten champions, most-recently in 1989.Track & Field: Big Ten Champions
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 24, 2008. In outdoor track competition, Iowa has won team Big Ten titles in 1963, 1967, 2011, 2019, and 2021. Their 2011 championship ended a 44-year drought. Iowa jumped Minnesota on the last day of the tournament by placing ahead of the Golden Gophers in the 4x400 – the last event of the tournament. Since 1902, the Hawkeyes have had 92 separate individual Big Ten championships. Yamini currently shares the Big Ten Outdoor Championships long jump record with Ohio State's

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifet ...

. Former Iowa football player

Tim Dwight Timothy John Dwight Jr. (born July 13, 1975) is a former professional American football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University ...

also competed in track. Dwight won the 100 meter Big Ten championship in 1999 with a time of 10.51 seconds. The men's and women's track teams have collectively produced 17 different Olympians including 6 medalists.

Wrestling

Wrestling at the University of Iowa began with the 1910–1911 season. Under coach E. G. Schroeder, the Hawkeyes wrestled and lost to one opponent that season:

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. The next year, Iowa got its first dual win, over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. Soon later, in 1914, Oscar Hobbet became the Hawkeyes' first individual Big Ten champion. Iowa's first all-American and national champion came in the 1927–1928 season, with Leslie Beers achieving these honors. Beers wrestled at the 158-pound weight class.2007–08 Wrestling Media Guide: Section 5
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 14, 2008. Iowa's first Big Ten championship came in 1958, a year in which the Hawkeyes also had 10 dual wins for the first time. However, Iowa would not win another Big Ten title until 1974, under head coach Gary Kurdelmeier. Kurdelmeier led the Hawkeyes to their first national championship in 1975 and their second in 1976. Iowa lost only one dual match in those two seasons. Following the 1976 national championship, Dan Gable took over as coach. The Hawkeyes finished third on the national level in Gable's first year, but with another national championship in 1978, Iowa began a streak that, at that time, was only matched by

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

's golf team and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

's track team. From 1978 through 1986, Iowa won nine consecutive national championships, a record which equals what Yale's golf team did from 1905–1913 and what Southern California's track team did from 1935 through 1943. In his career at Iowa, which lasted until 1997, Gable led the Hawkeyes to 15 national titles and 21 consecutive Big Ten championships. Gable's 355 dual wins at Iowa make him the university's all-time winningest wrestling coach.Full Gable Bio
DanGable.com. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. Gable was replaced as coach by

Jim Zalesky James (Jim) Zalesky (born January 15, 1961) is an American college wrestling coach and is currently the head coach of the University of Jamestown. He was A former head wrestling coach for the Oregon State Beavers. Prior to joining the Beavers, ...

. Under Zalesky, the Hawkeyes won three straight national titles from 1998–2000 and placed ten individual national champions. However, Zalesky was fired following the 2005–2006 season, as the Hawkeyes began to fade on the national level.Jim Zalesky
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on June 15, 2008. He was replaced by

Tom Brands Tom Brands (born April 9, 1968) is an American former Olympic wrestler and is currently the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling, University of Iowa men's wrestling team. He won a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics. An intense competi ...

, who in 2008 led Iowa to its first team national title since 2000.

Brent Metcalf Brent Metcalf (born July 14, 1986) is an American freestyle wrestler who formerly competed in the international circuit for the United States of America. Biography As a prep wrestler, Metcalf went undefeated with a career record of 228-0, won ...

and Mark Perry won individual national championships in 2008, with Perry becoming Iowa's 17th four-time all-American.Perry, Metcalf Win NCAA Titles: Brands, Metcalf earn national honors as Iowa wins first NCAA team title since 2000
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com, March 22, 2008. Retrieved on July 12, 2008. Brands' Hawkeyes also won team NCAA championships in 2009, 2010 and 2021.

Women's sports

Basketball

Women's basketball at the University of Iowa began in 1974, under head coach Lark Birdsong. The Hawkeyes finished 5–16 that season, getting their first win over Big Ten rival,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Birdsong would continue to coach Iowa until the 1978–1979 season, the first winning season in Iowa women's basketball history.Women's Basketball: Year-By-Year Results
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on July 27, 2008. Judy McMullen replaced Birdsong, and after coaching at Iowa for four seasons, McMullen was replaced by

C. Vivian Stringer Charlaine Vivian Stringer (born March 16, 1948) is an American former basketball coach. She holds one of the best coaching records in the history of women's basketball. She was the head coach of the Rutgers University women's basketball team from ...

in 1983. Prior to her tenure at Iowa, Stringer coached at

Cheyney University Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is a public historically black university in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1837, it is the oldest university out of all historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. It is a mem ...

, and took the school to new heights when she led the Wolves to the national championship game in 1982.C. Vivian Stringer
Rutgers Athletics Communications, ScarletKnights.com. Retrieved on July 27, 2008. Beginning with the 1983–1984 season, Stringer coached at Iowa for 12 seasons. In that time, the Hawkeyes won six Big Ten championships, played in nine NCAA Tournaments, and reached the Final Four in 1993. Unprecedented attention was shown to the Hawkeyes under Stringer, as evidenced by the record-setting 22,157 fans that watched Iowa play Ohio State on February 3, 1985, in

.''Carver-Hawkeye Arena: Celebrating 25 Years.'' Iowa Sports Information, 2008. Stringer, however, left Iowa to coach at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

in 1995, following the death of her husband Bill.COLLEGE BASKETBALL: A Coaching Legend Comes Home; Personal Loss Spurs Stringer's Move to Help Rutgers Rebuild
Claire Smith, ''The New York Times'', December 10, 1995. Retrieved on July 27, 2008. Angie Lee replaced Stringer, and led the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten championship in her first season. Under Lee, Iowa won another Big Ten title in 1998, but success began to wane soon thereafter. Lee's successor as head coach was

Lisa Bluder Lisa Marie Bluder (, born April 16, 1961) is the head coach of the University of Iowa, Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball program. Formerly, she served as coach of St. Ambrose University and the Drake Bulldogs women's basketball, Drake Bulldogs. E ...

, who remains Iowa's current women's basketball coach. Under Bluder, the Hawkeyes have won two regular season Big Ten championship and three Big Ten tournament championships, most recently winning both titles in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

with a team led by superstar guard

Caitlin Clark Caitlin Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American college basketball player for the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference. She plays the point guard position. At Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, Clark was named a M ...

. The 2022–23 season will be her 23rd as head coach.

Rowing

Women's rowing became a varsity sport at the University of Iowa in 1994 at which time Mandi Kowal was hired as head coach.https://www.ncaa.com/sports/c-rowing/spec-rel/031208aaf.html In 1997 and 1998 the Hawkeyes' varsity 4 (V4+) was invited to the NCAA Championships; 1997 marked the first NCAA rowing championships. The Hawkeyes made a whole team appearance at Nationals in 2001. With the combined novice and varsity teams, the Hawkeyes typically have 70–80 rowing athletes, making it the second-largest team on campus, second only to football. Fall 2009 brought the completion of a new state-of-the-art boathouse. Prior to that time the rowing Hawkeyes had no permanent home, but instead their boats were housed in an excess area of the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories. The new P. Sue Beckwith, M.D. Boathouse is named after the benefactor, a former University of Iowa basketball letter-winner, who gave the seed money that made the boathouse possible. The boathouse is and designed to withstand flooding. The building has workout facilities, team locker rooms, boat bays, indoor rowing tanks, and meeting spaces.

Softball

The Hawkeye softball team has appeared in four Women's College World Series, in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2001. The current head softball coach of the Hawkeyes is Renee Luers-Gillispie.

Swimming and diving

Nancilea Underwood (now Foster) was a diver on the United States Olympic Team in 2008 after completing her career diving for the University of Iowa. She was a 4-time US National Champion in individual and synchronized springboard events. She placed 8th on the 3 meter springboard at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Wrestling

On September 23, 2021, Iowa announced that it would add women's wrestling for the 2023–24 school year. The NCAA does not hold a championship in that sport, but recognizes it as part of the

NCAA Emerging Sports for Women NCAA Emerging Sports for Women are intercollegiate women's sports that are recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, but do not have sanctioned NCAA Championships. History In 1994, the NCAA adopted th ...

program. Iowa will become the first

Power Five The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate ...

school to sponsor varsity women's wrestling.

Notable non-varsity sports

Ultimate

The Iowa Hawkeye Ultimate Club (IHUC) competes in the West Plains conference of the North Central Region. In 2010, the team tied for 9th at college nationals, while taking 3rd place in 2011. The Iowa Women's Ultimate team, Saucy Nancy, has also been very successful in years past. In 2011 the team tied for 5th at the College Championship in Boulder, Colorado. In 2012, they accomplished the same feat, tying for 5th again in Boulder, Colorado. Then in 2013, Saucy made it back into the College Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, and this time tied for 3rd.

Rugby

The University of Iowa Rugby Football Club plays

college rugby College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States of America. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the ...

in the

Big Ten Universities Big Ten Universities is a Division 1-A Rugby, Division 1-A college rugby conference founded in summer 2012 by ten of the twelve schools that then made up the Big Ten Conference (which has since 2010–13 Big Ten Conference realignment#Maryland, ex ...

conference of

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

. Iowa rugby has had some success in recent years, finishing second at the 2014 Big Ten 7s tournament, and the 2015 Big Ten West 7s tournament. After coming close to achieving a Top 25 ranking in 2011, Iowa would be ranked as high as 17th in the nation after their final match of their 2014 season, and being ranked 20th in the final Canterbury D1A Poll of the 2014-15 season. Iowa would go on to make the USA Rugby 7s National Championships in back-to-back years, 2015 and 2016, moving on as runners-up in their group in 2015 before falling in the elimination round. Iowa plays its matches at the University of Iowa Rugby Fields on Hawkeye Park Road. Iowa is led by Head Coach Jim Estes.

Pageantry

The University of Iowa borrowed its nickname from the state of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

years ago. The term "Hawkeye" originally appeared in the novel, ''The Last of the Mohicans'', written by

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

. In the book, the protagonist

Natty Bumppo Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is a fictional character and the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the '' Leatherstocking Tales''. Fictional biography Natty Bumppo, the child of white parents, grew up among Delaware ...

is given the word "Hawkeye" as a nickname from the Delaware Indians. Twelve years following the publishing of the book, the nickname was also given to people in the territory of Iowa (the state is now known as the Hawkeye State). Two men, Judge

David Rorer David Rorer (May 12, 1806 – July 7, 1884) was a lawyer, judge, sometime politician, author and anti-slavery advocate from Burlington, Iowa, who played a prominent role in the early history of Burlington and in Iowa legal history, and is credited ...

and James G. Edwards, sought out to popularize the nickname, and were rewarded when territorial officials gave their approval.The Hawkeyes and Herky
Iowa Sports Information, HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved on May 8, 2008. Herky and tigerhawk

The nickname gained a palpable symbol in 1948 when a

cartoon character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in ...

was created. Later named Herky, it was created by Richard Spencer III. The mascot was instantly popular among fans and gained its name through a statewide contest. A man named John Franklin suggested the Herky name. Since the mid-1950s, Herky has been a fixture at Iowa football games and has played a prominent role in all Iowa athletic events. Iowa's primary school colors are black and

old gold Old gold is a dark yellow, which varies from light olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow, generally on the darker side of this range. The first recorded use of ''old gold'' as a color name in English was in the early 19th century (exact ...

.Facts at a Glance: Traditions
The University of Iowa. Retrieved on August 5, 2008. The school's

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

s are " On Iowa!," the "

Iowa Fight Song The "Iowa Fight Song" is one of three fight songs currently used by the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band along with "On Iowa" and "Roll Along Iowa". The music and lyrics were written by Iowa native Meredith Willson, also author of ''The Mus ...

," and "

Roll Along Iowa "Roll Along Iowa" is one of three fight songs currently used by the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band along with On Iowa and the Iowa Fight Song The "Iowa Fight Song" is one of three fight songs currently used by the University of Iowa Hawkey ...

." A fourth song, the " Hawkeye Victory Polka," commonly referred to as "The Beer Song" or "In Heaven There Is No Beer," is played specifically following Iowa football and basketball victories. The school's alma mater is "Alma Mater, Iowa."Iowa Fight Song, On Iowa and more musical memories
University of Iowa Alumni Association. Retrieved on August 5, 2008.

Athletic directors

Iowa has had 12 athletic directors in its history. They are: * Nelson Kellogg, 1910–1917 * Howard Jones, 1917–1924 *

Paul Belting Paul E. Belting (1887 – July 20, 1943) was an athletic director for the University of Iowa from 1924 to 1929. He was the third athletic director in school history, and he oversaw the construction of the Iowa Field House in 1927 and Iowa Stadium ...

, 1924–1929 * Edward Lauer, 1929–1934 *

Ossie Solem Oscar Martin "Ossie" Solem (December 13, 1891 – October 26, 1970) was an American football player, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa (1 ...

, 1934–1937 *

E. G. Schroeder Ernest Gustav "Dad" Schroeder (1882 – February 23, 1960) was an athletic director for the University of Iowa for 11 years and the first wrestling and tennis coach in school history. Coaching career Schroeder was born in Germany in 1882 and moved ...

, 1937–1947 *

Paul Brechler Paul W. Brechler (July 17, 1911 – September 13, 1997) was an athletic director for the University of Iowa for 13 years and the first commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference. Playing career Brechler graduated from Emmetsburg High School ...

, 1947–1960 *

Forest Evashevski Forest "Evy" Evashevski (February 19, 1918 – October 30, 2009) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 and with the Iowa Pre-Flight ...

, 1960–1970 *

Bump Elliott Chalmers William "Bump" Elliott (January 30, 1925 – December 7, 2019) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played halfback at Purdue University (1943–1944) and the University of Michigan (1946–19 ...

, 1970–1990 *

Christine Grant Christine Grant may refer to: * Christine Grant (administrator), American academic administrator *Christine Grant (alpine skier) (born 1962), New Zealand alpine skier *Christine Grant (scientist) Christine Sharon Grant is an American chemical en ...

, 1973–2000 as women's athletic director *

Bob Bowlsby Robert Addison Bowlsby (born January 10, 1952) is an American college athletic administrator. Bowlsby most recently was the fourth commissioner of the Big 12 Conference a position he held from 2012 to 2022. Prior to that position, he served as th ...

, 1990–2006 *

, 2006–present

Hall of fame

Championships

NCAA team championships

Iowa has won 26 NCAA national team Championships. *Men's (25) **

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

(1): 1969 **

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

(24): 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2021 *Women's (1) **

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

(1): 1986 *See also: **

List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships Listed below are the colleges or universities with the most NCAA Division I-sanctioned team championships, individual championships, and combined team and individual championships, as documented by information published on official NCAA websites. ...

Big Ten Conference NCAA national team championships The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Other national team championships

Below are seven national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA: *Men's **Football (5): 1921, 1922, 1956, 1958, 1960 **Rifle (5): 1911, 1918, 1929, 1940, 1946 *Women's **Track & Field (1): 1924

Big Ten Conference championships

The University of Iowa has 126 Big Ten Conference Championships *Men **Basketball (11): 1923, 1926, 1945, 1955, 1956, 1968, 1970, 1979, 2001, 2006, 2022 **Baseball (9): 1927, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1949, 1972, 1974, 1990, 2017 **Cross country (2): 1961, 1966 **Football (11): 1900, 1921, 1922, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1981, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2004 **Golf (1): 1992 **Gymnastics (8): 1937, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2019 **Indoor track & field (5): 1926, 1929, 1963, 2021, 2022 **Outdoor track & field (5): 1963, 1967, 2011, 2019, 2021 **Swimming (3): 1936, 1981, 1982 **Tennis (1): 1958 **Wrestling (37): 1915, 1916, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2021 *Women **Basketball (13): 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2008, 2019, 2022 **Cross country (1): 1982 **Field hockey (13): 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2019, 2021 **Golf (1): 1991 **Softball (3): 1997, 2000, 2003 **Soccer (1): 2021 **Gymnastics (1): 2021 *See also: ** List of Big Ten Conference national championships **

List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships This is a list of U.S. universities and colleges that have won the most team sport national championships (more than 15) that have been bestowed for the highest level of collegiate athletic competition, be that at either the varsity or club level, ...

References

External links

* {{Iowa Sports