The Santa Clara Broncos are athletic teams that represent Santa Clara University. The school colors are red and white. The nicknames for teams is The Broncos and the student fans are referred to as the "Ruff Riders". The Broncos compete in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

(NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference of which Santa Clara is a charter member.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The Santa Clara University Broncos baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team that represents the school in NCAA Division I. Santa Clara Baseball competes in the West Coast Conference, of which the Broncos were a charter member. The Broncos play their home games on campus at Stephen Schott Stadium, which opened in 2005. The Broncos and are led by head coach

Rusty Filter Russell Dean Filter Sr. is an American college baseball coach and former catcher and pitcher. Filter is the head coach of the Santa Clara Broncos baseball team. Playing career Filter attended Mission Bay Senior High School in San Diego, Califo ...

, who is in his third season. Celebrating Tommy Medica (8) home run (cropped)

Santa Clara began play in 1883 and has enjoyed a long history of baseball excellence. Santa Clara has won eleven conference titles and appeared in twelve NCAA Tournaments, including a runner-up finish in the

1962 College World Series Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condit ...

. Individually, 34 Broncos have been named All-Americans, and 158 players have been drafted in the MLB Draft, with 48 players making it to the Major Leagues.

Men's basketball

Men's basketball played its first season in 1904. Since then, the men's basketball team has historically been a strong program within the West Coast Conference. The program has produced 13 All-Americans, with their first, Ralph Giannini, coming in the 1940 season. The program has produced NBA stars Steve Nash, and

Kurt Rambis Darrell Kurt Rambis (born February 25, 1958) is a Greek-American former professional basketball player and coach who is a senior basketball adviser for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he won fou ...

, as well as college stars Ken Sears and

Bob Feerick Robert Joseph Feerick (January 2, 1920 – June 8, 1976) was an American professional basketball player, coach and general manager. He was born in San Francisco, California. Playing career A 6'3" guard from Santa Clara University, Feerick played ...

. The Team has played in the NCAA tournament in 11 different seasons, reaching the 1952 Final Four. The 1992–1993 Santa Clara team, led by future NBA MVP Steve Nash, was one of 6 #15 seeds to defeat a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament. On February 12, 2007, the men's basketball team snapped Gonzaga's 50-game home winning streak. At the time, it was the longest ongoing home winning streak in the NCAA. The Broncos are led by head coach

Herb Sendek Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Santa Clara. Early life Herbert Joseph Sendek, Jr. of Slovak descent, grew up in Pittsburgh and attended ...

, a coach of the year in three different conferences, who is in his seventh season.

Women's basketball

Women's basketball played its first season in 1963. Since then, the women's basketball team has historically been a strong program within the West Coast Conference. The Women's Basketball team won the WNIT in 1991. The 2012–13 Santa Clara Broncos women's basketball team was another notable team. Head Coach JR Payne signed a contract with the Santa Clara Bronco in the 2014 season. Finishing with a record of 10–20 during the season of 2014–15, the Broncos came out with an outstanding record of 23–9 beating Stanford University on November 23, (61–58). Coach JR Payne accepted a head coaching position at Colorado University at the end of the 2015–16 season. In April 2016 the Broncos hired Bill Carr, who is currently in his fourth season as head coach.

Men's soccer

The men's soccer team is one of the nation's elite teams having since 2006 been among the top eight programs of the NCAA for developing professional players overall. The men's soccer team has reached the championship match of the College Cup three times. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, they faced the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

; both teams were declared co-champions after the game ended in a 1–1 tie. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, they again faced Virginia and again tied after regulation, this time 0–0, but lost on penalty kicks. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, they lost to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, 0–1. The men's soccer team is led by coach Cameron Rast, who is in his 19th season at Santa Clara.

Women's soccer

The women's soccer team is one of the nation's elite programs in the NCAA consistently ranking among the top ten teams nationally with twenty consecutive years in the Top 10. The program won the national title in the 2001 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, beating

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

1–0, and again in the 2020 NCAA Championship, defeating

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

4–1 on penalties. The team was mentioned several times in the film''

Bend It Like Beckham ''Bend It Like Beckham'' (also known as ''Kick It Like Beckham'') is a 2002 sports comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha from a screenplay by Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, and Guljit Bindra. The film stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knight ...

''. The team has had over 40 players in play in the top professional leagues in the country:

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

and National Women's Soccer League. The team's most famous player is Brandi Chastain who took the Broncos to two

NCAA 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 ...

Final Four appearances in 1989 and 1990. She would later be on the American Olympic team that won the gold medal in 1996 and the American World Cup teams that won in 1991 and 1999. Her husband Jerry Smith is the coach of the Santa Clara women's team, currently in his 35th season at the helm. Other notable players include Olympian

Aly Wagner Alyson Kay Wagner (born August 10, 1980) is an American sports broadcaster and retired soccer midfielder who last played for Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a two-time Ol ...

, 2015 and 2019 Women's World Cup champion

Julie Ertz Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

, and

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

OL Reign OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

player,

Sofia Huerta Sofia Christine Huerta (born December 14, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a right back for OL Reign in the National Women's Soccer League and the U.S. women's national soccer team. Huerta played collegiately for t ...

Former varsity sports

Football

Santa Clara University fielded an intercollegiate football team from 1896 to 1992. The Broncos were the first team to play the Cal Bears in Memorial Stadium. In Santa Clara's football heyday, they drew crowds of up to 60,000 to

Kezar Stadium Kezar Stadium is an outdoor athletics stadium in San Francisco, California, located adjacent to Kezar Pavilion in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park. It is the former home of the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders (first AFL s ...

in San Francisco, where they played home games. The Broncos competed favorably on a national scale, winning the 1937 and 1938 Sugar Bowls (both against

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

) and the 1950 Orange Bowl against

Paul "Bear" Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of t ...

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

, 21–13. Combatting increased costs, rising enrollments at public universities and the advent of professional football, Santa Clara dropped football in 1952. The team was reinstated in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. It competed favorably at the

college division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

(later Division II) level until football was once again discontinued in 1992, due to new

regulations which mandated all sports be played at the same level at each university. Santa Clara had fielded all Division I teams with the exception of the Division II football team, and elected not to field a team at the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

level. There is no indication football will return to the school in the future, although rumors of the return of Bronco football have not been put to rest. Advocates for the reinstatement of the football program argue that major collegiate football will generate enormous media buzz surrounding the small university.

Club sports

Men's

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

* Ultimate *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

Women's

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 ...

* Ultimate *

Coed

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

Cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...

Equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

Paintball Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy a ...

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throug ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

The Santa Clara Women's Lacrosse team has made it to nationals multiple years and placed 3rd in the 2011 season. In 2008, the Santa Clara Paintball Team made it to the final rounds of the NCPA national competition in Florida.

Rugby

The Santa Clara University Rugby Football Club has a rich history. The rugby team began in 1907, around the time that a number of California schools were dropping American football due to its violence.Santa Clara Rugby - History
Retrieved April 19, 2015. The team went undefeated in the 1916 regular season, and in the "Big Game" against Stanford — the only other undefeated rugby team that season — Santa Clara won 28–5. Santa Clara's Rudy Scholz was a member of the U.S. national rugby teams that won gold at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. Santa Clara rugby faded after that, however, and it was not until the 1960s that the rugby team was re-founded. Following their success on the DII national stage and the creation of the College Premier Division, Santa Clara made the move to DI in the Northern California League (Nor Cal League). In 2012 Santa Clara men's rugby won the 2012 Nor Cal Conference Championship and advanced to the round of 16 of the D1 National Playoffs. In 2013, Santa Clara was promoted to Division 1-A and played in the California conference. In 2014, Santa Clara finished second in the California conference, qualifying for the playoffs, beating Colorado State 49–12 in the round of 16, before losing to Saint Mary's in the quarterfinals."Santa Clara Moves on in DIA"
Rugby Mag, April 19, 2014. Santa Clara rugby is led by head coach Paul Keeler.

References

External links

* {{Golden Coast Conference navbox