The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division 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 athlet ...

. The Jayhawks are also a member of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. KU athletic teams have won fifteen national championships all-time, with twelve of those being NCAA Division I championships: four in men's basketball, one in men's cross country, three in men's indoor

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, three in men's outdoor track and field, and one in women's outdoor track and field. Kansas basketball also won two Helms Foundation National Titles in 1922 and 1923, and KU Bowling won the USBC National Title in 2004.

Mascot

Origins of "Jayhawk"

The name "Jayhawk" comes from the Kansas

Jayhawker Jayhawker and red leg are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs were ...

militias during the

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

era of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The term became part of the lexicon of the Missouri-Kansas border in about 1858, during the Kansas territorial period, as these militia groups began to grow in Kansas. Another historian of the territorial period described the Jayhawkers as bands of men that were willing to fight, kill, and rob for a variety of motives, including defense against pro-slavery "Border Ruffians", abolition of slavery, driving pro-

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

settlers from Kansas Territory and their claims of land, Christianity, revenge, or plunder and personal profit. In September 1861, the town of Osceola, Missouri, was burned to the ground by Jayhawkers during the

Sacking of Osceola The sacking of Osceola was a Kansas Jayhawker initiative on September 23, 1861, to push out pro-slavery Southerners at Osceola, Missouri. It was not authorized by Union military authorities but was the work of an informal group of anti-slavery K ...

. On the 150th anniversary of that event in 2011, the town asked the

to remove the Jayhawk as its mascot; although, the university refused. Over time, proud of their state's contributions to the end of slavery and the preservation of the Union, Kansans embraced the "Jayhawker" term. The term came to be applied to people or items related to Kansas. When the University of Kansas fielded their first football team in 1890, like many universities at that time, they had no official mascot. They used many different independent mascots, including a pig. During the 1890s, the team was referred to as the Jayhawkers by the student body. Over time, the name was gradually supplanted by its shorter variant, and KU's sports teams are now almost exclusively known as the Jayhawks. The Jayhawk appears in several Kansas cheers, most notably, the " Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" chant in unison before and during games. In the traditions promoted by KU, the jayhawk is said to be a combination of two birds, "the

blue jay The blue jay (''Cyanocitta cristata'') is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations ar ...

, a noisy, quarrelsome thing known to rob other nests; and the sparrow hawk, a stealthy hunter." The term Jayhawker was made famous in Clint Eastwood’s movie The Outlaw Josey Wales. An older Kansas couple comes into a general store in Texas. The checker says, “The wheat is from Kansas and the molasses comes from Missouri.” Grandma says, “Well sir we'll do without the molasses, anything from Missouri has a taint about it.” Grandpa says, “Now, Grandma, you’ve got to tread lightly now that we’re here in Texas. Lot of nice elements from Missouri coming West.” Grandma responds, “Never heard of nice things from Missouri coming West, and treading lightly is not my way. We’re from Kansas, Jayhawkers and proud of it.” The link between the term "Jayhawkers" and any specific kind of mythical bird, if it ever existed, had been lost or at least obscured by the time KU's bird mascot was invented in 1912. The originator of the first bird mascot, Henry Maloy, struggled for over two years to create a pictorial symbol for the team, until hitting upon the bird idea. As explained by Mr. Maloy, "the term ‘jayhawk’ in the school yell was a verb and the term ‘jayhawkers’ was the noun." KU's current Jayhawk tradition largely springs from Frank W. Blackmar, a KU professor. In his 1926 address on the origin of the Jayhawk, Blackmar specifically referenced the blue jay and sparrow hawk. Blackmar's address served to soften the link between KU's athletic team moniker and the Jayhawkers of the Kansas territorial period, and helped explain the relatively recently invented Jayhawk pictorial symbol with a myth that appears to have been of even more recent fabrication. More recently, however, the University and KU fans have again embraced the history of the Jayhawker moniker, with the football team, among other Varsity teams, donning civil war themed uniforms.

Costume mascots

Jayhawks Big Jay and

Baby Jay Baby Jay is one of the costume mascots of the Kansas Jayhawks. Together, Big Jay and Baby Jay are Jayhawks and are the mascots used by the University of Kansas. Another mascot named Centennial Jay was temporarily used in 2012. Baby Jay was c ...

are the costume

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

s used by the University of Kansas. Another Jayhawk costume mascot was Centennial Jay, or C Jay. C Jay was created by student cartoonist Henry Maloy and featured in the

University Daily Kansan The ''University Daily Kansan'' is an editorially independent student newspaper serving the University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branc ...

in 1912. Maloy's depiction of the Jayhawk helped answer the question of what the mythical bird would look like. When asked why he gave the bird shoes Maloy responded, "Why? For kicking opponents, of course." C Jay was reintroduced as a full-sized mascot on February 25, 2012 in the final Border War against

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Jayhawk. C Jay was used only in 2012 for the 100-year anniversary of the original Jayhawk design.

Sports sponsored

The University of Kansas officially sponsors 16 sports: 6 men's and 10 women's. There are also club-level sports for

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, and men's

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 Summ ...

. The school used to sponsor a

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

team, though the sport was discontinued during the 1960s.

Basketball

Men's basketball

The Jayhawks men's NCAA basketball program is one of the most successful and prestigious programs in the history of college basketball. The Jayhawks' first coach was the inventor of the game,

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...

. The program has produced some of the game's greatest professional players (including

Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian and American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's ...

Jo Jo White Joseph Henry White (November 16, 1946 – January 16, 2018) was an American professional basketball player. As an amateur, he played at the University of Kansas, where he was named a second-team All-American twice. White was part of the U.S. m ...

, and

Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...

) and most successful coaches (including

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...

Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...

, Dutch Lonborg,

John McLendon John B. McLendon Jr. (April 5, 1915 – October 8, 1999) was an American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any profes ...

, Larry Brown,

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...

, Roy Williams, and

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...

). The program has enjoyed considerable national success, having been retrospectively awarded

Helms Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

titles for the 1922 and 1923 seasons, winning NCAA national championships in 1952, 1988, 2008, and 2022, and playing in 16 Final Fours. The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team is one of only three programs to win more than 2,000 games. KU ranked 4th in Street & Smith's Annual list of 100 greatest college basketball programs of all time in 2005.

Women's basketball

Kansas first fielded a women's team during the 1968–69 season. For thirty-one seasons (1973–2004) the women's team was coached by

Marian Washington Marian Elizabeth Washington (born August 26, 1946) is a former women's basketball coach, mostly known for her career at the University of Kansas, a post she held for over 30 years. Throughout her career, Washington achieved multiple awards and a ...

, who led the team to three Big Eight championships, one Big 12 Championship, six conference tournament championships, eleven NCAA Tournament appearances and four

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

Tournament appearances. The team's best post-season result was a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1998. Bonnie Henrickson served as head coach from 2004 to 2015, until she was fired in March 2015. Brandon Schneider was hired to replace Henrickson in April 2015.

Football

KU began playing football in 1890. The football team has had notable alumni including

Gale Sayers Gale Eugene Sayers (May 30, 1943 – September 23, 2020) was an American professional football halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). Sayers played for the Chicago Bears from 1965 to 1971, though injuries effec ...

, a two-time All-American who later enjoyed an injury-shortened yet Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears;

John Riggins Robert John Riggins (born August 4, 1949), nicknamed "Riggo" and "Diesel", is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. He played c ...

, another Pro Football Hall of Famer and Super Bowl XVII MVP with the Washington Redskins; Pro Football Hall of Famer for the Cleveland Browns, Mike McCormack. Additional notable former Jayhawks

John Hadl John Willard Hadl (''Pronounced:'' HAY-dull) (February 15, 1940 – November 30, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for 16 years in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He w ...

Curtis McClinton Curtis Realious McClinton Jr. (born June 25, 1939) is an American former professional football player. His father, Curtis McClinton Sr., served in the Kansas Senate. McClinton attended Wichita North High School in Wichita, Kansas before attend ...

Dana Stubblefield Dana William Stubblefield (born November 14, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks. Early life After gradua ...

Bobby Douglass Robert Gilchrist Douglass (born June 22, 1947) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks ...

, Nolan Cromwell, and former NFL cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. The Jayhawks have appeared three times in the Orange Bowl, 1948, 1969 and 2008, winning in 2008. The team currently plays in Memorial Stadium (capacity 50,071), the seventh oldest college football stadium in the nation, which opened in 1921. Clint Bowen was named interim head coach after

Charlie Weis Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in ...

was fired September 28, 2014. On December 5, 2014, David Beaty was announced as the next head football coach.

Baseball

Kansas baseball began in 1867, and in 1880 became a varsity sport. It is one of the oldest intercollegiate college baseball programs in the United States. It produced notable players such as

Bob Allison William Robert Allison (July 11, 1934 – April 9, 1995) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), with the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins. Allison attended the University of ...

and

Steve Renko Steve Renko, Jr. (born December 10, 1944) is a former American right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Montreal Expos (1969–1976), Chicago Cubs (1976–1977), Chicago White Sox (1977), Oakland Athletics (1978), Boston Re ...

. The team has appeared in five NCAA tournaments (1993, 1994, 2006, 2009, 2014) and one College World Series (1993). As of March 11, 2025 the team holds a 2,071-1,991-18 record.

Softball

The Jayhawks softball team has appeared in seven

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 and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

, including five straight from 1973–77, as well as 1979 and 1992.

Golf

In 1949,

Marilynn Smith Marilynn Louise Smith (April 13, 1929 – April 9, 2019) was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won two women's major golf championships, major championships and 21 LPGA Tour events in ...

won the women's individual intercollegiate golf championship (an event conducted by the

Division of Girls' and Women's Sports The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

(DGWS) — which later evolved into the current NCAA women's golf championship). In

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, Kansas won the Columbus Regional, securing an appearance in the

NCAA Championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

and claiming the first regional championship in program history.

Soccer

Women's soccer at the University of Kansas got its start in 1995, and they play their games at Rock Chalk Park in northwest Lawrence, Kansas. The stadium holds 2,500 people, making it one of the larger stadiums in the Big 12 for soccer. The team is coached by Mark Francis, who is in his 25th season at KU as of 2023, with a record of 258-192-43. The team's overall record since 1995 is 283-240-46, with two Big 12 conference titles, a divisional title, and 9 appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Notable non-varsity sports

Rugby

Founded in 1964, Kansas Jayhawks Rugby Football Club plays

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

in the Division 1 Heart of America conference against its many of its traditional Big 8 / Big 12 rivals such as Kansas State and Missouri. Kansas finished the 2011 year ranked 24th. Kansas rugby has embarked on international tours since 1977, playing in Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, Holland, Scotland, England, Ireland and Argentina. The team plays its matches at the Westwick Rugby Complex, which was funded by $350,000 in alumni donations. Kansas often hosts the annual Heart of America sevens tournament played every September, the winner of which qualifies for the USA Rugby sevens national championship. Notable University of Kansas rugby all-Americans are: Pete Knudsen 1986, Paul King 1989–90, Anthony Rio 1992, Philip Olson 1993 all American, Joel Foster 1993, Collin Gotham 1993. In 2022 the club played in the USA Rugby D1AA spring national championship game, falling to Fresno State, 22–17.

Ice hockey

Competing in the ACHA, the Kansas Jayhawks Club Ice Hockey team has seen a resurgence in popularity since the team started scheduling games against historical rivals Missouri and Nebraska, starting on an annualized basis in 2013. The team is coached by Andy McConnell. The team's primary logo is the traditional Kansas Jayhawk logo, with the secondary logo paying homage to the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

classic logo, with the outline of the state of Kansas having a hockey stick running through the middle of it.

Championships

Conference championships and titles

The Jayhawks have won 177 conference championships across all sports in university history as of December 2024.

champions in men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball have the best conference regular season record, and conference tournament titles are awarded to the winner of the postseason championship tournament in men's basketball, baseball, softball, women's basketball, women's soccer, and tennis. Big 12 postseason championship games and matches are played in rowing, track and field, cross country, and football. ; Men's basketball The Jayhawks have won or shared an NCAA record 63 conference championships since they joined their first conference in 1907. The Jayhawks have belonged to the

since it was formed, before the 1996–97 season, and dominated it, winning 12 straight conference titles dating back to 2005. Before that, the Jayhawks have belonged to the

Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) was a college athletic conference and the second college conference formed upon its foundation on January 12, 1907.David A. Campaigne and John R. Thelin, "Big Twelve Conference", ...

from the 1907–08 to 1927–28 seasons, the

Big Six Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associati ...

from 1928–29 to 1946–47, the Big Seven Conference from 1947–48 to 1957–58, the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

from 1958–59 up until the end of the 1995–96 season. The Big Six and Big Seven conferences were actually the more often used names of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which existed under that official name until 1964, when it was changed to the Big Eight. Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (13) * 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1915, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 Big Six Conference (12) * 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946 Big Seven Conference (5) * 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957 Big Eight Conference (13) * 1960, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996 Big 12 Conference (20) * 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023 In addition to the 63 regular season conference championships, the Jayhawks have also won 28 conference tournament championships: Big 7 Holiday Tournament (4) * 1951, 1953, 1956, 1957, Big 8 Holiday Tournament (9) *1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1978, Big 8 Postseason Tournament (4) *1981, 1984, 1986, 1992, Big 12 Postseason Tournament (12) *1997, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2022 ; Football :1908 - MVIAA champion :1923 - MVIAA champion :1930 - Big 6 champion :1946 - Big 6 champion :1947 - Big 7 champion :1968 - Big 8 champion ; Women's basketball : 1979 – Big 8 tournament champion : 1980 – Big 8 tournament champion : 1981 – Big 8 tournament champion : 1987 – Big 8 regular season and tournament champion : 1988 – Big 8 tournament champion : 1992 – Big 8 regular season champion : 1993 – Big 8 tournament champion : 1996 – Big 8 regular season champion : 1997 – Big 12 champion ; Baseball : 1922 – MVIAA champion : 1923 – MVIAA champion : 1949 – Big 7 champion : 2006 – Big 12 tournament champion ; Soccer : 2004 – Big 12 regular season co-champion : 2019 - Big 12 tournament champion : 2024 – Big 12 tournament champion ; Softball : 2006 – Big 12 tournament champion ; Men's indoor track and field : 1922, 1923, 1934, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 ; Women's indoor track and field : 2013 ; Men's outdoor track and field : 1910, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1946, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982 ; Women's outdoor track and field : 2013 ; Men's cross country : 1928, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1968, 1969 ; Men's golf : 1999 ; Tennis : 1979, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2019 ; Women's volleyball : 2016

National Championships

Kansas has won 12 NCAA team national championships and 3 non-NCAA National Championships. Eleven of the twelve NCAA Championships have come from men's sports teams. The sole women's National Championship was from the outdoor track team in 2013. The last team National Championship was from the men's basketball team in 2022. Five different sports have won at least one championship.

NCAA team championships

* Men (11) **

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 (appro ...

(4): 1952, 1988, 2008, 2022 ** Cross country (1): 1953 **

Indoor track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(3): 1966, 1969, 1970 **

Outdoor track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(3): 1959, 1960, 1970 * Women (1) **

(1): 2013

Non-NCAA team championships

The Jayhawks have also won three national titles not awarded by the NCAA: * Men's

Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

(1): 2004 ( USBC intercollegiate champions) * Men's Basketball (2): 1922, 1923 (

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

retrospective selections)

Rivalries

Kansas State Wildcats (Sunflower Showdown)

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

is Kansas' in-state rival. The series between Kansas and Kansas State is known as the

Sunflower Showdown The Sunflower Showdown is the series of athletic contests between Kansas State University and the University of Kansas athletic programs, most notably football and men's basketball. The name is derived from a nickname for the state of Kansas a ...

Missouri Tigers (Border War)

The 160-year-old rivalry between Kansas and Missouri began with open violence that up to the American Civil War known as Bleeding Kansas that took place in the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

(

Sacking of Lawrence A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), a ...

) and the western frontier towns of

throughout the 1850s. The incidents were clashes between pro-slavery factions from both states and anti-slavery Kansans to influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. In the opening year of the war, six Missouri towns (the largest being

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Vsse Yvholv in Muscogee language, Creek, also spelled Asi-yahola), named Billy Powell at birth, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfa ...

) and large swaths of the western Missouri country side were plundered and burned by guerrilla "Jayhawkers" from Kansas. The

led to a retaliatory raid on Lawrence, Kansas two years later known as the

Lawrence Massacre The Lawrence Massacre (also known as Quantrill's Raid) was an attack during the American Civil War (186165) by Quantrill's Raiders, a Confederate guerrilla group led by William Quantrill, on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing ar ...

killing between 185 and 200 men and boys, which in turn led to the infamous

General Order No. 11 (1863) General Order No. 11 is the title of a Union Army directive issued during the American Civil War on August 25, 1863, forcing the abandonment of rural areas in four counties in western Missouri. The order, issued by Union General Thomas Ewing, J ...

, the forced depopulation of several western Missouri counties.Spurgeon, Ian (2009), ''Man of Douglas, man of Lincoln: the political odyssey of James Henry Lane'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 185–88 The raid on Lawrence was led by

William Quantrill William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865) was a Confederate States of America, Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. Quantrill experienced a turbulent childhood, became a schoolteacher, and joined a group ...

, a Confederate guerrilla born in Ohio who had formed his

bushwhacker Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War and other conflicts in which there were large areas of contested land and few governmental resources to control these tra ...

group at the end of 1861. At the time the Civil War broke out, Quantrill was a resident of Lawrence, Kansas teaching school. The athletic rivalry began with a football game on October 31, 1891. Currently it is the second longest played series in Division I football and has been described as one of the most intense in the nation. However, no regular season games were scheduled after Missouri accepted an offer to join the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

and Kansas refused Missouri's offer to continue rivalry outside of the conference. In the basketball series Kansas leads by a large margin (172-95 KU), in football Missouri leads by a very small margin (56-55-9 MU) and baseball Missouri leads by a large margin. Regular season games have been scheduled for basketball beginning in 2020 and football in 2025 for the first time since Missouri left for the SEC.

Dormant rivalries

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Kansas had a rivalry with the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

, though that rivalry had more to do with who had the better sports program, with Kansas priding itself on its basketball prowess and Nebraska on its football dominance. This rivalry of sports cultures has gone dormant with Nebraska's departure for the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

in 2011. Prior to 2011, the football series between the 2 schools was the 3rd most played rivalry in college football behind Minnesota-Wisconsin and Kansas-Missouri. In basketball, Kansas leads the all-time series 170–71.

Notable athletes

This list below is for Olympic medalists and Hall of Famers in their respective sport, with a single exception. For a more comprehensive list of notable athletes see .

Athletic directors

Kansas has had 16 full-time athletic directors and 8 interim athletic directors. W. O. Hamilton was the first official athletic director. Travis Goff has served as the athletic director since 2021. Longtime men's basketball coach

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"W. O. Hamilton, 1911–1919 *

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Gwinn Henry, 1938–1942 * Karl Klooz, 1943 (interim) * Ernie Quigley, 1944–1949 *

Arthur Lonborg Arthur C. "Dutch" Lonborg (March 16, 1898 – January 31, 1985) was an American college football, college basketball, and college baseball player, coach, and athletics administrator. Basketball The Gardner, Illinois native coached for 23 years a ...

, 1950–1963 * Wade R. Stinson, 1964–1972 * Clyde Walker, 1973–1977 * Bob Marcum, 1978–1981 * Del Shankel, 1981 (interim) * Jim Lessig, 1982 * Del Shankel, 1982 (interim) * Monte Johnson, 1982–1987 * Bob Frederick, 1987–2001 * Richard Konzem, 2001 (interim) * Allen Bohl, 2001–2003 * Drue Jennings, 2003 (interim) *

Lew Perkins Lew Perkins (March 24, 1945 – July 18, 2023) was an American athletic director. He ended his 40-year career at the University of Kansas (KU), having joined in June 2003, taking over for Al Bohl. Perkins previously held similar positions with ...

, 2003–2010 * Sean Lester, 2010–2011 (interim) *

Sheahon Zenger Sheahon Jay Zenger is an academic administrator currently serving as the 21st president for Illinois Wesleyan University. Earlier in his career, he held one of the highest-level athletics director positions in the nation at the University of Kan ...

, 2011–2018 * Sean Lester – 2018 (interim) * Jeff Long, 2018–2021 * Kurt Watson, (interim) 2021 * Travis Goff, 2021–present

Athletic department revenue

Total revenue includes Ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties. Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance. The following table shows the KU Athletics audit reports to the NCAA for each of the years shown.

References

Sources

External links

* {{Kansas Sports