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The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...
. The university is a member of 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 ...
and competes 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 ...
, fielding twenty-four
varsity team A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...
s (ten men's, fourteen women's) in sixteen sports. Twenty-one of these teams participate in the Big Ten, while rifle is a member of the single-sport Patriot Rifle Conference and beach volleyball and bowling compete as independents. The Cornhuskers are commonly referred to as the "Big Red" and have two official mascots, Herbie Husker and Lil' Red. Nebraska was a founding member of the short-lived Western Interstate University Football Association, one of college football's first conferences, in 1892, and helped form the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association fifteen years later. The MVIAA, which became the Big Eight in 1964, served as Nebraska's primary conference for the next eighty-nine years, with a brief hiatus during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In 1996, the Big Eight merged with four
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
schools from the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...
to form the
Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate 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, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...
. Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, a lucrative transition that separated the school from most of its traditional rivals. Nebraska's varsity athletic programs have won thirty-two national championships (eleven in
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 ...
, eight in men's gymnastics, five each in
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
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 ...
, and three in women's track and field) and 359 combined conference regular-season and tournament championships.


Nickname

The University of Nebraska did not have a nickname or mascot during its early decades, though many were used unofficially. NU's first football team wore gold and black and became known as the "Old Gold Knights," but it is unclear if the term was used contemporarily. In 1892, '' The Hesperian Student'' (later ''The Daily Nebraskan'') urged the adoption of new colors due to the number of universities – specifically WIUFA rivals
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
and
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 ...
– already using gold or yellow, and selected scarlet and cream as they were considered "bright and attractive." Throughout the 1890s the team may have gone by "Antelopes" and "Rattlesnake Boys," but the most well-known of Nebraska's early nicknames is "Bugeaters," a reference to the state's meager food supply during an 1870s drought when farmers purportedly resorted to eating bugs. Many Nebraskans appreciated the rugged characterization despite its negative connotations. The first documented use of "Cornhuskers" appeared in the March 17, 1894 issue of ''
The Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...
'', in reference to a Western League baseball team from Sioux City that later became the
Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...
. Six months later, the term appeared in ''The Hesperian Student'' ("We have met the corn huskers and they are ours!"); it was used as a derisive reference to
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
and not as an athletic nickname. '' Nebraska State Journal'' (later the ''Lincoln Journal Star'') sportswriter and state native
Cy Sherman Charles Sumner "Cy" Sherman (March 10, 1871 – May 22, 1951) was an American journalist and is known as the "father of the Cornhuskers" after giving the Nebraska Cornhuskers football, University of Nebraska football team the name "Cornhusker ...
hated the Bugeaters moniker and began using "Cornhuskers," which wasn't applied to Nebraska until Sherman did so in 1899. It caught on quickly and was adopted by the university in 1900, and later by the state of
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
itself, which became " The Cornhusker State" in 1946. Sherman is known as "the father of the Cornhuskers" and later founded college football's AP poll.


Varsity sports


Baseball

Nebraska established a baseball program in 1889, making it the school's oldest active varsity sport. The team was disjointed in its first decades, often disbanding for years at a time. The hiring of Tony Sharpe in 1947 brought stability but limited success – Sharpe and his successor John Sanders combined to lead fifty-one seasons, making just three postseason appearances. Dave Van Horn was hired in 1998 and established a national power, culminating in Nebraska's first
College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...
appearances in 2001 and 2002, a landmark moment for a state that has hosted the event since 1950. Assistant Mike Anderson took over for Van Horn and led NU to its best-ever season, finishing 57–15 and reaching another College World Series in 2005. Anderson did not sustain this success and was fired in 2011, the same year Nebraska transitioned to the
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...
. NU has experienced little national success since joining the conference. Nebraska has been to eighteen NCAA Division I tournaments and three College World Series. Sixteen players have been named first-team All-Americans and Alex Gordon won the 2005 Golden Spikes Award as the country's best amateur player. Nebraska plays its home games at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park, built in 2001 to replace the aging Buck Beltzer Stadium. *Conference championships (8): 1929, 1948, 1950, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2017, 2021 *Conference tournament championships (5): 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2024 *
College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...
appearances (3): 2001, 2002, 2005


Basketball

;Men Prior to the creation of the NCAA tournament, Nebraska was a
Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
power under head coaches Raymond G. Clapp and Ewald O. Stiehm. NU struggled through the post-
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
years, which included a stretch of twenty-eight years with just two winning seasons that stretched into the 1960s. Much of the team's modest modern-day success came during the fourteen-year tenure of Danny Nee, Nebraska's winningest head coach. Nee led the Cornhuskers to five of their eight NCAA Division I tournament appearances and won the 1996 National Invitation Tournament, NU's first national postseason title. Nebraska has reached the NCAA tournament just twice since Nee was fired in 2000. In 2019, NU hired former
Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...
head coach Fred Hoiberg, who led the Cornhuskers to the inaugural College Basketball Crown championship in 2025. Nebraska's men's and women's basketball teams have played at West Haymarket Arena (known as Pinnacle Bank Arena for sponsorship purposes) since its construction in 2013. *Conference championships (6): 1912, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1949, 1950 *Conference tournament championships (1): 1994 ;Women Nebraska's women's basketball history began with a short-lived club team in the early 1900; the program was shuttered until the 1972 enactment of
Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...
. Angela Beck took Nebraska to its first NCAA Division I tournament and won the 1988 Big Eight championship. Under Beck, Karen Jennings won the Wade Trophy as the country's best player in 1992–93. Connie Yori, hired from Creighton in 2002, steadily built a national contender, culminating in a 2009–10 season that was the best in school history – NU started 30–0 and became the first Big 12 team to complete an undefeated regular season. Kelsey Griffin was a national player of the year finalist and Yori was named national coach of the year. Forward Jordan Hooper led Nebraska into the Big Ten and earned first-team All-America honors in 2013–14, the same season NU won its first conference tournament. Yori was forced to resign after an administrative investigation in 2016, and Nebraska turned to former player Amy Williams to lead the program. *Conference championships (2): 1988, 2010 *Conference tournament championships (1): 2014


Bowling

Nebraska's bowling program was founded as a club team in 1983 and became a varsity sport in 1997. It is the most successful collegiate program in bowling history, winning eleven national championships and qualifying for every NCAA championship. Most of this success came under Bill Straub, who coached for thirty-six years and granted the first full scholarships in bowling history. The team has been coached by longtime assistant Paul Klempa since Straub's retirement in 2019. Bowling competes as an independent, making it one of three programs at Nebraska not affiliated with the
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...
. *WIBC (5) / NCAA (6) championships: 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2021


Cross country

Nebraska's men's cross country team was established in 1938, winning its only conference championship two years later. The women's program was established in 1975. Megan Elliott has coached both teams since 2024. *Men's conference championships (1): 1940 *Women's conference championships (5): 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993


Football

Nebraska is among the most storied programs in college football history, winning forty-six conference championships and five national championships, along with seven unclaimed national titles. Its 1971 and 1995 teams are considered among the best ever.
Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...
winners
Johnny Rodgers Johnny Steven Rodgers (born July 5, 1951) is an American former professional football player. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and won the Heisman Trophy in 1972. Rodgers played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) w ...
,
Mike Rozier Michael M. Rozier (born March 1, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the United States Football League (USFL) for two seasons and the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons from 1985 to 1 ...
, and Eric Crouch join twenty-four other Cornhuskers in the
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...
. The program's first extended period of success came early in the twentieth century. Between 1900 and 1916, Nebraska had five undefeated seasons and a stretch of thirty-four games without a loss. The Cornhuskers won twenty-four conference championships prior to
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
but struggled through the postwar years until Bob Devaney was hired in 1962. Devaney built Nebraska into a national power, winning two national championships and eight conference titles in eleven seasons as head coach. Offensive coordinator Tom Osborne was named Devaney's successor in 1973 and over the next twenty-five years established himself as one of the best coaches in college football history with his trademark I formation offense and revolutionary strength, conditioning, and nutrition programs. Following Osborne's retirement in 1997, Nebraska cycled through five head coaches before hiring Matt Rhule in 2023. Nebraska has played its home games at Memorial Stadium since 1923 and
sold out To "sell out" is to compromise one's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles in exchange for personal gain, such as money or power. In terms of music or art, selling out is associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream or ...
every game at the venue since 1962. *Conference championships (46): 1894, 1895, 1897, 1907, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 * National championships (claimed in bold) (12): 1915, 1970, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997


Golf

Nebraska's men's golf program was established in 1935 and has reached the NCAA Division I championship four times, most recently in 1999. Steve Friesen won the 1999 Ben Hogan Award as the country's best golfer under the guidance of longtime head coach Larry Romjue. The team has been coached by Judd Cornell since 2023. A women's program was started 1975, initially led by Romjue. The Cornhuskers have played in fourteen NCAA regionals, advancing to the NCAA Division I championship three times. Kate Smith represented the program in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup. The university does not own or operate a golf course, and both teams use courses around Lincoln to practice and host tournaments. *Men's conference championships (2): 1936, 1937 *Women's conference championships (2): 1976, 1983


Gymnastics

;Men Since being established in 1939, Nebraska's men's gymnastics program has won eight national championships and forty-two NCAA event titles. The bulk of this success came under head coach Francis Allen, a former All-American who led the program for forty seasons. Twelve Cornhuskers have participated in the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
and combined to win four gold medals. The team has been coached by Chuck Chmelka since 2010. NU is one of just twelve Division I universities that sponsors a men's gymnastics program. *All-around national champions (9): Jim Hartung (1980, 1981), Wes Suter (1985), Tom Schlesinger (1987), Kevin Davis (1988), Patrick Kirksey (1989), Dennis Harrison (1994), Richard Grace (1995), Jason Hardabura (1999) *Conference championships (15): 1964, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999 *NCAA championships (8): 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1990, 1994 ;Women Nebraska's women's gymnastics program has won twenty-five conference championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament twenty-nine times. Most of the program's success came under head coach Dan Kendig, who led NU for twenty-five years and made twelve Super Six appearances. Michelle Bryant, Heather Brink, and Richelle Simpson combined to win five individual NCAA championships and are among NU's eighty-three All-Americans. The team has been coached by Heather Brink since Kendig's retirement in 2019. *All-around national champions (2): Heather Brink (2000), Richelle Simpson (2003) *Conference championships (2): 2014, 2017 *Conference tournament championships (23): 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013


Rifle

Rifle competes in the Patriot Rifle Conference, making it the only program at Nebraska in a conference other than the Big Ten. NU has reached twenty NCAA championships and produced four individual national champions. The team has been coached by Richard Clark since 2024. The team trains at an indoor firing range in the John J. Pershing Military and Naval Science Building. Although the NCAA classifies rifle as coeducational, Nebraska has fielded an all-female team since its establishment in 1998 and is one of twenty-nine NCAA rifle programs. *National champions: Nicole Allaire , Kristina Fehlings – , Rachel Martin – , Cecelia Ossi – *Conference championships (1): 2006 *Conference tournament championships (2): 2005, 2006


Soccer

Nebraska has been coached by John Walker since it became the first Big Eight school to sponsor women's soccer in 1994. Nebraska finished 23–1–0 and reached the national quarterfinal in 1996, the beginning of a five-year stretch in which NU achieved most of its national success. The program has reached in thirteen NCAA Division I tournaments and won a combined eleven conference championships across the Big 12 and Big Ten. Eleven former Cornhuskers have competed in the
FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...
, most of them for Walker's native
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. Nebraska has played its home games at Barbara Hibner Soccer Stadium since 2015. *Conference championships (5): 1996, 1999, 2000, 2013, 2023 *Conference tournament championships (7): 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2013


Softball

Nebraska's softball program was sanctioned as a varsity sport in 1977 and reached the inaugural
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 ...
five years later. Though the team was often surrounded by controversy, NU was highly successful through the 1980s, advancing to the WCWS four more times and finishing national runner-up in 1985 under head coach Wayne Daigle. Rhonda Revelle was hired in 1993 and turned Nebraska into a postseason regular and fixture in the national top twenty-five. In 1998, Nebraska completed the first undefeated season in Big 12 history and returned to the Women's College World Series – Revelle became the third person to reach the WCWS as a player and a head coach, and the first to do it at the same school. NU reached a third WCWS under Revelle in 2013, the same year she won her 768th game to pass former baseball coach John Sanders for the most victories by any coach at the university. Nebraska has played at Bowlin Stadium, part of the Haymarket Park complex, since 2002. *Conference championships (10): 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2014 *Conference tournament championships (9): 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1998, 2000, 2004 *
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 ...
appearances (8): 1982, 1984, ''1985'', 1987, 1988, 1998, 2002, 2013


Swimming and diving

Nebraska sponsored a men's aquatics program from 1921 until 2001. The program was discontinued by athletic director Bill Byrne due to budgetary concerns, though it may have been hastened by a scholarship manipulation investigation that resulted in the suspension and eventual resignation of longtime head coach Cal Bentz. Under Bentz, future Olympic gold medalists Penelope Heyns and Adam Pine won NU's first NCAA Division I individual championships. Since 2001, the university has sponsored only a women's team. The team has been coached by Pablo Morales since 2001. Nebraska has hosted meets at the Devaney Center Natatorium since its construction in 1976. *Men's conference championships: 1928, 1929, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 *Women's conference championships: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998


Tennis

Nebraska's men's tennis program was established in 1928 and has reached the NCAA Division I championships just three times. In 1989, Steven Jung was the NCAA Singles runner-up and was named NU's first All-American. The team has been coached by Peter Kobelt since 2023. A women's program was established in 1976 and has made the NCAA Division I championship six times, most recently in 2013. German Dalmagro was named the program's tenth head coach in 2023 following the retirement of Scott Jacobson. Both programs have hosted matches at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center since 2015. *Women's conference championships (4): 1977, 1978, 2013, 2020


Track and field

Track and field became Nebraska's second varsity sport in 1889, competing infrequently until the MVIAA began sponsoring an outdoor championship in 1908. The team has won thirty-eight indoor and thirty-one outdoor conference championships, producing thirty-six individual national champion. A women's team was created in 1976 and has won twenty-four indoor and eighteen outdoor conference championships with thirty-seven national champions. Nebraska's only three team national titles came in the early 1980s in women's indoor competition, led by Jamaican sprinter and nine-time Olympic medalist
Merlene Ottey Merlene Joyce Ottey (born 10 May 1960) is a Jamaican-Slovenian former track and field sprint (running), sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica in 1978 and continued to do so for 24 years before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 20 ...
. Gary Pepin retired in 2022 after four decades as Nebraska's head coach and assistant Justin St. Clair was named his replacement. The programs host indoor meets at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and outdoor meets at an incomplete facility on Nebraska Innovation Campus. *Men's indoor conference championships (38): 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1949, 1951, 1963, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2015, 2016, 2019 *Men's outdoor conference championships (29): 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1929, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1950, 1966, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016 *Women's indoor conference championships (24): 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012 *Women's indoor
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 ...
(1) /
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 ...
(2) championships: 1982, 1983, 1984 *Women's outdoor conference championships (18): 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2005


Volleyball

Nebraska's volleyball program was established in 1975 and has become one of the most decorated in the sport – Nebraska has won more games, spent more weeks ranked number one, and produced more AVCA All-Americans than any other program. Head coach Terry Pettit, hired in 1977, turned the Cornhuskers into a national power at a time when the sport was traditionally dominated by West Coast schools. He produced NU's first national championship in 1995 before handing the program over to assistant John Cook five years later. Cook led the NCAA's second-ever undefeated season in his debut as head coach and soon established himself as one of the best coaches in the sport's history, winning four national championships and producing some of volleyball's biggest stars, including Sarah Pavan, Jordan Larson, and Lexi Rodriguez. Cook retired in 2025, assisting in the selection of Dani Busboom Kelly as his successor. Nebraska regularly leads the NCAA in attendance and has competed in several of the highest-attended and most-watched volleyball games ever played. The university hosted Volleyball Day in Nebraska at Memorial Stadium on August 30, 2023; the recorded attendance of 92,003 was a record for any women's sporting event. Nebraska played nearly four decades at the NU Coliseum until moving to the larger Bob Devaney Sports Center in 2012, and has sold out every home game since 2001 across both venues. *Conference championships (36): 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024 *Conference tournament championships (18): 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995 *NCAA Division I national semifinal (18): 1986, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024 *NCAA Division I championships (5): 1995, 2000, 2006, 2015, 2017 ;Beach volleyball Nebraska's beach volleyball program was established in 2013 as a training and recruiting tool for its indoor team, and the rosters typically include the same players. Indoor head coach John Cook led the beach team until turning the program over to assistant Jaylen Reyes in 2023. Nebraska remains one of few beach volleyball programs throughout the Midwest and generally plays the bulk of its season during a spring trip to
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, and does not attempt to qualify for the sixteen-team NCAA championship.


Wrestling

Since its inception in 1911, Nebraska's wrestling program has won seven conference tournament titles and produced eleven individual NCAA champions with 136 All-America selections. Rulon Gardner and
Jordan Burroughs Jordan Ernest Burroughs (born July 8, 1988) is an American freestyle wrestler and former folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 74 kilograms. In freestyle, Burroughs was the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, and is a six-time world champion ...
became Olympic gold medalists after their collegiate careers; Burroughs is the most decorated American wrestler of all-time and is considered one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers ever. The team has been coached by Mark Manning since 2000. Nebraska primarily hosted meets at the NU Coliseum from 1926 until moving to the larger Bob Devaney Sports Center in 2013. *Individual national champions (13): Mike Nissen , Jim Scherr , Bill Scherr , Jason Kelber , Tony Purler , Tolly Thompson , Brad Vering , Jason Powell , Paul Donahoe ,
Jordan Burroughs Jordan Ernest Burroughs (born July 8, 1988) is an American freestyle wrestler and former folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 74 kilograms. In freestyle, Burroughs was the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, and is a six-time world champion ...
, Ridge Lovett , Antrell Taylor *Conference championships (7): 1911, 1915, 1924, 1949, 1993, 1995, 2009


Club sports

The
University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...
sponsors forty-one club programs:
angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...
,
badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
,
barbell A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment used in weight training, bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman, consisting of a long bar, usually with weights attached at each end. Barbells range in length ...
, baseball, women's basketball, bowling,
broomball Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter sport, winter and ball sport played on ice or snow. It is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on the climate and location. It is most popularly played in Canada and the ...
,
climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders) to small boulders. Climbing is done for locom ...
,
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
,
curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...
,
cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
,
dodgeball Dodgeball is a team sports, team sport in which players on two opposing teams try to throw balls and hit opponents while avoiding being hit themselves. The objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them w ...
,
figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...
, figure 8 racing, men's ice hockey, women's ice hockey, golf,
judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
, men's
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact 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 w ...
, women's lacrosse, sports officiating,
pickleball Pickleball is a racket or paddle sport in which two or four players use a smooth-faced paddle to hit a perforated, hollow plastic ball over a net until one side is unable to return the ball or commits a rule infraction. Pickleball is played i ...
, roundnet,
rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...
, men's rugby, running,
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, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
,
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
,
skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...
, men's soccer, women's soccer, softball, swimming,
table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...
,
taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
, tennis, men's ultimate frisbee, women's ultimate frisbee, men's volleyball, women's volleyball, and
water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...
.


Athletic directors

In its earliest days, the Nebraska Department of Athletics had no central figure; the department's first leaders typically were part-time officials who held others titles and responsibilities. The first "Athletics Manager" was multi-sport coach Raymond G. Clapp, who filled the role from 1902 to 1905. It became a full-time position in 1920 and was first held by Fred Luehring. Beginning with Luehring, Nebraska recognizes seventeen official athletic directors, though at least fourteen others have held the role in an interim or ''de facto'' capacity. NU's longest-serving athletic director was Bob Devaney, who led the department from 1967 to 1992. Including Devaney, five members of the
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...
have held the position.


Home venues


Olympians

A total of 124 Nebraska athletes have combined to make 181 appearances in the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
. Nebraska athletes and coaches have won sixty-three medals, including nineteen gold medals, while representing thirty-one countries.
Merlene Ottey Merlene Joyce Ottey (born 10 May 1960) is a Jamaican-Slovenian former track and field sprint (running), sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica in 1978 and continued to do so for 24 years before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 20 ...
is Nebraska's most decorated Olympian in terms of medals won, winning three silver and seven six bronze across seven Olympic Games, a record for
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 ...
competitors. South African swimmer Penelope Heyns – the only Cornhusker with multiple gold medals – is the only woman to ever win the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events at the same Olympiad.


Mascots

The University of Nebraska used many unofficial mascots in its early decades, most often an anthropomorphic ear of corn. The first to appear on the sideline was Corncob Man, a man in green overalls with an ear of corn for a head who debuted in 1955. In the 1960s the university sought a more "representative" mascot and created Husky the Husker, a ten-foot-tall farmer who soon gave way to Mr. Big Red (more commonly known as Harry Husker). Harry was nearly as tall as Husky but wore a red blazer and wide-brim cowboy hat. At the 1974 Cotton Bowl Classic, NU associate athletic director Don Bryant saw artist Dirk West's interpretation of a Cornhusker – an enormous, clumsy farmer smiling and holding a football – on a press box wall and hired him to refine it into a new mascot. "Herbie Husker" made his first appearance on the cover of Nebraska's 1974 football media guide and was adopted as the school's first official mascot in 1977. Herbie is a blond-haired, blue-eyed farmer with a pronounced barrel chest and a
cleft chin The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible ( mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm. Evolution The presence of a well-developed chin is considered to be one ...
. He dresses in denim overalls, a white undershirt, and a red cowboy hat with an ear of corn in his pocket. In logo form, Herbie holds a football in his right arm, but various sport-specific versions exist. Since 1993, Herbie has been joined by Lil' Red, a blond-haired, blue-eyed inflatable farm boy who stands over eight feet tall. Lil' Red was initially intended to represent the school's volleyball team and appeal to younger fans. He became so popular that the university discontinued the use of Herbie in 1995, though he was later reinstated. Nebraska says Herbie and Lil' Red are not intended to be related, but describes them as "best friends."


Fan support

Decades of high attendance and well-traveling crowds across all sports have earned Nebraska fans a reputation for being fiercely loyal and dedicated. The school's athletic department proclaimed their fans "the greatest fans in college football" in an inscription above each of the twenty-four gates at Memorial Stadium. In 2001, President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
stated that he "can't go without saying how impressed I am by the Nebraska fan base. Whether it be for women's volleyball or football, there's nothing like the Big Red." Memorial Stadium is sometimes referred to as ''The Sea of Red'' due to the home crowd's propensity to wear the color. Nebraska has sold out every home football game since November 3, 1962; at 389 it is the longest sellout streak in college athletics history. The streak, historically a source of pride for the school and its fans, has been scrutinized in the decades following Tom Osborne's retirement as NU's athletic department has occasionally been forced to sell a large number of tickets at a discounted rate to keep the streak alive. Cornhuskers fans are noted for often applauding the visiting team as they leave the field at the end of the game. Nebraska is considered to have one of the best-traveling fanbases in the country – the most famous example of this occurred in 2000, when an estimated 35,000 Nebraska fans watched No. 1
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
defeat No. 25 Notre Dame at
Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor college football, football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, Fighting Irish football team. It was built in 1930 under the guidance of Knute Ro ...
. Nebraska's volleyball program has sold out 303 consecutive matches between the Nebraska Coliseum and Devaney Center, the longest streak of its kind in women's college sports. The Cornhuskers have led the country in attendance for nine straight seasons, and have played in nine of the ten highest-attended college volleyball matches ever played. Nebraska's five-set loss to
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
in the 2021 national championship match broke college volleyball records for both attendance and viewership.


Academic honors and awards


Notes


References


External links

* {{Nebraska Sports