Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Tie for Most NCAA Championships in 2015-16
By Chip Rouse
It’s official, no NCAA Division I school has more 2015-16
in 2015-16 than the Oklahoma Sooners.
And if you add in close calls, or the number of NCAA championships this sports season in which Oklahoma was one of the final four teams competing for a national crown in a particular sport, the Sooners are unequaled at the top of the list.
Recently in this space I wrote and commented on the excellence of Sooner sports in 2015-16, and an analysis of the NCAA Division I championships held over the entire fall-winter-spring college sports season (for all collegiate team sports except baseball) makes that point even more emphatically.
For the record (as well as sports trivia for your next social gathering), national championships are held in 23 NCAA Division I sports, a dozen of which have both men’s and women’s components.
The University of Oklahoma competes in 13 different sports programs (nine men’s sports and 10 women’s sports). The Sooners won national titles in 2015-16 in two of those 13 sports (softball and gymnastics), and they were among the final four teams competing for a national championship in three other sports (football, basketball and men’s tennis).
In addition, the men’s golf team advanced to the Elite Eight round in the NCAA Golf Championship.
Oklahoma and Oregon both won a total of three team national championships in 2015-16 in two different sports. The Ducks’ national titles were in men’s golf (with a victory over Texas of the Big 12) and men’s and women’s indoor track and field. That was the most by any one school.
Four other schools won two national championships each: Penn State (wrestling and women’s soccer), Syracuse (men’s cross country and women’s field hockey), Stanford (men’s soccer and women’s tennis) and North Carolina (men’s and women’s lacrosse).
The College World Series, which determines the national champion in baseball (which Oklahoma has won twice in its history: 1951 and 1994), is currently in progress, but only won school among the eight CWS participants has won a national championship this sports season. The Florida Gators were crowned national champions in men’s outdoor track and field.
Texas is the only other Big 12 school to have a national championship to its credit in 2015-16. The Longhorns had top honors in men’s swimming and diving. That could change, however, with three Big 12 teams still alive in the College World Series (TCU, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech).