The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado Boulder. The university sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffaloes.[2] "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993.[2] The nickname was selected by the campus newspaper in a contest with a $5 prize in 1934 won by Andrew Dickson of Boulder.
The university participates as a member of the Pac-12 Conference (Big 12 Conference beginning July 1, 2024) at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division IFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level.[3] Rick George was announced as the sixth athletic director in program history on July 17, 2013,[4] following the resignation of Mike Bohn, and after an interim appointment by former Women's Basketball Head Coach former deputy athletic director Ceal Barry. Colorado has won 29 national championships in its history, with 20 in skiing, the most recent coming in 2015. It was ranked #14 of "America's Best Sports College" in a 2002 analysis performed by Sports Illustrated.[5]
Colorado does not have intercollegiate men's programs in baseball, tennis, soccer, lacrosse, or volleyball. There is no women's softball program, one of three Pac-12 members without.
History
Competitive football began on the Boulder campus in 1890. Early games, which bore more resemblance to rugby than modern football, were played against the School of Mines and Utah. The football stadium, originally "Colorado Stadium," was opened in 1924 and was officially renamed Folsom Field in November 1944 to honor Coach Fred Folsom, one of the most respected college football coaches of his day.
In 1934, the university's intercollegiate teams were officially nicknamed the "Buffaloes." Previous nicknames used by the press included the "Silver Helmets" and "Frontiersmen." The final game of 1934, against the University of Denver, saw also the inaugural running of a bison in a Colorado football game. A bison calf was rented from a local ranch and ran along the sidelines.
The year 1947 marked key point in race relations on campus. The Buffaloes joined the Big Eight Conference. However, Missouri and Oklahoma had rules which would not have allowed them to challenge teams with "colored" players. A student outcry, led by campus paper Silver and Gold, led to a movement against these Jim Crow restrictions which expanded to all the campuses of the Big 7 and eventually led to their repeal.
On June 10, 2010, the Buffaloes announced that they would join the Pacific-10 Conference, soon renamed the Pac-12 Conference, in all sports beginning on July 1, 2011.[6]
On July 27, 2023, the Buffaloes announced that they would rejoin the Big 12 Conference in all sports beginning in the 2024–25 academic year.[7]
On July 1, 2011, the school joined the Pac-12 Conference, along with Utah. A total of 12 of CU's 17 varsity sports compete in the Pac-12, except the ski teams, indoor track & field teams and the lacrosse team. The ski teams participate in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA), of which it has been a member since 1947, along with fellow Pac-12 newcomer Utah. The indoor track & field teams participate in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) as the Pac-12 doesn't sponsor indoor track. Women's lacrosse was added in the spring of 2014; that team competed in the MPSF until the Pac-12 Conference added women's lacrosse as a sport for the 2018 season.[8]
The Colorado football program is 16th on the all-time NCAA Division I win list and 22nd in all-time winning percentage (.614). Since Folsom Field was built in 1924, the Buffaloes have been 280–132–10 (.675) at home. The Nebraska game in 2006 was CU's 1100th football game. Bill McCartney is the most famous head coach, leading Colorado to its only national championship in 1990. Current head coach Deion Sanders was approved by the university's board of regents in December 2022.[9]
Beginning competitive play in 1890, Colorado has enjoyed much success through its history. The team has won numerous bowl games (27 appearances in bowl games (12-15), 23rd (tied) all-time prior to 2004 season), 8 Colorado Football Association Championships (1894–97, 1901–08), 1 Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference (1909), 7 RFMAC Championships (1911, 1913, 1923, 1924, 1934, 1935, 1937), 4 Mountain States Conference Championships (1939, 1942–44), 5 Big Eight (Six) conference championships (1961, 1976, 1989, 1990, 1991), 1 Big 12 conference championship (2001), 4 Big 12 North Championships (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005), and an Associated Press national championship in 1990. The team holds rivalries with Nebraska, Colorado State, and Utah.
They play at the CU Events Center on campus and are 465-179 (.722) at home, through the 2020-21 season, including 139-24 (.853) in 11 years under coach Tad Boyle.
Women's Basketball started at Colorado in 1975. The team has had seven coaches and the current coach is JR Payne.
Skiing
The CU ski team competes as a member of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, as CU is one of two members of the Big-12 along with Utah that competes in skiing. Colorado is one of the dominant programs in the NCAA in skiing, winning 21 total national championships, including 20NCAA Championships, most recently in 2024. The Buffaloes have won 29 RMISA championships, most recently in 2024. The Buffaloes have had 53 individuals connected to the school participate in the Olympics 85 times. Colorado has had 105 individual national champions, including Magnus Boee men's Nordic titles in 2021(2), and 2024 (20k), Cassidy Gray winning the women's GS championship in 2021, and Magdalena Luczak sweeping the alpine events in 2024. [10]
The men won the first twelve Big 12 Conference titles in the conference's history and the women won 11 of the first 12 (all but 1998-99), with the two teams combining for 23 of the 32 championships awarded before the Buffs left the Big 12 in 2011 to join the Pac-12. Since joining the Pac-12 Conference, the Colorado men won their first six conference titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and the Colorado women have claimed four conference titles, including three consecutive following a shot lapse (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017).
Baseball
The Colorado Buffaloes baseball team was discontinued after the 1980 season.[11] Baseball, wrestling, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming, and women's diving comprised the seven programs that were discontinued on June 11, 1980, due to budget cuts.[11][12][13] Colorado is the only Pac-12 school and one of only four Power 5 schools that do not sponsor baseball, the other three being Iowa State, Syracuse and Wisconsin.
Colorado's rugby program was founded in 1967. The Buffaloes play in the Western Division of Division I-A, where they play against local rivals such as Colorado State and less localized teams like the New Mexico and Utah State.[14] The Buffaloes are led by head coach Murray Wallace, assisted by John Barkmeier Chris Dyas, Justin Holshuh, Conor Sears, and Steve Brown. Kevin Whitcher coaches the Buffaloes sevens team.[15]
The Buffaloes have consistently been ranked among the top college rugby teams in the country.
Colorado's best run was 1984–1985, when it reached the 1984 national finals before losing 12-4 to powerhouse Cal, and finished third in the 1985 national playoffs losing again to eventual champion Cal, this time in the semifinals.[16] More recently, in 2008 the Buffaloes went 15-3 and reached the semifinals of the national championships.[17] Colorado won the 2011 Pac-12 rugby sevens tournament, defeating Utah 14–12 in the final,[18] to qualify for the 2011 USA Rugby collegiate rugby sevens national championship. Colorado finished the 2011–12 season ranked 14th in the nation.[19] In the 2012–13 season, Colorado defeated Wisconsin 54-24 to advance to the national D1-A quarterfinals, before losing to St. Mary's.[20] The Buffs also won the plate final in the 2015–2016 season at the Las Vegas Invitational 7s tournament in the college bracket. Most recently the Buffs lost in the plate final to Clemson in the inaugural international Red Bull University Sevens tournament.[21]
Cycling
Founded in 1983 by Jim Castagneri, the cycling team was taken to the national championships in 1987 by 1992 Olympian John Stenner. The CU cycling team frequently ranks in the top five USA Cycling Collegiate teams in both road cycling and mountain biking disciplines. They have won the national championship on several occasions, including 2005, when they won in both disciplines.[22] Many members of the club have gone on into professional cycling, including Sepp Kuss and Tyler Hamilton.
A founding club member of the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference,[23] the team is open to any student who pays annual dues and meets a minimum amount of credits during the semester. The members include nearly every different type of cyclist, from BMX riders, trials, and bicycle commuters to elite amateur or part-time professional road and mountain riders. Specifically, to qualify for road or mountain nationals, a rider must have enough high race results to upgrade to "A" category in the USA Cycling rankings. A number of "A" riders will be chosen by the coaches to represent CU at the national championships. The number of riders the team is allowed to send is based on how well the team did overall during the season.
Note: Skiing was a men's NCAA sport from 1954–82 and became co-ed in 1983. The AIAW sponsored women's skiing and a national championship from 1977-82 before being absorbed by the NCAA at which time skiing became co-ed.
Traditions
The University has had several fight songs that have lost and gained popularity over the years. The oldest, "Glory Colorado", is sung to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and has been around nearly as long as the school. Glory Colorado is considered to represent all campuses of the University. "Go Colorado" was originally sung exclusively by the Glee Club at football games, though it is now played and known almost exclusively by members of the Golden Buffalo Marching Band. The most popular of the three fight songs and the most widely recognized is "Fight CU." Originally sung by the football team, the song has gained enough popularity that few people outside the band know that it is not the only fight song of the university. The original version included the line "fight, fight for every yard" but the line was changed to "fight, fight for victory" to allow the song to be used for all sports, not just football.
Mascots
The two mascots present at all football games are Ralphie,[25] a live buffalo, and Chip, a costumed mascot who was selected to the 2003 Capital One All-America Mascot Team and won the 2009, 2010 and 2020 UCA Mascot National Championships. Ralphie is actually Ralphie VI and leads the football team onto the field at the beginning of the first and second halves. A buffalo leading the team onto the field dates as far back as 1934 and the Ralphie tradition began in 1966. In 1934 after the selection of Buffaloes as a nickname when a group of students paid $25 to rent a buffalo calf and cowboy as his keeper for the last game of the season. The calf was the son of Killer, a famed bison at Trails End Ranch in Fort Collins, Colorado. It took the cowboy and four students to keep the calf under control on the sidelines during the game, a 7–0 win at the University of Denver on Thanksgiving Day.
Colors
The official school colors are silver and gold, adopted in 1888 as a symbol of the mineral wealth of the state. In 1959, the athletic teams started using black and yellow, because silver and gold ended up looking like dirty white and dirty yellow. The colors have stuck and many are unaware that the official school colors are silver and gold.
On May 28, 1981, black was curiously replaced by "Sky Blue" by a mandate of the CU Board of Regents, to represent the color of the Colorado sky.[2][26] However, this color was different from the blue uniforms of the U.S. Air Force Academy. After three years, the blue was changed in 1984 to a darker shade, though still unpopular. In black and white photographs the players' numbers are nearly invisible. During a difficult 1-10 season in 1984, football head coachBill McCartney employed black "throwback" jerseys for an emotional lift for the games against Oklahoma and Nebraska, without success.
In April 1985, the CU athletic teams were given the option of blue or black. The football team chose to wear black, and at Folsom Field the background for the signature "Colorado" arc (at the base of the seats behind the south end zone), blue for four years, was repainted black as well. On the football uniforms, the blue was reduced to a stripe on the sleeve for three seasons (1985–87) before being dropped completely in 1988. In 2007, CU debuted new football jerseys that reintegrated silver as a uniform color.[27]
Criteria for automatic selection: Three-time all-conference selection, two-time All-American, trophy winner or previously retired jersey. Beginning in 2015, the school went from a two-year to one year induction cycle to catch up on its history.[28] Inductees are nominated by their peers in the Alumni C Club or by members of the selection committee.[28]
Hale Irwin, who was a two-time All-Big Eight defensive back and an NCAA individual golf champion at Colorado, went on to spectacular success in professional golf. He won three U.S. Opens and 17 other PGA Tour events, and is the all-time leader in both wins and career prize money on the 50-and-over tour now known as PGA Tour Champions.
Adam Goucher was a professional runner who competed for the United States in the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Jeremy Bloom played football and skied internationally finishing 6th in the 2006 Winter Olympics in the moguls and briefly played in the NFL. He also sued the NCAA and lost, having to give up football for Colorado in 2004 because he received endorsement money for skiing.
Emma Coburn is a former world champion and American record holder in the 3000 meters steeplechase. She won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the inaugural American to win any medal in the event, with an American record of 9:07.63. In London at the 2017 World Championships, she became the inaugural American woman to win the Gold Medal, bettering her American record to 9:02.59.
Jennifer Simpson represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics. She is a former American record holder for the 3000 meters steeplechase. In the 1500 meters, she won a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships, a silver medal at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, becoming the inaugural US woman to win a medal in the Olympics in any distance event along with Coburn.
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