Kansas Jayhawks

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Kansas Jayhawks
University University of Kansas
Conference Big 12
NCAA Division I
Athletics director Lew Perkins
Location Lawrence, KS
Varsity teams 16
Football stadium University of Kansas Memorial Stadium
Basketball arena Allen Fieldhouse
Baseball stadium Hoglund Ballpark
Mascot Big Jay, Baby Jay
Nickname Jayhawks
Fight song I'm A Jayhawk
Colors Blue and Crimson

             
Homepage www.kuathletics.com

The sports teams at the University of Kansas are known as the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big 12 Conference.

Men's sports

Women's sports

  • Basketball
  • Cross country
  • Golf
  • Rowing
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Swimming and diving
  • Tennis
  • Track and field
  • Volleyball

University of Kansas athletic teams have won ten total NCAA Division I championships, including three in men's basketball, one in men's cross country, three in men's indoor track and field, and three in men's outdoor track and field.

Contents

[edit] Origins of "Jayhawk"

The Jayhawk is a cross between two common birds -- the noisy blue jay and the quiet sparrow hawk. The term came to prominence just before the Civil War, in Bleeding Kansas, where it was adopted by militant abolitionist groups known as Jayhawkers. With the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1861, Jayhawker became synonymous with the people of Kansas. The Jayhawk appears in several Kansas cheers, most notably, the "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" chant in unison before and during games. [1]

[edit] Championships

[edit] Conference championships & titles

Big 12 Conference champions have the best conference regular season record, and titles are awarded to the winner of the postseason championship tournament.

Men's Basketball[1]

Only Big 12 Conference Championships listed. Kansas has won a total 52 conference titles in Men's Basketball, more than any other college. With the regular season finale victory in 2007 over the University of Texas, Kansas won its 1900th game. Only Kentucky and North Carolina have won more basketball games.

1997 - Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion - coached by Roy Williams, won 87-60 over Missouri
1998 - Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion - coached by Roy Williams, won 72-58 over Oklahoma
1999 - Big 12 tournament champion - coached by Roy Williams, won 53-37 over Oklahoma State
2002 - Big 12 regular-season champion - coached by Roy Williams, was undefeated (16-0), lost the title game 64-55 to #2 seeded Oklahoma. Reached Final Four before losing to eventual National Champion Maryland.
2003 - Big 12 regular-season champion - coached by Roy Williams. Defeated in title game of the NCAA Tournament by Syracuse.
2005 - Big 12 regular-season co-champion with Oklahoma. Lost in Big 12 Tournament final to 4 seed Oklahoma State. - coached by Bill Self
2006 - Big 12 regular-season co-champion with Texas and tournament champion - coached by Self, won 80-68 over #1 seeded Texas
2007 - Big 12 regular season champion and tournament champion - coached by Self, won 88-84 in OT over #3 seeded Texas
2008 - Big 12 regular season co-champion with Texas and tournament champion - coached by Self, won 84-74 over #1 seeded Texas
Women's Basketball[2]
1997 - Big 12 champion - coached by Marian Washington
Football
1908 - MVIAA champion - coached by A.R. Kennedy, was undefeated (4-0; 9-0 overall)
1930 - Big 6 champion - coached by Bill Hargiss
1946 - Big 6 champion (tie) - coached by George Sauer
1947 - Big 6 champion (tie) - coached by Sauer
1968 - Big 8 champion (tie) - coached by Pepper Rodgers
2008 - Orange Bowl Champions; defeated Virginia Tech 24-21 - coached by Mark Mangino
Baseball
2006 - Big 12 tournament champion - defeated Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, and Nebraska in the Conference playoffs.
Soccer
2004 - Big 12 regular season co-champion - coached by Mark Francis
Softball[3]
2006 - Big 12 tournament champion - won 4-2 over Oklahoma and outscored opponents 13-3 in four games

[edit] National championships

Men's Basketball
1922 Helms Basketball Champion - coached by Phog Allen
1923 Helms Basketball Champion - coached by Phog Allen
1952 - coached by Phog Allen, won 80-63 over St. John's
1988 - coached by Larry Brown, won 83-79 over Oklahoma
2008 - coached by Bill Self, won 75-68 over Memphis in overtime
Men's Cross Country
1953
Men's Indoor Track
1966 - 1969 - 1970
Men's Outdoor Track
1959 - 1960 - 1970

[edit] Basketball

[edit] Men's basketball

Main article: Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball

The program has enjoyed considerable national success, having been selected Helms Foundation National Champions in 1922 and 1923, winning three NCAA national championships in 1952, 1988, 2008, playing in 13 Final Fours, and being regularly ranked in the AP Top 25 college basketball poll. The Jayhawks rank third all-time in NCAA Division I (behind Kentucky and North Carolina) with 1,943 wins (as of April 7, 2008), against only 785 losses (.712 winning %, 4th all-time). This record includes a 616-106 (.853) mark at historic Allen Fieldhouse. A perennial conference powerhouse, Kansas leads all universities with 51 regular-season conference titles in 100 years of conference play through the 2007-2008 regular season, two more than the second place Kentucky Wildcats. The Jayhawks have won a record eight conference titles and a record six conference tournament titles in the 12 years of the Big 12's existence. The program also owns the best Big 12 records in both those areas with a 158-34 record in conference play and a 25-6 record in tournament play.

From 1990 to 1999 Kansas compiled a 286-60 record, the best win-loss record of any team in the decade. From 1994 to 1998, the Jayhawks won 62 consecutive home games at Allen Fieldhouse, which was the longest such streak in the NCAA at the time. The seniors of 1998 (Raef LaFrentz, Billy Thomas, and C.B. McGrath) went 58-0 at home during their KU careers. KU ranks fourth in NCAA Tournament appearances with 37, and fifth in NCAA Tournament victories with 82.

The men's team has had several notable coaches, beginning play during the 1898–1899 season under head coach James Naismith. In 1907, KU hired one of Naismith's players, Dr. Forrest C.Phog Allen as head coach. This was after Naismith's infamous advice in 1906, "You don't coach basketball, Forrest, you play it". Allen would go on to coach at the school for 39 seasons and amass a record of 590-219, with two Helms Foundation national titles and one NCAA Tournament championship. Allen would later be called the "Father of Basketball Coaching", having passed on his knowledge of the game to some of the most well-respected names in the history of college basketball, including National Basketball Hall of Fame coaches Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Dutch Lonborg, John McLendon, and Ralph Miller.


In Street & Smith's Annual list of 100 greatest college basketball programs of all time in 2005, KU ranked 4th.

[edit] Women's basketball

Kansas first fielded a women's team during the 1968-1969 season. For thirty-one seasons (1973-2004) the women's team was coached by Marian Washington, who led the team to three Big Eight championships, eleven NCAA Tournament appearances and four AIAW Tournament appearances. The team's best post-season result was a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1996.

[edit] Former players and coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame

[edit] Women's basketball coaches

Head women's basketball coaches, including win-loss record and years coached:

[edit] 2008 Football and Basketball Record

In the 2007-2008 Football and Basketball seasons, KU amassed a combined 49-4 record (12-1 Football, 37-3 Basketball), which is the most wins ever by a NCAA Division I program.[4]

[edit] Football

Main article: Kansas Jayhawks football

KU football dates from 1890. While not a national powerhouse like the men's basketball team, the football team has had notable alumni including Gale Sayers, a two time All-American who later enjoyed an injury-shortened yet Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears; John Riggins, another Pro Football Hall of Famer with the Washington Redskins; Pro Football Hall of Famer for the Cleveland Browns, Mike McCormack; plus John Hadl, Dana Stubblefield, Bobby Douglass, and Nolan Cromwell. The Jayhawks have appeared three times in the Orange Bowl: 1948, 1969 and 2008. The team currently plays in Memorial Stadium (capacity 50,071), the first stadium built on a college campus west of the Mississippi River, which opened in 1921. It replaced McCook Field, which had been constructed in 1892. Mark Mangino, former Kansas State assistant coach, has coached the team since 2002. As of January 4, 2008, the program's overall record is 554-538-58 (.507).

The Jayhawks have two traditional archrivals. KU competes with the University of Missouri Tigers in the longest uninterrupted rivalry in college football west of the Mississippi River, first played in 1891 and known as the "Border War." The name of the rivalry has since been officially rebranded as the "Border Showdown" following the advent of the Iraq War, although the historical name prevails in usage. Each year the winner of the game is awarded a traveling trophy, the Indian War Drum. Following the 2007 Border Showdown Kansas retired the current drum. In addition, KU has a rivalry with the Kansas State Wildcats called the Sunflower Showdown; when the two teams compete in football, the winner is awarded the Governor's Cup by the governor of Kansas.

Kansas has also played an annual game with the Nebraska Cornhuskers since 1905. This gives Kansas the second- and third-most played college football games in existence. KU is only 23-88-3 all-time against the Cornhuskers (as of 2007), and from 1969-2004 the Huskers rang up 36 consecutive victories, second longest in NCAA Division I (only Notre Dame's streak over Navy was longer). That streak ended on November 5, 2005, when Kansas defeated Nebraska 40-15 in Lawrence. They also beat Nebraska 76-39 in Memorial Stadium on November 3, 2007. This was the largest number of points ever surrendered by a Nebraska team; the Jayhawks also set records for for most points against Nebraska in a half (1st half, 48 points) and quarter (2nd quarter, 27 points). The 95 points scored by the Jayhawks in 2006 and 2007 combined is the largest consecutive two-year total in the series. Also, the 32 points scored in an overtime loss at Nebraska on September 30, 2006, was the most by any Jayhawk team in Lincoln since 1899, when KU won 36-20 in the two teams' eighth all-time meeting.[5]


[edit] Notable athletes

[edit] References

  • Falkenstien, Max; as told to Doug Vance (1996). Max and the Jayhawks: 50 years on and off the air with KU Sports. Wichita, Kansas: The Wichita Eagle & Beacon Publishing Company, Inc. 

Notes

  1. ^ Big 12 Record Book: Men's Basketball. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  2. ^ Big 12 Record Book: Women's Basketball. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  3. ^ Big 12 Record Book: Softball. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  4. ^ Team Notables. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  5. ^ University of Kansas (September 30, 2006). "Kansas Postgame Notes vs. Nebraska". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.

[edit] Further reading

  • University of Kansas Traditions: The Jayhawk
  • Kirke Mechem, "The Mythical Jayhawk", Kansas Historical Quarterly XIII: 1 (February 1944), pp. 3–15. A tongue-in-cheek history and description of the Mythical Jayhawk.

[edit] External links

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