OT: Best college program to never win in Big 3 sports?
After Florida's win today at the CWS, tomorrow night they will attempt to become the first program to win multiple championships in football, men's basketball, and baseball.
That got me thinking. What is the "best" sports program to never win a championship in any of those three sports?
I know this is from Wikipedia but it states:
As of the conclusion of the 2021–22 school year, only two of the soon-to-be sixty-nine Power Five conference schools have never won a National Championship in any of the team sports - Kansas State of the Big 12 and Virginia Tech of the ACC.
So, that's the apparent answer.
I don’t think Iowa has won a title in these three sports
Iowa has been named a football national champ by an NCAA designated selector 5 times and they claim one of them (1958) which is recognized on the NCAA website.
That’s mighty humble of them to only claim one of five. If it were Notre Dame, they would claim ten of five.
don't let msu off so easy. They have 1 real title. the rest are all just claimed BS of which they have like 6 lol
Add in Iowa State. Lots of wrestling but none in the three sports.
I can understand Kansas State being one of the two but really surprised that Virginia Tech has never won a NC in any of the big sports
Right - I saw this a few months ago in a NYT article and it was notable because K-State and V-Tech have never won a national title in ANY sport, which I think is crazy. K-State is a small-ish school and it looks like they only have 6 men's sports and don't have wrestling (surprisingly) or men's soccer. And they only have 8 women's sports. Virginia Tech has 22 varsity sports but I guess they just never had success even before they joined the ACC. Maybe they've should've kept their lacrosse program - they might have been able to sneak in a championship at some point. And today, they'd likely be a national power like every other ACC program.
If I recall correctly - that NYT article also claimed that Pitt had never won a national championship which is actually totally wrong. Pitt claims numerous national championships in football back in the old days. But I guess the article meant that they'd never won a championship in a sport other than football? Which I think is true?
Apparently Virginia Tech and Kansas State haven't won't a team championship in any team sport. Mississippi State was on that list prior to their baseball championship in 2021.
My first thought was Oklahoma State.
Did they ever win anything?
Unfortunately, they have more basketball championships than Michigan.
Ok State also has double-digit wrestling titles, which is likely in their big 3 sports.
“Their” big 3 and “the” big 3 are two different things. Hockey is undoubtedly bigger at many northern/northeastern schools than baseball is, including at UofM.
On a national scale, nobody is going to consider a sport with ~60 teams one of the “big 3,” especially when you consider the fact that a decent chunk of the D1 hockey programs are D2 in the other sports (Ferris State, LSSU, and Northern Michigan to name a few)
Spot on…
Hank Iba was a fantastic coach BITD.
He won titles at Okie State in the mid-40s, when the game was dominated by East Coast teams. He was the coach of the Olympic team that got screwed by the refs at the Munich Olympics. He was reported to be tougher than a $2 steak.
They also have a baseball national title in the 1950s.
The most stunning team with two of the three is Holy Cross. Baseball and basketball in the 1950s.
Bob Cousy!
Here's the follow-up to that question. What are the only four programs which have won a national championship in all three of those sports (baseball, men's basketball and football)?
Answer: UCLA, Florida, Ohio State and, of course, Michigan.
When you throw in hockey, the list narrows down to just one: Michigan.
Leaders and best!
The Michigan Difference!
But if you add in Men's Fencing as the 4th instead of hockey...oooh boy, look out buddy! :-)
we won't.
And if you make it Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s fencing, and men’s gambling scandals then Northwestern has to be the only one.
Only 4? I'm not shocked but kinda surprised.
And, with hockey, only one!
Wow Go Blue!
Add softball and I’m sure plenty of other titles I shamefully can’t name.
mens and womens gymnastics and swimming/diving
If you add softball but not hockey, it's UCLA, Florida and Michigan. None of us 3 has won a WBB title, and all 3 of us had been to the elite 8.
I believe that Maryland is the only school to have won a natty in football and men's and women's basketball, altho ND may have done it too before the NCAA tourney existed.
They won a beer?
I think you have to throw in Hockey so the only correct answer is:
Michigan
Ohio State on that list surprised me. One title in basketball and baseball, both in the 60's.
I'm surprised that USC isn't on that list. Basketball might be the one that's keeping them off. They just seem to excel in all sports
I went and looked at the baseball wins and found that we are the 3rd winningest program in baseball as well, that was a nice surprise.
*Men's hockey.
OSU has a women's hockey national title while Michigan can't even field a team.
*won't support a team. There is a club team which could probably advance quickly if athletics wanted to recognize more teams. (I realize that Title 9 would require a new men's team as well)
The big 3 sports are Football, Basketball and Hockey in my book.
Annoyingly, the only school to win multiple championships in basketball, football, and hockey is...Michigan State.
We have way more championships in football and hockey, but really makes our 1-6 record in basketball championship games that much more upsetting.
Obligatory FUCK Rick Pitino!!!🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
They have the most combined championships for teams with 2 or more in each basketball & football too (ahead of Florida).
For combined championships of teams with 1 or more in each football and basketball, Michigan [11&1] is tied with UCLA [1&11] (followed by Ohio State [8&1] and MSU [4&2]).
My best guess to the original question is Iowa or Missouri. Kansas State would probably fit in that group as well.
As the child of two Mizzou alums I immediately thought of Missouri, but a check of the record book revealed that the Tigers won the NCAA baseball championship in 1954.
Michigan won its first of two the year before.
I completely missed that. Good catch.
West Virginia University, my new home, claims a basketball title in 1942 (NIT), but it has never won a natty in baseball, football, or basketball in the ncaa march madness era.
This is, IMO, the correct answer to the question.
West Virginia (WVU) ranks 22nd all-time in college football wins, and ranks 20th all-time in college basketball wins. That's pretty high up there in both. But if we're not counting the NIT from back in the day, they don't have a Big 3 National Title.
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FWIW, the only schools to be in the Top 22 for all-time wins in both football and basketball are WVU, Notre Dame and Texas. Not a huge list.
To their defense, the NIT was a more prestigious tournament at that point.
Teams actually would compete in both in that time. CCNY being the only team to win both tournaments in the same year (there’s a trivia answer to park away for a later date)
I host some bar trivia shows and this question is definitely making the list.
Another piece that adds to a great trivia question: most of the key players from the 1949-50 team that won those 2 titles were implicated a year later in the CCNY point shaving scandal. All of the schools involved had their basketball programs permanently decimated (CCNY, NYU, Long Island U, Manhattan College, Bradley, Toledo) except one. Kentucky was the other school involved and they were able recover after cancelling one season of play, likely because they were already on their way to being a power with 3 national titles and 4 final fours under their belt.
I always thought it was weird NYU didn’t have a D1 basketball team as they have a student body the size of a flagship public university and are in “the Mecca of basketball”. Learning this fun fact finally solved that for me.
WVU was my first thought as well. Unfortunately I don't see any championships coming down country roads in the near future, with WVU football being mediocre at best and basketball... well you know.
My first thought is Kansas State
Has Oregon won anything?