Baylor Bears
The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to joining the Big 12, Baylor was a member of the Southwest Conference from their charter creation in 1914 until its dissolution in 1996. Baylor is also a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.
Sports sponsored
During the 2011–2012 season, Baylor set an NCAA record for most combined wins in the four major collegiate sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, and American football.Football
The Baylor American football team opened the new $250 million McLane Stadium, located on the current campus on the banks of the Brazos River, for the 2014 season. The opening of McLane Stadium, with a capacity of 45,000, returned Baylor football games to the campus for the first time since 1935. The Bears played their previous 64 seasons at Floyd Casey Stadium, a 50,000-seat venue located a few miles away from campus.The Bears compete in the Big 12 Conference are currently playing their 116th year of college football competition during the 2014 season. Over the program's history, the Bears have won or tied for nine conference titles, and have played in 24 bowl games, garnering a record of 13–11. The football program experienced a period of success lasting from the 1970s to the mid-1990s during the tenure of head coach Grant Teaff.
Since becoming a founding member of the Big 12 in 1996, Baylor had its best season coming in 2013 when they finished with an 8–1 conference record and 11–1 overall. In 2004, Baylor defeated its first ranked opponent since 1998, #16 ranked Texas A&M, by a score of 35–34 in overtime on a two-point conversion. In 2005 the team opened 3–0 for the first time since 1996 and finished 5–6; Baylor also won its first Big 12 road game at Iowa State. Also despite a disappointing 4–8 record in 2006, the Bears swept the Big 12 North portion of its conference schedule and won 3 conference games in a season for the first time since joining the Big 12 in 1996. On November 18, 2007, Baylor fired football coach Guy Morriss and announced on November 28, 2007, that former University of Houston head coach Art Briles as the new coach. During the 2010 season, Briles led Baylor to finish with a 7–5 regular season record.
The 2010 season was a breakthrough for the Baylor Bears even though they suffered an early season loss to rival TCU. Baylor earned an invitation to the Texas Bowl in Houston after finishing the regular season with a 7–5 record. The Bears subsequently lost the Texas Bowl to Illinois, however. In the regular season the Bears victories included Big 12 conference wins over Kansas and Kansas St, as well as road wins over Colorado and Texas.
Building on their 2010 winning season, the 2011 Baylor Bears went on to a 9–3 regular season, finishing with five straight wins including wins against #5 Oklahoma, #25 Texas Tech, and #22 Texas. These wins helped place Robert Griffin III at the top of the Heisman Trophy voting; he became the first Baylor player to win the award and the first Baylor player since Don Trull in 1963 to factor significantly in the voting. The Bears celebrated their successful season with a 2nd consecutive bowl appearance by being selected for the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The Bears went on to beat the Washington Huskies 67–56, finishing the 2011 season with a 10–3 record and ranked #19 by the BCS & Coaches Poll.
During the 2012 season, Baylor shocked the college football world by soundly beating #1 Kansas State 52–24 in Waco. A 12-yard Florence touchdown rush in the first quarter gave Baylor a 14–7 lead which was never relinquished. The Baylor defense highlighted the game with a stout goal-line stand in the 4th quarter and intercepted Heisman hopeful Collin Klein three times, the last in the endzone to set up an 80-yard touchdown run by Lache Seastrunk. The victory over Kansas State represented the program's first and only win to date over a #1 ranked team and sparked a 3-game win streak for Baylor. The conclusion of Baylor's 8–5 2012 campaign marked the first time since 1949–51 that the Bears have enjoyed three consecutive seasons with 7+ wins. On December 2, Baylor accepted a berth in the Holiday Bowl, sending the Bears to a third consecutive bowl for the first time in program history. Baylor easily defeated the #17-ranked UCLA Bruins in the Holiday Bowl on December 27, 2012, by a final margin of 49–26 after jumping out to a 21–0 lead early in the 2nd quarter. Lache Seastrunk and Chris McAllister were named Offensive Player and Defensive Player of the game respectively. Coach Art Briles has led the Bears to a record of 11–1 in November and December the past 2 seasons which includes 2 bowl wins.
In May 2016, Head Coach Art Briles, Athletic Director Ian McCaw, and University President Ken Starr were fired due to the Baylor University sexual assault investigation. Jim Grobe took over as interim head coach for Baylor and led them to a 6–6 record and a victory in the Cactus Bowl over Boise State. In December 2016 former Temple coach Matt Rhule, was hired as the head Baylor football coach and given a 7-year contract. Rhule subsequently replaced all of the prior football coaches and support staff and completed the hiring process in February 2017.
Baseball
has had a total of 4 baseball coaches in the past 50+ years, Mickey Sullivan served for 21 years prior to Steve Smith and Texas Sports Hall of Famer Dutch Schroeder for 12 seasons before Sullivan. Coincidentally, Sullivan and Smith both coached for exactly 21 seasons. Led by Steve Smith, Baylor's baseball team achieved success rarely seen before his arrival. In the 14 seasons from 1998 to 2012, Coach Smith led the team to 12 NCAA Regional appearances, 4 NCAA Super Regional appearances, 3 regular season conference titles and a College World Series appearance. The Bears hosted an NCAA Regional in 1999, 2000, 2005, and 2012 in addition to hosting an NCAA Super Regional in 1999, 2005, and 2012. Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference, Baylor is one of only two teams to have qualified for the Big 12 Tournament every year. In May 2015, Steve Smith was not retained as head coach, he ended his tenure at Baylor with a 744–523–1 record.In June 2015 Baylor Bears baseball announced the hiring of former Pepperdine head baseball coach Steve Rodriguez. Following a 24–29 record in the 2016 season, Coach Rodriguez and the Baylor baseball team ended the 2017 season with a record of 34–23, good for 4th overall in the Big 12 and an NCAA postseason appearance.
Women's basketball
The Baylor Bears, then known as Lady Bears, won the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship in 2005. Coached by Kim Mulkey, the Lady Bears defeated the Spartans of Michigan State University 84–62. Mulkey became the first women's coach and only the third coach in history to win an NCAA Division I basketball championship as both a player and a coach, joining Dean Smith and Bob Knight. In 8 of her 9 years as head coach, Mulkey has guided the Lady Bears to the NCAA Tournament. In 2010, Mulkey returned the Lady Bears to the Final Four, where they lost in the national semifinals to eventual champion UConn. In 2011, the Lady Bears won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles along with making it all the way to the Elite Eight before being knocked out of the tournament by rival and eventual national champion Texas A&M. In 2012, they finished a perfect 40–0, became the first men's or women's college basketball team to finish 40–0, and won their second national NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship. In 2013, the Lady Bears won both the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles and made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament before falling to Louisville in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the women's tournament. , they won the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. In April 2021, after over two decades at the helm, Mulkey left Baylor to coach LSU. Basketball was one of the last three Baylor women's sports to abandon the "Lady" moniker, doing so in advance of the 2021–22 season.Men's basketball
The men's basketball program was plagued by a scandal in 2003. Patrick Dennehy, a player for the team, was murdered by Carlton Dotson, a former Baylor player who had been kicked off the team. Then-coach Dave Bliss was forced to resign amidst allegations that he had made financial payments to four players while also making public statements that had characterized Dennehy as a drug dealer. The school placed itself on probation, limited itself to 7 scholarships for two years, and imposed a post-season ban for the 2004–05 academic year. Additionally, the NCAA further punished the team by initiating a non-conference ban for the 2005–2006 season and extending the probationary period during which the school would have limited recruiting privileges.The 2005 Bears were hindered by only having 7 scholarship players and recorded only one win in conference play. In spite of these challenges, head coach Scott Drew was able to put together a 2005 signing class ranked No. 7 nationally by HoopScoop. The 2006 Bears included Aaron Bruce, the highest scoring freshman in the NCAA in 2005, and Mamadou Diene, rated one of the top 10 centers for the 2007 NBA draft. The program's recovery culminated in 3 straight postseason appearances: an at-large NCAA Men's Tournament berth in March 2008, an NIT championship game appearance in March 2009, and a trip to the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight in March 2010. Baylor would make another trip to the Elite Eight in 2012 before losing to eventual national champion Kentucky. The Bears would follow up their elite eight run by winning the 2013 NIT title after beating Iowa in the final game at Madison Square Garden. The 2021 team defeated Gonzaga 86–70 to win the NCAA tournament.
Baylor men's teams won five conference championships in the former Southwest Conference and one regular season championship in the Big 12 Conference. The Bears reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 1946 and the Final Four in 1948, 1950 and 2021. The 1948 team advanced to play the Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA championship, but fell 58–42 to Adolph Rupp's first national championship team.
Both the men and women call the Foster Pavilion home, which was built in 2024. Previously they played in the Ferrell Center. A non-exhaustive list of BU players who played in the NBA include Vinnie Johnson, David Wesley, Michael Williams, Terry Teagle, and Brian Skinner. Ekpe Udoh was selected with the #6 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.