Texas Longhorns


The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and are now the official "large animal" of the state of Texas. Generally, both the men's and women's teams are referred to as the Longhorns, and the mascot is a Texas Longhorn steer named Bevo. The Longhorns have consistently been ranked as the biggest brand in collegiate athletics, in both department size and breadth of appeal.
The Longhorn nickname had begun appearing in Texas newspapers by 1900.
The University of Texas at Austin is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. It offers a wide variety of varsity and intramural sports programs, and was selected as "America's Best Sports College" in a 2002 analysis by Sports Illustrated. Texas was also listed as the number one Collegiate Licensing Company client from 2005 to 2013 in regards to the amount of annual trademark royalties received from the sales of its fan merchandise.
Until Athletic Director Chris Del Conte altered the organizational structure of the athletic department in 2017, Texas was the only remaining NCAA Division I school to operate separate men's and women's athletic departments, after the other remaining holdout, the University of Tennessee, merged its men's and women's athletic departments at the end of the 2011–12 academic year.

Varsity sports

A charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996, the Texas Longhorns competed in the Big 12 Conference until 2024. The Texas Longhorns joined the Southeastern Conference for the 2024–2025 season with the University of Oklahoma for a reported $100 million, as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The school's colors are officially Orange and White, with Burnt Orange — also known as Texas Orange – being the specific shade of orange used. The University of Texas Longhorn Band performs the alma mater as well as the university fight song at various sporting events.
Over the years, Longhorn sports teams have won 56 total national championships, 47 of which are NCAA National Championships. The University of Texas currently fields a varsity team in nine men's sports and 12 women's sports.
In 1992, seven women athletes representing club-level rowing, soccer and gymnastics and intramural softball, organized by the rowing club coach, sued the university in U.S. District Court charging them with Title IX violations. At the time there were more men on the football team than there were varsity-level women athletes. In July 1993 Texas settled the lawsuit, agreeing to add women's rowing, soccer and softball; and agreeing to devote more than 44 percent of its varsity athletic roster spots and more than 42 percent of its athletic scholarship money to women. Women's soccer was added in 1993, softball in 1995 and rowing in 1997.

Football

Two Texas Longhorn running backs have won college football's most prestigious individual award, the Heisman Trophy: Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams. Seventeen Longhorn players and two Longhorn coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, while four are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Other Longhorn players have also received recognition for their performance.
In terms of total wins, Texas is the 2nd-ranked NCAA Division I FBS program in college football history with 891 wins, after passing Nebraska during the 2016 season. As of the end of the 2016 season, the Longhorns' all-time record is 891–359–33. Only the University of Michigan has won more games and a greater percentage of games played than Texas, which recorded its 800th victory with the Longhorns' 41–38 win over the USC Trojans in the 2006 BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the program was somewhat less successful, but the Longhorns have since returned to prominence in college football, finishing in the top six of the AP and coaches' polls in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009.
The University of Texas team plays home games in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium which has a seating capacity of 100,119. Renovations began on the stadium November 14, 2005, two days following the last home football game of the 2005 season. The improvements were completed before the 2008 football season, and included additional seating and the nation's first high definition video display in a collegiate facility nicknamed "Godzillatron". The university completed a $27 million expansion and renovation to the south end zone facilities in August 2009 which added 4,525 permanent bleacher seats and changed the playing surface to FieldTurf. With the new permanent bleacher seating section added behind the south end zone and the total remodeling of the north end zone completed in 2008, the stadium's official capacity now stands at 100,119. This was surpassed when 101,357 saw #3-ranked Texas beat Kansas 51–20 on November 21, 2009.

Championships and bowls

  • National championships :
  • Conference championships :
  • Divisional championships :
  • Bowl game wins :

    Men's basketball

The University of Texas began varsity intercollegiate competition in men's basketball in 1906. The Longhorns rank 18th in total victories among all NCAA Division I college basketball programs and 25th in all-time win percentage among programs with at least 60 years in Division I, with an all-time win–loss record of 1791–1088. Among Big 12 Conference men's basketball programs, Texas is second only to Kansas in both all-time wins and all-time win percentage.
The Longhorns have won 27 total conference championships in men's basketball and have made 34 total appearances in the NCAA tournament, reaching the NCAA Final Four three times and the NCAA regional finals seven times. As of the end of the 2017–18 season, Texas ranks sixth among all Division I men's basketball programs for total NCAA Tournament games won without having won the national championship, trailing Kansas State, Notre Dame, Purdue, Illinois, and Oklahoma. The Longhorns have also won 2 NIT championships, in 1978 and 2019.
Texas's best season was arguably the 1932–33 season when the team went 22–1 and won the Southwest Conference. In 1995, the Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively named this team as a national champion; however, the NCAA does not recognize Premo-Porretta, and the university does not claim a national championship. Since the introduction of the AP poll, Texas's best season was 2002-2003 when it went 26–7, earned a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, made it as far as the Final Four and finished the season ranked #3 in the AP poll.
The 2005–06 season marked the 100th anniversary of basketball at the University of Texas. Special logos were placed on the uniforms to commemorate this anniversary.
In 2007, the men's basketball team was ranked sixth by the Harris Poll for favorite men's college basketball teams, moving up one spot from the previous year.

Championships

  • NIT championships
  • Conference championships :
  • Conference tournament championships :

    Women's basketball

The women's basketball team has long been a national power, especially during the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Both teams play home games in the Moody Center. The adjacent Denton A. Cooley Pavilion serves as the training and practice facility for both the men's and women's teams.

Championships

  • National championship :
  • Conference championships :
  • Conference tournament championships :

    Baseball

The Texas Longhorns are the winningest team in college baseball history, both in terms of total wins and in terms of win percentage. Texas holds the records for most appearances in the College World Series and most individual CWS games won. The Longhorns have won six NCAA baseball national championships — second only to Southern California's total of 12 – and have appeared in the CWS Championship Game or Championship Series on six other occasions.
Former Longhorns who have gone on to success in Major League Baseball include Roger Clemens, Bibb Falk, Ron Gardenhire, Calvin Schiraldi, Burt Hooton, Keith Moreland, Spike Owen, Greg Swindell, Huston Street, Omar Quintanilla, Taylor Teagarden, Sam LeCure and Drew Stubbs.
From 1997 to 2016, the Longhorns were led by head coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in NCAA baseball history. The team plays its home games at Disch-Falk Field.

Championships

  • National championships :
  • Conference regular-season championships :
  • Conference tournament championships :

    Softball

The University of Texas Longhorn's softball team was founded in 1995 as part of its 1993 Title IX settlement. It is currently led by head coach Mike White and assistant coaches Kerry Shaw and Chelsea Spencer. Texas has made 20 total appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 23 seasons of varsity competition, reaching the Women's College World Series five times and finishing as high as 3rd on three occasions.

UT's Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Americans

Championships

  • National championship :
  • Conference championships :
  • Conference tournament championships :

    Men's golf

The University of Texas has a strong golf tradition, dating back to their first season in 1927. Since then they have won national titles back-to-back in 1971 and 1972 and again in 2012, and finished runner-up six other times. Individual national champions were Ed White, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, and Justin Leonard. Longhorns who have won the U.S. Amateur include Justin Leonard and David Gossett. Two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion and three-time major winner Jordan Spieth played for the Longhorns golf team in 2011 and 2012. In 2022, Longhorn alum Scottie Scheffler won the Masters Tournament and reached World No.1 in the Official World Golf Ranking in March 2022. Besides Majors-winners Kite, Crenshaw, Leonard and Spieth, a number of other former Longhorn players have gone on to win on the PGA Tour, including: Phil Blackmar, Mark Brooks, Jhonattan Vegas, Bob Estes, Wes Ellis, Harrison Frazar, Cody Gribble, Rik Massengale, Wes Short Jr., and Brandel Chamblee. In addition, Longhorns Brandon Stone and Dylan Frittelli have each achieved multiple wins on the European Tour.
Legendary golf instructor Harvey Penick was a long-time coach at Texas. The team is currently coached by John Fields.