Ohio State Buckeyes
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, the Ohio buckeye. The Buckeyes participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I and the Big Ten Conference in most sports. The Ohio State women's ice hockey team competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The school colors are scarlet and gray. The university's mascot is Brutus Buckeye. "THE" is the official trademark of the Ohio State University merchandise. Led by its football program, the Buckeyes have the largest overall sports endowment of any campus in North America.
Ohio State is one of only seven universities to have won an NCAA national championship in baseball and men's basketball, and be recognized as a national champion in football. Ohio State has also won national championships in women's ice hockey, men's swimming & diving, men's outdoor track & field, men's volleyball, men's golf, men's gymnastics, men's fencing, women's rowing, co-ed fencing, co-ed and women's pistol, artistic swimming, and wrestling. Since the inception of the Athletic Director's Cup, Ohio State has finished in the top 25 each year, including top 6 finishes in three of the last five years. During the 2005–06 school year Ohio State became the first Big Ten team to win conference championships in football, men's basketball and women's basketball in the same season. This feat repeated in the 2006–07 season, which also included a February 25, 2007 men's basketball game which saw the Buckeyes defeat the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten's first basketball game between the number one and number two ranked squads in the nation.
Some of the sports figures who were student athletes at Ohio State include Jesse Owens, "The Buckeye Bullet" ; John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, and Katie Smith ; Frank Howard ; Jack Nicklaus ; Archie Griffin ; and Chic Harley. Hall of Fame coaches at Ohio State have included Paul Brown and Woody Hayes, Fred Taylor. Notable sports figures in Ohio State history may be inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame.
The department was the center of the Ohio State University abuse scandal, where Dr. Richard Strauss, a team doctor for several of the Buckeyes athletic teams, sexually abused OSU athletes and students which amounted to 1,430 instances of fondling and 47 rapes per the University's findings. The events were documented in the film Surviving Ohio State.
Sports sponsored
Baseball
Ohio State has played baseball since 1881, winning a national championship in 1966 along with 16 Big Ten regular-season titles and eight Big Ten tournament titles. The Buckeyes baseball team was the first Ohio State sports team. The team is currently coached by Greg Beals and play their home games at Bill Davis Stadium, which opened in 1997. Going into the 2008 season the Buckeyes all-time record is 2228–1427–38. Notable alumni include Frank Howard, Nick Swisher and two-time All-American Steve Arlin.Men's basketball
The Ohio State men's basketball team has played in 10 NCAA Final Fours, winning the championship in 1960, when they were led by Basketball Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and Bob Knight off the bench. A Buckeye has been named first team All-American 23 times, including five two-time All-Americans and one three-time All-American. Between 1960 and 1964, Ohio State won five consecutive Big Ten championships, an achievement that has yet to be matched.In 2004, Ohio State fired men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien for recruiting violations and self-imposed a one-year penalty, including a ban on post-season play and reduction of scholarships. In light of these University self-imposed penalties, the NCAA Division I Committee on infractions merely placed Ohio State on three years probation for the violations, and gave heavier penalties to Coach O'Brien and a former assistant coach. The lightness of this judgment was seen as encouragement for schools to be proactive in responding to violations. Nevertheless, O'Brien successfully sued Ohio State for improper termination. Thad Matta took over O'Brien's spot in 2004. Ohio State recruited such talents as Greg Oden, and Mike Conley Jr. to start the 2006–2007 year. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 27–3 record; won the Big Ten tournament, and earned a number 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. After a very close game with state rival Xavier, and a thrilling 20 point come from behind victory against the Tennessee Volunteers, the Buckeyes managed to hold off Georgetown Hoyas 67–60 to reach the Championship Game for the first time since 1962, which they lost to defending NCAA champions Florida Gators, 84–75. Following years saw continued success for the Buckeyes. They won the Big Ten Championship in both the 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 season, and reached the Final Four in 2011–2012 before losing to Kansas. The Buckeyes reached the Elite Eight in 2012–2013, losing to Wichita State. 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 both saw early exits from the NCAA tournament.
Women's basketball
Currently coached by Kevin McGuff, the Ohio State women's basketball team plays its home games in the Value City Arena, which they moved into in 1998. Prior to 1998, they played at St. John Arena. They have won 10 Big Ten titles, which is the most in the conference and have 14 appearances in the NCAA tournament, the most recent being in 2016.In 1993 they lost to the Texas Tech Lady Raiders 84–82 for the NCAA championship, while they captured the NIT championship in 2001, beating the New Mexico Lobos 62–61. Notable alumni include former All-Americans Katie Smith and Jessica Davenport.
Fencing
Ohio State won its first title in 1942, when the NCAA had only men's fencing. Ohio State won the NCAA championships in fencing in both men's and women's fencing, combined, in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Israeli Boaz Ellis won the NCAA title in men's foil in 2004, 2005 and 2006 for Ohio State, the first NCAA foil fencer to win three individual NCAA titles since 1963.In April 2022, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions panel, upon the conclusion of an investigation, found that the fencing team's head coach Vladimir Nazlymov had violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules, and was guilty of aggravated level I violations. Further, he violated ethical conduct rules, by ignoring several requests that had been made to him to cooperate with the NCAA investigation. The panel found that:
"The head fencing coach violated fundamental, well-known bylaws. Worse, the head fencing coach received relevant education on the exact areas of the violations as they were occurring, but continued to commit the same violations and, in some circumstances, concealed them from compliance staff."The NCAA said Nazlymov arranged, provided, or directed other coaches to give more than $6,000 in recruiting inducements to three fencers. Two of the prospects also received free meals and free private lessons from Nazylmov, which allowed OSU coaches to observe the fencers, and constituted impermissible tryouts, and received other inducements. It also found that under Nazlymov's direction, in addition 18 student fencers also received impermissible benefits worth over $8,000, resulting in them competing while ineligible.
The Ohio State fencing team was placed on four years of probation for NCAA violations committed between 2015 and 2019. In addition, the OSU athletic department was fined, and the OSU fencing program budget was reduced by 3%. The fencing program scholarship program was reduced by 10% for the 2022–23 academic year. Team wins and championships, and individual records for affected fencers, were vacated, including the 2016 and 2017 second-place finishes and a 2018 third-place finish in the NCAAs for the fencing team, and Midwest Fencing Conference championships in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Football
The Buckeyes are recognized by the university and NCAA as having won nine national championships, including seven from the major wire-service selectors: AP Poll and/or Coaches' Poll. The program has also captured 41 conference championships, 10 division championships, and has compiled 10 undefeated seasons, including six perfect seasons. Seven players have received the Heisman Trophy, with the program holding the distinction of having the only two-time winner of the award.- 9× National Champions: 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002, 2014, 2024
- *39× Big Ten Champions: 1916, 1917, 1920, 1935, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1968–1970, 1972–1977, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2005–2009, 2010, 2014, 2017–2020
- **2× Leaders Division champions: 2012, 2013
- **7× East Division champions: 2014–2020
- *2× OAC Champions: 1906, 1912
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