Athletic Excellence

"No pressure, no diamonds. We compete, we win. We are Baylor."

Year of the Bear

The 2011-12 academic year is now nationally recognized as "The Year of the Bear" (#yearofthebear) as Baylor achieved one of the most spectacular athletic seasons in NCAA history:

Robert Griffin III: 2011 Heisman Memorial Trophy Winner
Baylor's 129 combined wins in the four major sports (football/men's basketball/women's basketball/baseball) set an NCAA record for a single season (124-25, .822 winning percentage).
10-3 football season record
Baylor was the only school nationally with a bowl-winning football team, an Elite Eight men's basketball team and a Final Four women's basketball team.
Women's basketball recorded the nation's first-ever 40-win season (men's or women's program).
Baseball earned No. 4 National Seed in NCAA Championship
BEST IN TEXAS: Baylor was 41-6 in the four major sports vs. in-state opponents, including a perfect 19-0 in men's and women's basketball (5-1 in football; 10-0 in men's basketball; 9-0 in women's basketball; 17-5 in baseball).
NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR: Kim Mulkey (women's basketball)
NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR: Robert Griffin III (football), Brittney Griner (women's basketball)

In the Classroom

Baylor has finished either first or second among Big 12 institutions in Graduation Success Rate score five times in the last seven years. Baylor's most-recent GSR score of 82 ranked fourth in the Big 12.

In addition, BU's 2012 female GSR score was a 3-point improvement over its 2011 mark, and some 9 points better than the 2012 Division I average (88), while its male GSR score of 71 made a 7-point jump from a year ago and was just under the national average (74). Baylor, TCU, Kansas and West Virginia were the only league schools to have both their male and female GSR scores rank among the top four in the Big 12.

On the Field

Baylor has won a combined 45 Big 12 Conference championships — regular season (26) and tournament (19) championships — in the league's 16-year history, fifteen better than the 30 total titles earned in 81 years of Southwest Conference membership.

Baylor's 45 all-time Big 12 Conference titles have come in eight sports: men's tennis (17), women's tennis (14), women's basketball (7), baseball (3), softball (1), soccer (1), men's golf (1) and equestrian (1).

All of Baylor's 19 sports have made at least one postseason appearance over the last seven years. Women's basketball won the 2011-12 national championship as the first men's or women's basketball team in NCAA history to go 40-0; the Lady Bears have advanced to three Final Fours, twice winning it all. Men's basketball reached the Elite Eight in 2009-10 and 2011-12. Baseball made the 2005 College World Series, and softball advanced to the 2007 Women's College World Series. Men's tennis has advanced to eight consecutive Elite Eights and won the national championship in 2004, starting a run of four straight Final Four appearances. Women's tennis' four Elite Eights include reaching the Final Four in 2008.

In a nine-year span (2003-04 through 2011-12), Baylor has won three NCAA team championships ('04 men's tennis and '05 and '12 women's basketball) and 13 NCAA individual titles.

At No. 25 in the country for 2011-12, Baylor tied its best-ever finish in the NACDA Directors' Cup, recording the school's eighth-straight Top 50 ranking in the national all-sports sweepstakes.

Facilities

In the last 10 years, Baylor Athletics has dedicated its energy to providing state-of-the-art athletic facilities to meet the needs of the players, coaches and Baylor fans. Baylor is continuing to build new facilities to house Baylor Nation.

In the works are a new on-campus football stadium, the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center and an on-campus track complex.

Existing facilities include: