Denver Pioneers


The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver. They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. Denver is a member of The Summit League for men's and women's basketball, swimming and diving, men's and women's soccer, tennis and golf for both men and women, plus women's volleyball. Other DU teams play in various conferences in the sports that are not sponsored by The Summit. The men's ice hockey team is a charter member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which formed in 2011 with play beginning in 2013. The lacrosse teams for men and women are members of the Big East Conference; the men began Big East play in the 2013–14 school year, while the women left the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after the 2016 lacrosse season. Men's and women's skiing compete in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, while the women's gymnastics team became an affiliate of the Big 12 Conference starting with the 2015–16 season.
The University has been fielding athletic teams since 1867. DU's athletic teams are known as the Pioneers. In the early years of competition from the 1860s to the early 1920s, Denver had no official nickname, but sports writers of the day referred to Denver teams as the "Ministers" or "Fighting Parsons" in homage to the Methodist heritage of the school. Denver officially became the "Pioneers" in 1925, after the result of a student nickname contest, and that nickname has been in place ever since.
With over 200 All Americans, 33 NCAA Championships, and 65 Olympians in its history, there is a long tradition of excellence in Pioneer sports. Today, DU operates a full NCAA Division I athletic program with a unique and successful mix of sports in and around the $85 million Daniel Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness, which was completed in 2000. In 2017, Denver finished #4 in the men's Division I Capital One Cup rankings, the highest finish in school history, and has also won the Learfield Cup in nine of the past 10 seasons, emblematic of the top non-football Division I athletic department in the nation.

Sports sponsored

A member of the Summit League, the University of Denver sponsors teams in seven men's, eight women's, and one coed NCAA sanctioned sports: Skiing is technically a men's sport, but it has been co-ed since 1983; the ski team is a member of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association. The ice hockey team is a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The men's and women's lacrosse teams compete as associate members of the Big East Conference. The gymnastics team competes as an affiliate member of the Big 12 Conference.

Basketball

DU began playing basketball in 1904, playing primarily regional schedules until after WWII, when it became an NCAA independent Division I program until 1979. In 1979, under financial pressure, DU joined the NAIA where it played until 1992, when it joined the NCAA again as a Division II program. In 1999, the program returned to NCAA Division I, when it became a member of the Sun Belt Conference until 2012, when it joined the Western Athletic Conference for one season before joining the Summit League in 2013.
The men's basketball team won the 2013 WAC regular season Co-Championship and also made it to the second round of the 2013 National Invitation Tournament after defeating Ohio, but losing to Maryland in Round 2. Denver also appeared in the 2005 NIT, losing to San Francisco, and also appeared in the 1959 NIT, losing to NYU.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey is DU's flagship spectator sport, regularly selling out the 6,026 seat Magness Arena on campus, the showpiece of the Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness. DU's Hockey Program has been playing NCAA Division I hockey since 1949–50. The Pioneers are one of the most successful programs in the history of collegiate hockey. They are tied for second with North Dakota in all-time NCAA National Hockey Championships with eight behind Michigan with nine championships. The Pioneers have appeared in 17 NCAA Frozen Four Championships, with the most recent Frozen Four appearance coming in 2019. Since the creation of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 1959, the Pioneers have won 10 WCHA Regular Season Championships and 13 WCHA Playoff Championships.
Denver's ice hockey alumni include over 75 NHL hockey players, including Hockey Hall of Famer Glenn Anderson and current NHLers, such as 2007 Calder Memorial Trophy nominee Paul Stastny of the Vegas Golden Knights, Tyler Bozak of the St. Louis Blues, Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild, Trevor Moore of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Scott Mayfield of the New York Islanders, Danton Heinen of the Boston Bruins, Will Butcher of the New Jersey Devils, Henrik Borgstrom of the Florida Panthers, Troy Terry of the Anaheim Ducks, Dylan Gambrell of the San Jose Sharks and Blake Hillman of the Chicago Blackhawks. Previous DU players who starred in the NHL besides Anderson include Keith Magnuson, Craig Patrick, Cliff Koroll, Peter McNab and Kevin Dineen, who coached the Florida Panthers of the NHL until 2013. Legendary hockey coaches at Denver include four former NHL players: Murray Armstrong, Marshall Johnston, Ralph Backstrom and Jim Montgomery. George Gwozdecky, who coached the team for 19 seasons until 2013, is the only person in NCAA history to win Division I Men's Hockey National Championships as a player, an assistant coach and as a head coach. The current coach is David Carle.
In 2013, DU hockey left the WCHA to launch the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The new conference was formed as a direct reaction to the Big Ten Conference's announcement that it would start a men's hockey league in 2013. The six charter members of the NCHC—DU, Colorado College, Miami, Minnesota–Duluth, North Dakota, and Omaha—have combined for 21 NCAA championships in the sport. These schools were soon joined by St. Cloud State and Western Michigan to bring the league's membership at launch to eight.

Ski team

is another strong sport. The University of Denver Ski Team has won 24 NCAA titles. The Pioneers have won 10 championships since 2000. DU won NCAA titles in 2014, 2016 and 2018, "three-peated" NCAA titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010, won an NCAA title in 2005 and as well as three consecutive NCAA titles from 2000 to 2002.

Lacrosse

The Denver men's lacrosse team appeared in the 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 NCAA Tournaments. Denver won the NCAA men's lacrosse championship in 2015, beating Maryland, 10–5 in Philadelphia. It was the first-ever men's lacrosse championship by a school outside the Eastern Time Zone. Denver also appeared in the Final Four four other times in the 2010s. In the Pioneers' first three Final Four appearances, they lost in the semifinals to Virginia in 2011 in Baltimore, Syracuse in 2013 in Philadelphia, and Duke in 2014 in Baltimore. The Pioneers also appeared in the 2017 Final Four, losing to Maryland in Foxboro, Mass.
Women's lacrosse began as varsity sport in 1999, and DU played in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation through the 2016 season and joined the DU men in the Big East Conference starting with the 2017 season. Denver has progressed to four NCAA Tournaments in its history, with the highest level of advancement being to the Elite Eight in 2019. In that 2019 tournament, DU upset the USC Trojans and Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich. in the first and second rounds, respectively, before losing to the eventual NCAA champion Maryland Terrapins in the quarterfinals in College Park, Maryland. Prior to that 2019 high water mark, Denver went to the Sweet 16 in each of its other three NCAA appearances in 2013, 2014 and 2018, beating Jacksonville University in the first round in 2013 and 2014 before losing to the Florida Gators in those consecutive years in Gainesville, Fla. In 2018, DU beat High Point University in the first round before losing to the Maryland Terrapins in the second round in College Park, Maryland.

Football

was once the most popular sport at Denver. The first DU football game was played in 1885 against Colorado College, which is believed to be the first intercollegiate football game played west of the Mississippi River. DU's football highlights include appearances in the 1946 Sun Bowl, 1947 Alamo Bowl, and 1951 Pineapple Bowl. The football team played in a 30,000 seat stadium that stood on campus from 1926 to 1971. The highest national ranking DU ever attained was #18 in 1954. However, the program was discontinued in 1961 for financial reasons.

Soccer

The DU men's soccer team has appeared in the 1970, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 NCAA tournaments, reaching its first ever NCAA College Cup in 2016 in Houston, where the Pioneers lost in double overtime, 2-1 to Wake Forest University. Jamie Franks was named the program's 10th head coach in January 2015.
The DU women's soccer team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2012 NCAA Women's College Cup Tournament, and have also appeared in the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2018 NCAA Tournaments. The women's soccer program head coach is Jeff Hooker, who took over the reins in 1992.

Other sports

The women's volleyball team has made NCAA tournament appearances in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, losing in the first round to Colorado State University, University of Washington, Stanford University, California Polytechnic State University, and the University of Utah respectively.
The women's gymnastics team has been to 17 straight NCAA Regional tournaments and finished a program-high 4th at the 2019 NCAA National Championships in their fourth appearance in the national finals. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference after moving from its former home of the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference in 2015.
The DU men's and women's tennis teams are consistently ranked in the top 35 to top 70 of all Division I collegiate tennis teams. The men's team has produced All-Americans, including a Men's Singles player ranked 11th in the country, and the team broke into the top 25 during the 2010 season. The men's team upset regional #1 seed Florida in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. The women's team has its lone NCAA tournament victory in 2017 over USC, and had one of its doubles team advance to the NCAA final eight for the first time in 2017.
The women's basketball team appeared in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, where it lost to Virginia Tech in the first round.
The women's golf team won the 2009 NCAA West Regional and later finished 5th in the finals of the 2009 NCAA tournament. DU also appeared in the 2008 and 2007 NCAA finals, as well as multiple NCAA regionals.

History and Notable Athletic Figures

Denver's first athletic event was in a baseball game in 1867, a sport that was played at the varsity level until 1999 when DU returned to full NCAA D-I status. DU's best baseball achievements were appearances in the 1970 and 1973 NCAA baseball tournaments.
Other notable Denver sports alumni include former Major League Baseball player Dan Schatzeder, NBA basketball players Vince Boryla and Byron Beck, CFL Hall of Famer and former NFL football player Sam Etcheverry, 1952 US Olympic Long Jump Gold Medalist Jerome Biffle, former US Olympic Committee Executive Director Lyman Bingham, and MLS/US National soccer player Nat Borchers. San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich received a master's degree from DU but did not play any varsity sports there. Five-time world champion and US Olympic figure Skating star Michelle Kwan graduated from DU in 2009. Former DU basketball player David Adkins went on to greater fame outside of sports as comedian and actor Sinbad. Phil Heath a former DU basketball player in the early 2000s, won the Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Championship seven consecutive times between 2001 and 2017.

National Championships

NCAA team championships

The University of Denver has 33 NCAA team national championships.
Note: Skiing was a men's NCAA sport from 1954–82 and became co-ed in 1983. The AIAW sponsored women's skiing and a national championship from 1977-82 before being superseded by the NCAA, at which time skiing became co-ed.
Denver won one AIAW championship:
Denver has won three team national championships that were not bestowed by the NCAA: