Big Ten programs ranked by national championships across all sports
6 min readA national title. It’s the ultimate goal for any college team that competes in the NCAA. At a place like Ohio State, football and its eight national championships are often touted everywhere there’s space, but the athletic department has had its fair share of national titles across multiple sports throughout history.
In fact, the women’s ice hockey team just took home its first national title in 2022 — and yeah — we were here to brag about it for you.
But what about the rest of the Big Ten? Some schools are known as football schools, some as basketball, but some should probably have a reputation for another sport based on how many trophies and awards it has for being the best in the country.
We decided to take a look at each Big Ten athletic program and rank them based on the total number of national championships each has won across all NCAA sanctioned events. Keep in mind, that doesn’t include sports like synchronized swimming which isn’t an NCAA sanctioned sport.
And a couple of other disclaimers: There are official and unofficial national championships that have to be taken into account so it gets a little tricky. But hey, we’re game in trying to figure it all out.
So which Big Ten program has the most cumulative NCAA championships? Where does Ohio State fall? Let’s get into it.
No. 14 – Rutgers University
Total Number of NCAA national championships
1
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Fencing (1)
No. 13 – Purdue Boilermakers
Total Number of NCAA national championships
3
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s golf (1), Women’s golf (1), Women’s basketball (1)
No. 12 – Northwestern Wildcats
Total Number of NCAA national championships
9
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Women’s lacrosse (7)
No. 11 – Illinois Fighting Illini
Total Number of NCAA national championships
18
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s gymnastics (10)
No 9 (tie) – Nebraska Cornhuskers
Total Number of NCAA national championships
19
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s gymnastics (8)
No. 9 (tie) – Minnesota Golden Gophers
Total Number of NCAA national championships
19
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Women’s ice hockey (6)
No. 8 – Michigan State Spartans
Total Number of NCAA national championships
20
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s cross country (8)
No. 7 – Indiana Hoosiers
Total Number of NCAA national championships
24
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s soccer (8)
No. 6 – Iowa Hawkeyes
Total Number of NCAA national championships
25
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s wrestling (23)
No. 3 (tie) – Wisconsin Badgers
Total Number of NCAA national championships
31
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s boxing (8)* | Sport discontinued after 1960
*Includes four unofficial titles
No. 3 (tie) – Ohio State Buckeyes
Total Number of NCAA national championships
31
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s swimming (11)
No. 3 (tie) – Maryland Terrapins
Total Number of NCAA national championships
31
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Women’s lacrosse (14)
No. 2 – Michigan Wolverines
Total Number of NCAA national championships
39
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Men’s Swimming (12)*
*Includes seven unofficial titles
No. 1 – Penn State Nittany Lions
Total Number of NCAA national championships
52
Sport(s) with the most national championships
Fencing (14)
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