The list of Big Ten national championships includes championships won by teams from the Big Ten Conference and former member Chicago. Including football champions listed in the official NCAA Records book,[1] Big Ten teams have compiled 303 NCAA and Football Bowl Subdivision national championships (as of January 9, 2024) during their years of membership. Prior to NCAA sponsorship of women's sports, Big Ten teams, as members of the AIAW, also won 6 undisputed national championships in 1976–82. Notably, in the 2021–22 academic year, Big Ten members won four titles: (1) Northwestern won the NCAA field hockey championship. It is the first for Northwestern in field hockey and the first for the Big Ten since 2001 when Michigan won the title; (2) Wisconsin won the NCAA women's volleyball championship marking the first title for the Badgers in the sport. Wisconsin becomes the third Big Ten school to win in women's volleyball, joining Penn State and Nebraska. It also is the first for the conference since Nebraska won the title in 2017; (3) Penn State won the wrestling championship continuing the Big Ten's championship streak since 2007. Penn State has won nine of the last eleven wrestling titles and tenth overall and (4) Ohio State won the NCAA women's ice hockey championship for the first time in the school's history and only the second NCAA women's sport where the Buckeyes have won a title, joining women's rowing. The title continues the streak of a Big Ten team winning the women's ice hockey title as Wisconsin won the prior two championships.
Listed below are all championship teams of NCAA-sponsored events, as well as the titles won in football, which has a Division I championship not sanctioned by the NCAA. The main list in Sections 2, 3 and 4 includes championships won by Chicago when it was a member, but does not credit a Big Ten NCAA championship to current Big Ten member schools before they joined the conference. These prior titles are separately indicated.
Michigan State joined in 1950 and competed in the conference for the first time in 1953.
Penn State joined in 1990 and competed in the conference for the first time in 1991.[2]
† includes football national championships by Big Ten members starting in 1901, as listed in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book[1]
Most recent NCAA championship
Team
Academic Year
Sport
Illinois
2011–12
Men's Gymnastics
Indiana
2012–13
Men's Soccer
Iowa
2020–21
Wrestling
Maryland
2021–22
Men's Lacrosse
Michigan
2023–24
Football
Michigan State
2014–15
Women's Cross Country
Minnesota
2015–16
Women's Ice Hockey
Nebraska
2020–21
Women's Bowling
Northwestern
2021–22
Field Hockey
Ohio State
2023–24
Women's Ice Hockey
Penn State
2023–24
Wrestling
Purdue
2009–10
Women's Golf
Rutgers
1948–49
Men's Fencing (tie)
Wisconsin
2022–23
Women's Ice Hockey
* most recent NCAA championship won by a member of the conference
The Division I (FBS) football championship is not officially bestowed by the NCAA; however, the Big Ten teams among the champions and co-champions listed in its official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records[1] book are shown below. Prior to joining the Big Ten, Nebraska won 3 football national titles and 2 co-titles, Penn State won 2 national titles, Maryland won one national title, and Michigan State won one championship (1952, the year before it began Big Ten competition).[1] The NCAA was formed in 1906 to address violent injuries in the sport.
Year
National Champion(s)†
1901
Michigan & 2 others
1902
Michigan & 1 other
1903
Michigan & 1 other
1904
Michigan, Minnesota & 1 other
1905
Chicago & 1 other
1913
Chicago & 2 others
1914
Illinois & 2 others
1918
Michigan & 1 other
1919
Illinois & 4 others
1921
Iowa & 5 others
1922
Iowa & 4 others
1923
Illinois, Michigan & 2 others
1925
Michigan & 2 others
1926
Michigan & 4 others
1927
Illinois & 4 others
1931
Purdue & 2 others
1932
Michigan & 2 others
1933
Michigan, Ohio State & 2 others
1934
Minnesota & 1 other
1935
Minnesota & 4 others
1936
Minnesota & 2 others
1940
Minnesota & 2 others
1941
Minnesota & 2 others
1942
Ohio State, Wisconsin & 1 other
1944
Ohio State & 1 other
1947
Michigan & 1 other
1948
Michigan
1954
Ohio State & 1 other
1957
Ohio State & 1 other
1958
Iowa & 1 other
1960
Minnesota & 1 other
1961
Ohio State & 1 other
1965
Michigan State & 1 other
1966
Michigan State & 1 other
1968
Ohio State
1970
Ohio State & 2 others
1997
Michigan & 1 other
2002
Ohio State
2014
Ohio State
2023
Michigan
† As listed in official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records.[1] For 1950 to present, includes only recognized consensus selections (AP, UP-UPI-USAT, FWAA, NFF)
Prior to joining the Big Ten, Maryland won 3 NCAA titles in Men's Soccer (1968 [tie], 2005, 2008) and Penn State won 6 national titles awarded by the ISFA in the era before NCAA championships.
Year
School
1967
Michigan State†
1968
Michigan State‡
1982
Indiana
1983
Indiana
1988
Indiana
1995
Wisconsin
1998
Indiana
1999
Indiana
2003
Indiana
2004
Indiana
2012
Indiana
2018
Maryland
† Co-champion with Saint Louis (game called because of weather)
Prior to joining the Big Ten, Maryland won 1 NCAA title in men's basketball (2002). (1 NCAA before Big Ten)
The NCAA championship tournament began in 1939.
Year
School
1902
Minnesota†
1907
Chicago†
1908
Chicago†
1909
Chicago†
1912
Wisconsin†
1914
Wisconsin†
1915
Illinois†
1916
Wisconsin†
1919
Minnesota†
1931
Northwestern†
1932
Purdue†
1940
Indiana
1941
Wisconsin
1953
Indiana
1960
Ohio State
1976
Indiana
1979
Michigan State
1981
Indiana
1987
Indiana
1989
Michigan
2000
Michigan State
† Selected by Helms Athletic Foundation, formed in 1936, who compiled a retroactive list of college basketball champions in 1942 for the previous 41 years. In 12 of those years, a Big Ten team was selected: 1902, 1907–09, 1912, 1914–16, 1919, 1931–32, 1941. Chicago's 1908 national title was won in a championship series against the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining the Big Ten, Rutgers won 1 AIAW championship (1982), and Maryland won 1 NCAA title in women's basketball (2006). (1 NCAA before Big Ten)
Prior to joining the Big Ten, Penn State won 9 NCAA titles in men's gymnastics, and Nebraska won 8 NCAA titles. (17 NCAA before Big Ten)
Year
School
1938
Chicago
1939
Illinois
1940
Illinois
1941
Illinois
1942
Illinois
1950
Illinois
1955
Illinois
1956
Illinois
1958
Illinois & Michigan State
1963
Michigan
1969
Iowa
1970
Michigan
1984
Ohio State
1989
Illinois
1996
Ohio State
1999
Michigan
2000
Penn State
2001
Ohio State
2004
Penn State
2007
Penn State
2010
Michigan
2012
Illinois
2013
Michigan
2014
Michigan
Trampoline (2)
Until 1969, trampoline was one of the events that comprised the NCAA men's gymnastics championships. At that time, the event was removed in order to conform to the international gymnastics itinerary. The NCAA continued to bestow a national title in trampoline for two years.[4][5]
† From inception in 1924 through 1936, NCAA team swimming championships were unofficial because team points were not officially awarded. Team champions were nevertheless proclaimed in the newspapers of the time.[6][7][8][9]
Men's lacrosse became an official Big Ten sport in the 2015 season.
Prior to joining the Big Ten as a men's lacrosse affiliate, Johns Hopkins won 35 national titles in the era before the NCAA organized men's lacrosse championships, plus nine NCAA titles. Maryland has nine pre-NCAA national titles and two NCAA titles. (11 NCAA before Big Ten)
The NCAA did not organize national championships in men's lacrosse until the 1971 season. Before that time, other bodies awarded national titles based on regular season records, most notably the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. Rutgers shared two national titles, in 1928 and 1955 (a Division II co-championship).
At the same time that the first NCAA Division I women's tennis championship was held (attracting the top-ranked teams), the AIAW conducted its last tennis championship, which was won by Indiana.
† From 1925 through 1927, the NCAA team championship was unofficial because team points were not officially scored.
National championships in sports not sponsored by the Big Ten
In addition to the national championship titles won in Big Ten sponsored sports, some Big Ten schools participate in official varsity sports not offered by the NCAA (e.g., men's rowing, synchronized swimming) as well as other NCAA sports for which no Big Ten championship is contested. These include bowling, fencing, women's ice hockey, rifle, men's volleyball, and men's and women's water polo, as well as men's ice hockey before the 2013–14 school year plus men's and women's lacrosse before the 2014–15 school year. The following are Big Ten teams' national championships won in other sports (number in parentheses indicates NCAA titles won by Big Ten schools during their years of membership):
Penn State won 1 NCAA title in boxing before the NCAA discontinued the sport. (1 NCAA before Big Ten)
Year
School
1939
Wisconsin†
1942
Wisconsin†
1943
Wisconsin†
1947
Wisconsin†
1948
Wisconsin
1951
Michigan State
1952
Wisconsin
1954
Wisconsin
1955
Michigan State
1956
Wisconsin
† Before 1948, NCAA team boxing championships were unofficial because team points were not officially awarded. However, national publications at the time proclaimed the annual team champions, and the NCAA Record Books still count them as titles won for that year.
Prior to beginning athletic competition in the Big Ten, Nebraska won 5 WIBC/USBC titles, Penn State won 1 WIBC/USBC title, and Nebraska won 3 NCAA titles in bowling. (3 NCAA before Big Ten)
Big Ten teams have not won an NCAA rifle championship since inception in 1980.
Year
School†
1911
Iowa
1918
Iowa
1929
Iowa
1933
Minnesota
1940
Iowa
1941
Minnesota
1946
Iowa
† NRA National Champion (prior to NCAA sponsored championships). Prior to joining the Big Ten, Maryland won 5 NRA national championships (4 men, 1 women), and Michigan State won 3 (men).
Men's rowing (0)
The NCAA has never offered a men's rowing championship.
From 1983 through 2004, Ohio State won 19 of the 22 national championships sponsored by United States Synchronized Swimming. Ohio State also won championships from 2009 through 2012, and in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023.