Clemson: Football<\/p>\n
This was unquestionable before Dabo Swinney engineered the greatest era, by far, in program history. Clemson may not have the loudest \u201cDeath Valley<\/a>,\u201d but The Hill and Howard\u2019s Rock make this one of the sport\u2019s unique outposts.<\/p>\n Duke: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n A sportswriting rite of passage in this country is having a Duke student comment on\/correct typos in the prose on your laptop screen, which is already adversely affected by the fact that several of them are pressed against your back for two hours. Duke became Duke<\/a>\u00a0in the 1990s, but Dick Groat, Vic Bubas, Gene Banks, Mike Gminski and others had established a solid history.<\/p>\n Florida State: Football<\/p>\n They care a lot and yearn for the good old days, which likely won\u2019t be approached. Among college football records that should be safe, how about Florida State\u2019s 14 straight years with a top-five finish under Bobby Bowden from 1987 to 2000? Nine of those were 1, 2 or 3.<\/p>\n Georgia Tech: Football<\/p>\n This is not so simple, and the biggest modern impact on college athletics came from Bobby Cremins\u2019 hoops squads, peaking with Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott and Brian Oliver \u2014 \u201cLethal Weapon 3\u201d \u2014 reaching the 1990 Final Four. But it\u2019s the state of Georgia. It\u2019s John Heisman. It\u2019s Bobby Dodd. It\u2019s a tradition richer than many realize.<\/p>\n Louisville: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Johnny Unitas, Lamar Jackson and Lee Corso may like a word, but this is no contest. Louisville is college basketball royalty, a tier below the blue bloods (including, ahem, rival Kentucky). Only seven programs have more titles \u2014 provided we\u2019re counting the third, in 2013 under Rick Pitino.<\/p>\n Miami: Football<\/p>\n With Miami\u2019s first national championship in 1983, out of the blue, led by Bernie Kosar at quarterback, Howard Schnellenberger started a run that has now seen six more Miami coaches achieve at least one 10-win season. Still waiting on the first title since 2001, though.<\/p>\n North Carolina: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Bill Belichick could win the next 10 national championships, bring in Tom Brady as his offensive coordinator, have Michael Jordan give every halftime speech, take every last NIL dime from the basketball program, make it all available to the public via Jordon Hudson-narrated documentary, and it wouldn\u2019t change a thing.<\/p>\n NC State: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Football, women\u2019s basketball and baseball have had their moments, but it\u2019s Tobacco Road. It\u2019s David Thompson. It\u2019s Dereck Whittenburg to Lorenzo Charles. It\u2019s Jim Valvano looking for a hug. It\u2019s DJ Burns and three unforgettable weeks in 2024, reminding NC State fans what matters.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh: Football<\/p>\n It\u2019s a football town, but it\u2019s more specifically a pro football town, and support for the Panthers on Saturdays can look feeble by comparison. That contrasts with some of the Fitzgerald Field House hoops crowds back in the vintage Big East days. Still: Tony Dorsett, Hugh Green, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald, Aaron Donald and so on.<\/p>\n Stanford: Everything<\/p>\n Stanford home attendance, relative to team success, has been lamented <\/a>in various sports over the years. But the athletic department\u2019s performance overall is the source of pride. The school has 139 NCAA championships, one in 50 straight years, with 26 Learfield Directors Cups (out of 32). It sets the standard for college athletics excellence. \u201cEverything school\u201d is overused and really only works for Stanford.<\/p>\n SMU: Football<\/p>\n Let these people actually invest in the players, and they\u2019re going to win some football games. That\u2019s the lesson of the past 40 years.<\/p>\n Syracuse: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n How long does it take 50 years of consistent excellence to be forgotten? Syracuse is acting like it wants to find out. Another five years of irrelevance would be a shame, because so many are passionate about Syracuse basketball.<\/p>\n Virginia: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Terry Holland, with help from Ralph Sampson, created a tradition in Charlottesville that has been largely maintained, peaking with Tony Bennett\u2019s 2019 national championship. There were some lean years between Jeff Jones and Bennett, but this is a proud program with a passionate following.<\/p>\n Virginia Tech: Football<\/p>\n The fact that Virginia Tech landed James Franklin says plenty about how much people care about Hokies football and the investment he has been promised. This traces back to the incredible work of Frank Beamer, who took a decade before really hitting stride in Blacksburg.<\/p>\n Wake Forest: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n It\u2019s a testament to Wake Forest fans, and basketball fans in the state of North Carolina in general, that a program with no Final Fours since it was called the \u201cFinal Four\u201d (the lone national semifinal was in 1962) still has so much support.<\/p>\n Big TenIllinois: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n The memories of Red Grange and Dick Butkus have not been honored as hoped on the gridiron, but that spaceship-looking arena (formerly Assembly Hall, now State Farm Center) has been rocking for decades. It\u2019s time these fans are rewarded with a national title.<\/p>\n Indiana: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n It\u2019s in the blood. Curt Cignetti just delivered a football national championship to Indiana, perhaps the most amazing story in college sports history. But how many IU fans would trade it for a basketball title? Or even a general return to the national relevance that has eluded the program for more than two decades? Most of them.<\/p>\n Iowa: Football<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got a nice debate here before ultimately giving the dominant sport the nod. Iowa wrestling is an institution. Men\u2019s basketball has history and passion on its side. Women\u2019s basketball has been strong and became one of the most important teams in American sports during the Caitlin Clark era. But yeah. Football.<\/p>\n Maryland: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n This one is easy. Maryland should still be in the ACC, jousting regularly with Carolina, Duke and Virginia. Its basketball history fits well into the Big Ten, but Maryland hasn\u2019t lived up to its history for most of its time in the Big Ten. It\u2019s a lot to live up to \u2014 Lefty Driesell, Len Bias, Gary Williams, Walt Williams, Joe Smith, Juan Dixon and so on.<\/p>\n \n Tahj Holden and Juan Dixon celebrate Maryland\u2019s 2002 national championship. (Doug Pensinger \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Michigan: Football<\/p>\n If Michigan and Indiana fans could trade championships from the last school year, they\u2019d do it in an instant. Already, the 2023 season gave Wolverines fans their first undisputed title since 1948. It has been accompanied by scandals galore. But it has not been vacated, and the hats and sweatshirts will continue to be worn.<\/p>\n Michigan State: Football<\/p>\n This might surprise people, but take it from Tom Izzo himself: He works at a football school. He\u2019s the Big Ten\u2019s winningest hoops coach, with a national title and eight Final Fours. But this is about fan passion, not program success. Tracing back to Biggie, Duffy and Bubba, football is king in East Lansing.<\/p>\n Minnesota: Men\u2019s ice hockey<\/p>\n Wade Gustafson could have been watching any Minnesota sport in that scene in the 1996 classic \u201cFargo,\u201d but what was he watching? That\u2019s right, Golden Gophers hockey against the hated Badgers. Football\u2019s rich history is distant, but two of Minnesota hockey\u2019s five championships have come in the 21st century.<\/p>\n Nebraska: Women\u2019s volleyball<\/p>\n There is no more passionate fan base in this growing sport. Of course, Nebraska fans would rank at or near the top in just about any sport you can name \u2014 witness their total takeover of an Oklahoma City arena in March to cheer on Fred Hoiberg\u2019s #Nebrasketball history makers. Maybe if Nebraska stops considering itself a \u201cfootball school,\u201d its rotten football luck will end.<\/p>\n Northwestern: Women\u2019s lacrosse<\/p>\n Northwestern fans will rally around a winner, but they\u2019ve been forced to do so much polite accommodating of fans from rival Big Ten teams at football and basketball games over the decades. In women\u2019s lacrosse, they expect to win and have a national championship program \u2014 nine titles and three runner-up finishes since 2005.<\/p>\n Ohio State: Football<\/p>\n What if this program ever went through an actual recession<\/a>? It has had but slight dips around the Earle Bruce-John Cooper change, then the Cooper-Jim Tressel change, dating back to Woody Hayes. Ask Ohio State fans what they think about an NFL Lite model designed for a bunch of 8-4 records.<\/p>\n Oregon: Football<\/p>\n The college football atmosphere that doesn\u2019t get talked about enough \u2014 and really stands out relative to the other top programs in that region of the country \u2014 is that of Autzen Stadium. It\u2019s more than just a Nike stronghold. And Oregon is the best program without a championship.<\/p>\n Penn State: Football<\/p>\n This fall marks the 40th anniversary of Penn State\u2019s last national championship team. And that\u2019s a good reminder that championships only tell part of the story.<\/p>\n Purdue: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Speaking of championships, Indiana won three national titles under Bobby Knight, while Gene Keady never got Purdue to a Final Four. But Keady was 21-20 against Knight, with both programs winning six Big Ten championships, while they were rival coaches. Matt Painter has continued the consistency, playing in one of the best atmospheres at Mackey Arena.<\/p>\n Rutgers: Football<\/p>\n Success has been fleeting, to be kind. But it\u2019s New Jersey. It\u2019s one side of the first college football game ever played. It\u2019s about time for the greatest era of Rutgers football, isn\u2019t it? After what Indiana and Vanderbilt have done?<\/p>\n UCLA: Basketball<\/p>\n Let\u2019s combine the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams that share Pauley Pavilion in the wake of the first national championship for the UCLA women. They\u2019ve got 10 more to win to catch up with the men. Of course, the last of those came more than 30 years ago.<\/p>\n USC: Football<\/p>\n It takes a lot to impress USC fans, spoiled as they\u2019ve been by the heights of Pete Carroll, John Robinson and John McKay. The program hasn\u2019t found the perfect fit since Carroll left in 2009, but the downtime has included five seasons with double digits in wins and eight ranked finishes.<\/p>\n Washington: Football<\/p>\n Consistency has eluded the program since the Don James era, but he is one of six coaches to elicit at least one top-six finish since the 1930s. Jedd Fisch may end up the seventh before too long.<\/p>\n Wisconsin: Football<\/p>\n Hockey and basketball deserve nods, but what Barry Alvarez did<\/a> in the 1990s to turn a 30-year doormat into a consistent winner still resonates, more than 30 years later.<\/p>\n Big 12Arizona: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Iowa\u2019s Carver-Hawkeye Arena was known as \u201cThe House that Lute Built,\u201d but even more impressive was the national power Lute Olson built from scratch in Tucson after leaving Iowa City in 1983. It has proved sustainable.<\/p>\n Arizona State: Football<\/p>\n Biggie Munn disciple Frank Kush established a WAC power in the 1960s and \u201970s, leading to an expanded Pac-10 and more success under Darryl Rogers, John Cooper, Bruce Snyder and others.<\/p>\n Baylor: Basketball<\/p>\n Combining men\u2019s \u2014 which won it all under Scott Drew in 2021 \u2014 and women\u2019s, which is tied for the third-most championships of all time with three (2005, 2012, 2019), all thanks to the coaching of Kim Mulkey. Both programs should be in the hunt for more moving forward.<\/p>\n BYU: Football<\/p>\n If this weren\u2019t a football school, would Kalani Sitake have been able to turn down Penn State late last year? He has things set up for consistent success like they haven\u2019t seen in Provo since the height of the LaVell Edwards era.<\/p>\n Cincinnati: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Football has been an effective developer of coaches for bigger programs \u2014 Brian Kelly, Mark Dantonio, Butch Jones, Luke Fickell \u2014 but hoops is where the heart is. That goes back to Oscar Robertson, then consecutive national titles in 1961-62. Bob Huggins had it soaring in the \u201990s. Kenyon Martin\u2019s broken leg before the 2000 tournament is an all-time \u201cWhat if?\u201d<\/p>\n Colorado: Football<\/p>\n As Deion Sanders<\/a> has demonstrated, give Colorado fans any kind of product and they\u2019ll respond. They\u2019ve too often been left without much to cheer for, but most of the 1990s \u2014 under Bill McCartney, then Rick Neuheisel \u2014 were special.<\/p>\n Houston: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n A Texas school where football isn\u2019t No. 1? Older fans who remember the glory days of Bill Yeoman \u2014 he invented the veer and integrated the Southwest Conference<\/a> \u2014 might argue. But Cougars basketball is Phi Slama Jama and some of the greatest players and teams of all time. To date, some of the greatest heartbreaks, too.<\/p>\n Iowa State: Football<\/p>\n Ames has seen some tremendous basketball teams, but Matt Campbell\u2019s impressive football coaching tenure was not the first. Johnny Majors, Earle Bruce and Dan McCarney also got the Cyclones going. The program\u2019s first coach: a 24-year-old Pop Warner in 1895. He coached Georgia later during the same fall.<\/p>\n Kansas: Men\u2019s basketball<\/p>\n Other places talk about tradition. But no other program can claim the actual inventor of basketball as its first coach. Dr. James Naismith started things in 1898. One of his players, Phog Allen, went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. Wilt Chamberlain was the first star in the arena that still stands and bears Allen\u2019s name. What else do you want?<\/p>\n Kansas State: Football<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-544892.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP01102704002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n