UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State’s lengthy national championship history dates to 1921 and in recent years the Nittany Lions have moved to the forefront nationally in NCAA title success.
Starting with the men’s and women’s fencing team winning its 10th of 13th national crowns in March 2007, Penn State is tied for the national lead, with the University of Southern California, with 16 NCAA Championships, including football titles. The Nittany Lions have won at least one NCAA title in each of the past nine academic years, starting in 2006-07.
Penn State’s 16 NCAA Championships are at least double the number of NCAA titles won by every Big Ten Conference institution over the past nine years. Since 1992-93, the Nittany Lions’ 27 NCAA Championships are more than double every Big Ten school that has competed in the conference for more than one year (Nebraska and Ohio State are second with 12).
The Nittany Lions and USC each have had five teams combine to win their 16 national titles over the past nine years. Penn State has had crowns earned by women’s volleyball (six), men’s and women’s fencing (four), wrestling (four), men’s gymnastics (one) and men’s volleyball (one).
Florida is third with 15 NCAA titles since March 2007, followed by Oregon and Stanford (14), UCLA (13) and Texas A&M (10).
Penn State NCAA Championships since March 2007 (16)
Men's and Women's Fencing - 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014
Men's Gymnastics - 2007
Men's Volleyball - 2008
Women's Volleyball - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014
Wrestling – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Led by coach Russ Rose, the Penn State women’s volleyball team has won six of the last eight NCAA championships, including the past two and four straight from 2007-10. The Nittany Lions’ seven overall NCAA women’s volleyball crowns are the most of any school nationally.
Wrestling coach Cael Sanderson also directed Penn State to four consecutive NCAA Championships, from 2011-14. The Nittany Lions have won six wrestling national titles overall.
Coach Wes Glon directed Penn State to the 2014 NCAA Fencing Championship. The Nittany Lions have won 13 national titles to easily lead the nation. Notre Dame is next with four.
Coach Randy Jepson led Penn State to the 2007 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship, its 12th national title, which also leads the nation.
Coach Mark Pavlik guided the Nittany Lions to the 2008 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship. Penn State’s pair of national titles are tied for the most among all schools east of the Rocky Mountains.
Most NCAA Championships won since March 2007
Penn State and USC – 16
Florida – 15
Oregon and Stanford – 14
UCLA – 13
Texas A&M – 10
Penn State’s 46 NCAA Championships all-time (74 national championships overall) rank No. 5 among all NCAA Division I programs and are the highest total of any college or university east of the Mississippi River.
Penn State has won 74 national championships and 92 Big Ten titles all-time, including five NCAA titles and a Big Ten-best 19 conference crowns since September 2012. The Nittany Lions won three NCAA Championships overall in 2013-14, their most since winning three in 1999-2000. Penn State placed No. 8 in the final 2014-15 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup rankings, its 11th Top 10 finish in the program’s 22 years.
Penn State student-athletes have an 89 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate, 62 percent of them earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average during the spring semester and a school record 500 student-athletes posted a 3.0 GPA or higher during the 2014 fall semester. Penn State ranks No. 3 among all Division I schools with 189 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time.