Basketball Men's basketball , home of the UCF basketball teams UCF played its first intercollegiate basketball game before the team even had a nickname. In the Division II era, under Torchy Clark, UCF found great success including a DII Final Four appearance. UCF has been a member of Division I since 1985, and has advanced to the NCAA tournament 5 times (1994, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2019) 4 under coach
Kirk Speraw and once under current coach
Johnny Dawkins. UCF competed in the
Atlantic Sun Conference (formerly called the Trans America Athletic Conference and now the ASUN Conference) from 1992 until 2005 when all sports joined C-USA, and plays in
Addition Financial Arena. UCF made their debut in the C-USA Championship Tournament in the 2006 season, falling to Houston in the second round and closing out the season with the program's first losing record (14–15) since 2000–01. The Knights made a huge turnaround in the 2006–07 season, finishing 2nd in conference play to
Memphis with an overall record of 22–9. The UCF men's basketball team played its first exhibition game in the 9,400-seat UCF Arena (now Addition Financial Arena), with an 86–78 win over the
Saint Leo Lions, on November 3, 2007. Their first regular-season game in the venue was a 63–60 victory over the
Nevada Wolf Pack on November 11. Their first home C-USA game was against the
Tulsa Golden Hurricane on January 11, 2008. The game was won by the Knights in triple overtime. On December 1, 2010, the Knights upset the #16
Florida Gators 57–54 at the new
Amway Center in downtown Orlando, giving the Knights their first victory over a top 20 opponent as well as their first victory over the Gators. Following a 10–0 start to the
2010–11 season, the Knights were nationally ranked for the first time in program history. At the time, UCF was one of nine unbeaten teams, and one of only four schools to be ranked in the BCS standings and the AP men's basketball poll. In 2019, the Knights defeated the number 8 ranked
Houston Cougars and ended the nations longest home winning streak at 33. With this win, they entered the AP poll for the first time since the 2010–2011 season; peaking at number 19 in the country. At the end of the season, they were selected for the NCAA Tournament as a number 9 seed. In the first round, they defeated 8 seed
VCU with a score of 73–58. In the second round, they faced number 1 seed
Duke. They came a layup away from pulling off the upset win with a score of 76–77. Despite the heartbreaking loss, the game is seen as one of the most important games in UCF athletics history.
Women's basketball UCF first joined the
AIAW for women's basketball in 1977–78. To conclude the 1979–80 season, the team won the Division-II Florida State Championship, before falling in their first game of the national tournament. They were promoted to AIAW Division I in its last year of existence, 1981–82, and made it to that year's District I tournament quarterfinals, before joining the NCAA in 1982–83. The women's basketball team have made the NCAA Division I tournament in
1996,
1999,
2009,
2011,
2019,
2021, and
2022. They won the TAAC/Atlantic Sun regular-season title in 1999, 2003 and 2005, before joining C-USA. In 2009, UCF's women's basketball team shocked the C-USA by going 11–5 in conference play after going 2–11 in non-conference games and 10–20 the previous year, and swept through the 2009
Conference USA women's basketball tournament, dominating Southern Miss in overtime to win the championship game, 65–54, and earn its
third Division I tournament appearance. In 2022, the Knights won the AAC title; going 14–1 in the conference and 26–3 overall. This earned them a number 24 overall final season ranking in the AP and coaches poll, as well as an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament as a 7-seed. They defeated the 10-seed
Florida Gators in the first round, and lost in the second round to 2-seed
UConn by 5 points.
Baseball The baseball team is led by head coach Rich Wallace, who will enter his first season as head coach in 2024 for UCF's inaugural season in the
Big 12. Prior to the hiring of Wallace,
Greg Lovelady had headed the Knights since 2016. The Knights only made one NCAA championship appearance under Lovelady's leadership that came in his first season in 2017, but did have winning records in every season under him and a shared
AAC title with the
Houston Cougars (also in 2017).
Jay Bergman had been head coach since 1976 but was fired on May 1, 2008, after allegations arose of sexual harassment towards a male equipment coach. Bergman had a large amount of success in this position, leading UCF to eight Atlantic Sun Championships and nine NCAA Regional Appearances, and brought UCF to a national ranking of #8 in 2001. In honor of his long-term success with the Knights, on February 3, 2001, UCF opened and dedicated Jay Bergman Field, which has since been renamed to
John Euliano Park.
Football during its inaugural game against the University of Texas in September 2007 UCF fielded an official varsity football team for the first time in 1979, under head coach
Don Jonas. Since then, the Knights have played in six bowl games, won six conference championships, produced 2 All-Americans, and two first-round
draft picks. UCF has had some measure of success in football in its short NCAA history. It is the alma mater for NFL stars
Brandon Marshall,
Daunte Culpepper,
Asante Samuel,
Leger Douzable, and
Bruce Miller among others. While UCF football can be traced back to its days as an
NCAA Division III team under Jonas, it quickly moved up to
Division II in 1982, and
Division I-AA in 1990, finally matching the rest of its sports programs. In 1996, the program made its final ascension into
Division I-A, now known as the
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). UCF football plays as a member of the Big 12, where it has been a member since the 2023 season. The Knights play their home games at
FBC Mortgage Stadium, the team's home field since 2007. The Knights' most prominent historical football rivals are conference foes
East Carolina and
Tulsa, and former
Conference USA rival
Marshall. UCF's current main rival is in-state conference foe
South Florida. For the beginning of the rivalry's existence, it was an inter-conference contest when South Florida was in the
Big East and UCF in C-USA. Both schools are now members of the American Athletic Conference and play on
Black Friday each year. Since beginning play in 1979, the Knights have won three conference championships and four conference division titles. UCF won the C-USA East Division in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012, winning the
conference championship game in 2007 and 2010. The Knights were also champions of The American in 2013. Before ascending to the FBS, UCF was a leading program in
Division I-AA in the early 1990s. In 1990, UCF became the first school in history to qualify for the I-AA playoffs in its first season of eligibility. The Knights once again made the postseason in 1993, and were selected as the preseason No. 1 to start the 1994 season.
George O'Leary became UCF's head football coach in 2004 and had great success. The
2005 team won the school's first division championship, and earned their first trip to a
bowl game, in the Knights first season in C-USA. In
2007, the Knights won their second division championship, and earned their first conference championship. During the
2009 campaign, UCF earned its first victory over a ranked opponent and third bowl appearance under O'Leary's watch. In
2010 they earned their first top 25 ranking, second conference championship, and won their first
bowl game. In
2013, UCF went undefeated in conference play to win The American's conference championship in its inaugural season, earning the conference's
automatic berth to a
BCS game. The fifteenth-ranked Knights upset the sixth-ranked
Baylor Bears 52–42 in the
2014 Fiesta Bowl to secure the program's first win a major bowl game, and pull off one of the biggest upsets of the BCS era. UCF finished the 2013 campaign by earning the program's first top-ten ranking, and with quarterback
Blake Bortles being selected third overall by the
Jacksonville Jaguars in the
2014 NFL draft. Scott Frost became the head coach in 2016 as O'Leary effectively resigned from the program midway through the season in 2015. UCF defeated #7
Auburn 34–27 in the
2018 Peach Bowl on January 1, 2018, to secure the school's second major bowl victory. Citing the only undefeated season in the FBS, UCF administrators claimed a national championship football season on January 7 (the day before the College Football Playoff National Championship Game). The
Colley Matrix, an NCAA-recognized selector, selected UCF as the top team in the country on January 9. It was the only selector to do so, as all other recognized selectors chose the winner of the
College Football Playoff National Championship, the
University of Alabama. The NCAA record book places UCF under the "Final National Poll Leaders" section, but since the beginning of the BCS era in 1998 has reserved the term "National Champions" for winners of the BCS, College Football Playoff, AP Poll, or Coaches Poll. UCF is the only team which actively claims a national championship that was not awarded by one of these polls since the beginning of the BCS era. The decision to claim the championship earned the school exuberant praise from some national media outlets, but has been criticized by others.
Golf The men's golf team was formed in 1979, and has appeared in NCAA Regionals 12 times, and have played in for the NCAA Championship four times. The last time the squad reached the championship was in 2009. The 2010 men's golf team were C-USA champions. Bryce Wallor is the head coach for the men's golf team, and Courtney Trimble is the head coach for the women's team. The Knights men's golf team plays its home matches at the
Rio Pinar Country Club. The Knights women's golf team plays its home matches at the RedTail Golf Course.
Women's rowing The women's rowing team was formed in 1995. They have won 5 American Athletic Conference (AAC) Rowing championships, and have appeared in 6 NCAA Championships. The team matched their highest placement (18th overall) in their most recent 2019 appearance. This included their highest ever boat placement with the Varsity 4 boat coming in 14th. The team sit with UCONN Women's Basketball and USF Women's Soccer as the only sports in the AAC to win 5 consecutive conference championships. The 2020 season begun briefly with a sweep at the metro cup regatta, but was ended early due to COVID-19. The Coaching team consists of Head Coach Becky Cramer and includes Assistant Coaches Rachel Klunder (Director of Operations), Mari Sundbo, and Montia Rice.
Soccer UCF has produced a number of women's soccer stars. Most notably,
Michelle Akers and
Kim Wyant. Akers and Wyant were founding players on the
United States women's national soccer team from 1985 to 2000. Akers helped them win the
FIFA Women's World Cup in
1991 and
1999, and the
1996 Summer Olympics. Her career was so distinguished that
Pelé named her among only two female players (along with fellow American
Mia Hamm) on the
FIFA 100 list of the greatest living soccer players in 2004. The women's program made the final of the first ever official
women's intercollegiate soccer championship in 1981, as well as the first
NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship in 1982, losing the final in each year by the identical score of 1–0 to
North Carolina. The men's program has developed midfielder Eric Vasquez, who made his professional soccer debut with the
Columbus Crew Major League Soccer. Vasquez later played for
Miami FC in the United Soccer Leagues' First Division and the
Orlando Sharks of the Major Indoor Soccer League before retiring due to injury. As well, former Knights Goalkeeper Ryan McIntosh initially signed a development deal with
D.C. United of MLS. After a year with the D.C. United Reserve team, McIntosh signed with the
Atlanta Silverbacks of USL Division One, where he led the team to the league final. The Silverbacks ended up losing to the Seattle Sounders. Both players were a part of the 2004
Central Florida Kraze amateur soccer team that won the Premier Development League's championship by defeating the Boulder Rapids Reserves, 1–0 at the UCF soccer stadium. Former UCF goalkeeper
Sean Johnson joined the
Chicago Fire of
Major League Soccer in 2010. He made his pro debut on August 1 and defeated the
LA Galaxy. He was a member of the
United States U-20 men's national soccer team which qualified for the
2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in
Egypt. On the women's team, Aline Reis, an All-American in her freshman year in 2008, was selected to the
Brazil women's national football team for the first time in 2009, playing in a friendly against a local Brazilian team in July. Former women's goalkeeper Lynzee Lee played for the
Buffalo Flash of the
W-League. In 2010, both the men's and women's soccer teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Softball The Knights softball program is the youngest team at UCF. It was founded in 2002, and the team officially started competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference in that same year under head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie. Since the program began, the Knights have won five conference tournament championships (2005, 2008, 2015, 2022, 2023), three regular season conference titles (2014, 2015, 2022) and have appeared in the NCAA tournament ten times (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023). Cindy Ball-Malone became the 2nd head coach in UCF softball history in 2019. She has led the Knights to the NCAA Tournament in 2021, 2022 (super regional appearance), and 2023. The Knights also won back to back AAC tournament titles in their last two years in the AAC (2022 and 2023) and a regular season AAC title in 2022 under Malone. Since joining the Big 12 Conference, the Knights' streak of NCAA Tournament appearances has continued. In their first season in the Big 12 (2024), the Knights made another regional appearance after placing in the top-five in the Big 12 Conference Standings for the regular season. In 2025, the Knights earned yet another NCAA Tournament birth, and played in a regional final despite fielding a team that season made up of roughly 60% Sophomores and Freshmen. The Knights softball team plays its home games at the
UCF Softball Complex. and won the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 C-USA outdoor title, and the 2011 C-USA indoor title. In 2011, the Knights were nationally ranked for the first time in program history, while at the same time ranking as the top team in the state, rising as high as No. 8 in the polls. The head coach for the track and field program is
Caryl Smith-Gilbert, and the assistant coaches are Jeff Chakouian, Paul Brown and LaTonya Loche. Gilbert has coached four
All-Americans during her tenure at UCF, including two-time All-American Jackie Coward. The Knights track and field teams hold their outdoor home meets at the
UCF Soccer and Track Stadium, which is part of Knights Plaza. Throughout the team's history, the Knights have made 17 AIAW or NCAA Tournament appearances. During their time in various conferences, the Knights have wone 14 Conference Tournament Championships and 9 Conference Regular Season Championships. This included a dominant streak in their last five years in the American Athletic Conference, in which they won the Conference Championship five years in a row (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) before moving on to the Big 12 Conference. As of 2025, the UCF Volleyball Coach is Matt Botsford (who took over the Knights program in the 2025 season).
Former Sports Wrestling From 1970 to 1986, UCF sponsored a men's wrestling program. The team qualified for the
NCAA Division II championship in 1979 and 1984, finishing in 26th and 29th out of 32 respectively; and the
Division I championship in 1986, finishing 71st out of 76. The team was discontinued after 1986 due to financial reasons. == Championships ==