JMU sponsors an 18-sport intercollegiate athletics program. JMU has men's athletics programs in baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, and tennis. For women, the university offers programs in basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor), and volleyball.
Baseball The JMU
baseball team's
head coach is Marlin Ikenberry. Founded in 1970, the JMU baseball team played at
Long Field at Mauck Stadium through the end of the 2009 season. In 2010 they opened play at
Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park, the school's new baseball and softball complex. The "Diamond Dukes," as the team is known, have compiled a 1092-670-8 all-time record and have made the NCAA tournament eight times, most recently in
2024.
Billy Sample is JMU's most famous baseball alumnus, who played in 862 career major league games with the
Texas Rangers,
New York Yankees, and
Atlanta Braves. In the 2006 season, JMU had the top-two home run hitters in Division I. One of them,
Kellen Kulbacki, placed in the top five in all three of the
triple crown categories. Kulbacki received the 2006 National Player of the Year award as a sophomore. In 2008, the Dukes won their first
CAA Championship defeating
Towson University qualifying the team for the
2008 NCAA Division I baseball tournament hosted by
North Carolina State University in
Raleigh, North Carolina. The Dukes also won the CAA Championship in 2011 defeating
Old Dominion University qualifying the team for the
2011 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
Men's basketball The men's
basketball team at JMU was founded in 1945. On March 25, 2008, it was announced that
Matt Brady, former
head coach of
Marist College, had accepted the position of Head Men's Basketball Coach. Brady replaced
Dean Keener who resigned after four years as head coach. Prior to Dean Keener, Lou Campanelli and
Charles "Lefty" Driesell enjoyed long and successful tenures in the position. The men moved to the new
Atlantic Union Bank Center (capacity 8,500) in fall 2020 after a 28-season tenure in the
James Madison University Convocation Center (capacity 6,426). The Dukes have appeared in the
NCAA tournament five times, most recently in the 2013 tournament. Their combined record is 4–5. They've also been selected to compete in the
NIT five times, most recently at the end of the 1993 season. At the end of the 2008–09 season, the Dukes were selected for the
inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament. JMU made the semifinals before losing to CAA conference rival and eventual CIT champion
Old Dominion Monarchs. The men's basketball team has compiled an all-time record of 567–432. On March 12, 2013, the Dukes defeated Northeastern University to win the CAA tournament, earning an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. This is the first appearance in the tournament since 1994 and only the second time in school history they have won the CAA. In 2013, James Madison University's men's basketball team won the CAA championship title for the first time since 1994. The Dukes then won their first NCAA tournament game in 30 years, defeating Long Island University-Brooklyn. The Dukes fell to Indiana in the second round, 83–62, finishing the season with a 21–15 record. After the move to the Sun Belt Conference in 2022, the Dukes won their first Sun Belt title in the 2023-2024 conference tournament championship win over Arkansas State, 91-71. This win was followed with a run in the NCAA Tournament defeating No. 5 seeded Wisconsin in a 72-61 win. Coming into the tournament as a No. 12 seed, the Dukes made a push into the second round of the tournament and fell short to the No. 1 seeded Duke Blue Devils in a 93-55 loss.
Women's basketball The women's basketball team was founded in 1920 making it one of the longest-running women's basketball programs in the country. The team has made the
NCAA tournament eleven times, most recently in the 2013–14 season. They have gone to the
WNIT six times. A perennial postseason participant throughout the 1980s, the program has seen a revival in recent years. Nationally recognized JMU players who have recently graduated include Meredith Alexis (2007) who has continued to play professional basketball in Europe. Alexis holds the CAA record for most career rebounds and was the school's all-time leading scorer before being passed by
Tamera Young during the 2007–08 season. Young would graduate and finish the 2008 season having established a new all-time CAA scoring record and was selected in the first round (8th overall) of the
2008 WNBA draft. Dawn Evans, was an Associated Press All-American honorable mention in 2009 after finishing the season as the nation's third leading scorer, and was named CAA Player of the Year in 2011. The team won the 2010 Colonial Athletic Association championship for the first time since 1989, defeating ODU in the championship game, and again in 2011, defeating the University of Delaware. In 2012 the team competed in the WNIT defeating Davidson, Wake Forest, South Florida, Virginia, and Syracuse to reach the championship game. Competing for their first ever WNIT title, they played Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma and lost 75–68. As of 2010, the women's basketball team had compiled an all-time record of 779–447–5. On January 6, 2015, the Dukes became the 3rd NCAA women's basketball team to reach 1000 wins in program history, defeating the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks 74–57. The Dukes women moved into Atlantic Union Bank Center alongside the men in fall 2020. The James Madison University's women's basketball team have won 5 national championships along with 15 conference championships while competing in the CAA. Since moving to the SBC, the Dukes have won two regular season championship titles and one conference tournament championship in the 2022-2023 season, defeating Texas State, 81-51. Their most recent NCAA appearance came after the 2023 conference championship, making it as a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament, falling short in the first round to the Ohio State Buckeyes, 80-66.
Field hockey The
field hockey team, currently coached by former
Old Dominion field hockey standout and 1984 Olympian Christy Morgan, has enjoyed great success, winning the
national championship in 1994 over
North Carolina in double overtime. The team has made the NCAA tournament nine times since the tournament started in 1981, most recently in the 2008 season. With JMU's move to the Sun Belt in 2022, a conference which does not sponsor field hockey, the Dukes field hockey program became an
independent effective for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. In April 2023, the school and the
Mid-American Conference reached an agreement for the field hockey team to become an affiliate member of the conference beginning in the 2024 season.
Football The Dukes played their first season in 1972 and were coached by
Challace McMillin until 1984. Madison moved from
NCAA Division III to
NCAA Division I-AA in 1980 and would join what is now the Colonial Athletic Association's football conference in 1993 (at the time it was an independent entity known as the
Yankee Conference). The football team's popularity grew with the addition of head coach
Mickey Matthews in 1999, who in 2004 led JMU to their first
National Championship, defeating
Montana by a score of 31–21 in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. The team finished with a 13–2 record, and in 2016 with a 14–1 record going undefeated in the FCS. The 2004 squad was the only team in history to win the title after playing four straight road playoff games. Since 2004, the JMU football team has appeared in the playoffs in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. In 2022 JMU football moved from the FCS to the Sun Belt Conference in the FBS. Within their first three years playing in the FBS, they went on to win their first bowl game at the
Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, Florida Since that time, the Dukes have proven to be one of the better teams in all of
FCS football. In 2010, JMU went on the road to defeat
Virginia Tech in what was one of the biggest upsets in college football history. On January 7, 2017, JMU won their second
National Championship in the program's history, defeating
Youngstown State by a score of 28–14 in
Frisco, Texas. During the 2017 season, JMU continued its dominance over FCS competition, reaching its second consecutive
title game with a 14–0 record before losing a close game to emerging rival
North Dakota State, 17–13. The decade of dominance by NDSU, combined with the short-term dominance by James Madison, made it one of the most anticipated title games in the history of FCS Football. In
2025, JMU became the first SBC member to reach the
College Football Playoff. Notable Dukes include
Charles Haley, one of only two players to win five
Super Bowl rings and inductee of both the
Pro Football Hall of Fame and
College Football Hall of Fame;
Scott Norwood, the
Buffalo Bills' all-time leading scorer; and
Gary Clark, an
All-Pro wide receiver for the Washington Redskins (now the
Washington Commanders).
Softball Men's soccer Women's lacrosse JMU has fielded a women's lacrosse team every year since 1969, when the program began. It became a member of the CAA in 1992 and has played its conference schedule against Colonial teams every year since then. The Dukes currently compete as an affiliate member of the
American Conference (known as the American Athletic Conference before July 2025). JMU lacrosse won the school's fourth Division I National Championship in May 2018, when JMU's senior-laden team capped a Cinderella run with a 16–15 win over Boston College. ==National championships and playoff appearances==