The University of Oregon sponsors teams in eight men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The Ducks primarily compete in the
Big Ten Conference with exception to Acrobatics & tumbling (National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association) and women's beach Volleyball (
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation).
Baseball The Ducks baseball team first played in 1877, the year following the establishment of the university. In 1981, baseball was dropped due to budgetary concerns. Baseball would be reinstated 26 years later by interim athletic director Patrick Kilkenny and played its first game in 2009.
George Horton, who led the
Cal State Fullerton baseball team to an NCAA national championship, was hired in 2007 to lead the reinstated Oregon Ducks baseball program. In his second year, Horton guided the team in to a 40-24 record and a berth in the NCAA regionals.
Basketball The Ducks men's basketball team played its first season in 1902-1903 under head coach Charles Burden. It was not until 1927 that the Ducks played their first game at
McArthur Court, defeating
Willamette University 38-10. This led to the Ducks being the top seed in the West Regional of the 2015-2016 NCAA tournament, its first ever top seeding in the NCAA tournament. The Ducks defeated
Holy Cross and
Saint Joseph's in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 in Anaheim, where they defeated the number four seed and defending national champion
Duke Blue Devils, 82-68, to advance to the Elite 8. On the women's side, three
eventual first-round
WNBA draft picks—
Sabrina Ionescu (30 points),
Satou Sabally (25 points), and
Ruthy Hebard—led the No. 1 ranked Ducks to a 93–86 victory over
Team USA in November 2019. Their opponents had won the last six Olympic gold medals, the
2018 World Cup, and already qualified for the
2020 Tokyo Olympics, and included WNBA stars
Diana Taurasi,
Sue Bird,
Nneka Ogwumike, and
Sylvia Fowles. The exhibition game was Team USA's first loss to a college team in 20 years. Ionescu, the
top pick in the 2020 draft, is also the only NCAA basketball player of either sex to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in a career, as well as the recipient of multiple national player of the year awards in both 2019 and 2020, sweeping all of the major awards in the latter year.
Football The football program began in 1893 and played its first game on February 22, 1894, defeating
Albany College 46-0. The football team moved to its new home,
Hayward Field in 1919 where it shared the facility with the track and field team until
Autzen Stadium was completed in 1967. Winning its first
Rose Bowl in 1917 against the
University of Pennsylvania under head coach
Hugo Bezdek, the Ducks have returned to the Rose Bowl seven additional times in 1920, 1957, 1995, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2020. While in the
Pacific Coast Conference, the Ducks won five conference co-championships in 1919, 1933, 1948, and 1957. The Pacific Coast Conference was disbanded in 1958, and the Ducks played as an independent until they joined the PCC's effective successor, the Pacific-8 Conference (then officially the Athletic Association of Western Universities), which later became the Pacific-10 Conference and eventually the
Pac-12 Conference, in 2011. In the Pac-8/10/12, they have won seven conference championships (1994, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2019) and shared one championship (2000). The Ducks were 3–2 during the
BCS era, winning the
2002 Fiesta Bowl, the
2012 Rose Bowl, and the
2013 Fiesta Bowl and losing the
2010 Rose Bowl and the
2011 BCS National Championship Game. In 2014, Oregon won a school record 13 games and saw junior quarterback
Marcus Mariota win the school's first
Heisman Trophy. That same year, the Ducks made the first ever
College Football Playoff and beat the defending champion
Florida State Seminoles 59–20 in the
2015 Rose Bowl semi-final. The loss to Oregon ended the Seminoles 29 game win streak and moved the Ducks into the final. They made the first ever
CFP National Championship Game where they lost 42–20 to
Ohio State.
Softball Oregon Softball plays home games at the new
Jane Sanders Stadium. Oregon began WCWS success under former Coach Mike White who had taken Oregon to the
Women's College World Series (WCWS) four times in 6 years. Oregon has appeared in seven WCWS, in 1976, 1980, 1989, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017. In 2014 and 2017, the Ducks reached the national semi-finals.
Track and field The Cross Country and Track & Field programs at the University of Oregon helped
Eugene, OR earn the nickname “Track Town, USA.” Since its very first meet in 1895, the program has set the tone for decades of competition. In 1903,
Bill Hayward assumed the role of head coach, guiding the program for 44 years and mentoring athletes such as
Daniel Kelly and
Ralph Hill, both of whom earned Olympic medals. Bill Bowerman retired in 1973 and his assistant coach,
Bill Dellinger became the head coach who brought four NCAA Cross Country Championships and one NCAA Track & Field Championship. Steve Prefontaine, who ran at Oregon in the early 1970s, was a legend in his own right, setting 13 American records in seven separate events and only lost three races at Hayward Field during the span of his career. He won seven NCAA championships and today, the
Prefontaine Classic is held every year at Hayward Field in his honor. The program has garnered numerous NCAA national titles across all the disciplines.
Volleyball The Oregon Volleyball program play its home games at
Matthew Knight Arena. They have appeared in the
NCAA Tournament 21 times including the
2012 National Title Game. Oregon defeated #1 Penn State in the National Semi-Finals before losing to eventual champion Texas in the title match.
Other varsity sports The Ducks also have varsity teams in
women's basketball,
golf,
tennis,
lacrosse,
soccer,
team stunts and
gymnastics. ==Notable non-varsity sports==