In the realm of collegiate athletics, there are certain schools who have developed the reputation of being perennial powers in one of the two major revenue sports, football and basketball. You have those handful of programs who are regularly in the national title hunt in football yet for the most part are an afterthought in basketball and vice-versa.
Two prime examples in football include Alabama and Southern Cal. The two have combined for 15 consensus national championships on the gridiron yet haven’t won a single title on the hardwood. In fact, the Crimson Tide have never reached the Final Four and the Trojans haven’t done so since 1954. Alabama’s travails were highlighted this year with the firing of head coach Anthony Grant and subsequent hiring of Avery Johnson, which was announced Sunday.
In basketball, Kentucky and Indiana come to mind as schools with very little pedigree on fall Saturdays. The Wildcats have the second-most national titles of all time on the court with eight, while the Hoosiers aren’t too far behind at five. Football is quite a different story. You can count the combined number of conference titles (four) the two schools have won on one hand and both have a combined 23 bowl appearances. To put that in perspective, Alabama has 61 by themselves.
There are a select few programs in the country that have recently been able to excel in both sports. With Wisconsin and Duke set to face off against one another in college basketball’s national title on Monday, I thought it fitting to take a look at those athletic departments that boast perennial standout teams in football and basketball.
The two are essentially polar opposites in that regard. The Badgers have been one of the Big Ten’s top programs in the two sports for over a decade now. The Blue Devils, under head coach Mike Krzyzewski have emerged as an iconic blue blood basketball program. Duke football, on the other hand, has been an ACC cellar dweller for a good portion of their existence even though they’re currently experiencing a renaissance of late having played in three consecutive bowl games.
Having delved briefly into both the football and basketball powers, it’s time to get to the matter at hand that I’m sure all of you are anxious to see get broken down. Which five schools have had the most success in both football and basketball since the turn of the 21st century? What criteria am I going to use to figure this all out?
Obviously, the most important of these criteria are titles. Second on the list is postseason appearances. In the case of basketball, only appearances in the NCAA Tournament will be considered. Sorry, NIT! For football, it’s New Year’s Day bowls along with BCS/New Year’s Six games. And of course there is cumulative winning percentage. For the sake of this discussion, I’m going to take each school’s percentage in football and basketball and average them out.
Keep in mind that as the title of the article states, this data begins at the 2000 season. For basketball, that means I’m starting with the 2000-01 season, not 1999-2000. Got all that? Good, now let’s take a look at it all.
The Top Five Football-Basketball Schools Since 2000
5. Louisville Cardinals
Average Win Percentage Between Two Sports: .704
Basketball (.724 win percentage)
4 Regular Season Conference Titles (Big East and AAC) – 2005, 2009, 2013, 2014
6 Conference Tournament Titles (two C-USA, three Big East, one AAC) – 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014
12 NCAA Tournament Appearances
3 Final Fours – 2005, 2012, 2013
1 National Championship – 2013
Football (.683 win percentage)
6 Conference Titles (three C-USA, three Big East) – 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2012
3 New Years’ Day Bowl Appearances
2 BCS Bowl Appearances – Orange Bowl, 2007; Sugar Bowl, 2013
In this basketball-crazed state, the Cardinals sometimes play second fiddle to their rivals down the road in Lexington. That said, they have just as many national titles in the 21st century as Kentucky and that’s not going to change this year. The hoops program came to prominence under Denny Crum, who won two national titles, and Rick Pitino has carried that torch quite favorably since.
Two coaches are responsible for turning Louisville football into a respectable program. John L. Smith initially put the Cards on the map in the early 2000s before taking the Michigan State job. Then Bobby Petrino took over from him in 2003, leading Louisville to a 12-1 season, a Big East title and an Orange Bowl victory in his fourth year. The program stagnated a bit when Petrino left and Steve Kragthorpe took over, but was resurrected under Charlie Strong who took them to their 2nd BCS bowl in 2012.
After Strong left for Texas, Petrino returned in 2014 after a brief stint at Western Kentucky. He was there because of, well, you know that whole affair thing that cost him his job at Arkansas. So far, so good with his second go-around in Louisville after a 9-4 mark last season.
4. Wisconsin Badgers
Average Win Percentage Between Two Sports: (.713)
Basketball (.735 win percentage)
4 Regular Season B1G Titles – 2002, 2003, 2008, 2015
3 B1G Tournament Titles – 2004, 2008, 2015
15 NCAA Tournament Appearances
2 Final Fours – 2014, 2015
Football (.690 win percentage)
3 B1G Titles – 2010, 2011, 2012
3 B1G Division Titles (2 Leaders, 1 Western) – 2011, 2012, 2014
9 New Years’ Day Bowls
3 Rose Bowls – 2010, 2011, 2012
Badger sports fans are likely forever indebted to two coaches who helped transform both football and basketball into perennial contenders. On the court, it was Bo Ryan. Hired in 2001 after successful stints at Division II Wisconsin-Platteville and Milwaukee, he has never had a losing season while at the helm in Madison. After ending Kentucky’s hopes at an undefeated season, he has Wisconsin one win away from their first national title since 1941.
On the sidelines of Camp Randall Stadium, Barry Alvarez helped resurrect a dormant football program which is now realizing unprecedented success. In the 94 years before his arrival, Wisconsin had won eight B1G titles. Him and his successors have won six, including three since 2000. The program had to make an unexpected coaching change in the offseason when Gary Andersen bolted for Oregon State, hiring former Badger offensive coordinator Paul Chryst who had been head coach at Pittsburgh.
3. Michigan State Spartans
Average Win Percentage Between Two Sports: .660
Basketball (.713 win percentage)
4 Regular Season B1G Titles – 2001, 2009, 2010, 2012
2 B1G Tournament Titles – 2012, 2014
15 NCAA Tournament Appearances
5 Final Fours – 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015
Football (.607 win percentage)
2 B1G Titles – 2010, 2013
2 B1G Division Titles – 2011, 2013
6 New Years’ Day Bowl Appearances
2 BCS/New Years’ Six Bowl Appearances – Rose, 2014; Cotton, 2015
Perhaps no other head coach embodies B1G basketball in the years since 2000 than Tom Izzo. Whether or not their regular season win-loss record looks impressive or not, you can rest assured that the diminutive native of the Upper Peninsula will usually have the Spartans playing their best basketball in March. Nowhere was this more apparent than 2015 when, as a seven-seed, they upended three higher seeded sides (Virginia [2], Oklahoma [3] and Louisville [4]) en route to the Final Four.
Though the football win percentage numbers are skewed down a bit due to some struggles in the early 2000s, MSU football has certainly found their man in Mark Dantonio. Much like Wisconsin under Alvarez, Dantonio has turned a once mediocre program into one of the conference’s elite. He’s brought a confident, no-nonsense persona to East Lansing that has helped the Spartans slowly but surely overtake Michigan as the premier program in the state.
Of course, Jim Harbaugh will likely have something to say about that in due time.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
Average Win Percentage Between Two Sports: .767
Basketball (.723 win percentage)
6 Regular Season B1G Titles – 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012
5 B1G Tournament Titles – 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013
11 NCAA Tournament Appearances
2 Final Fours – 2007, 2012
Football (.811 win percentage)
7 B1G Titles – 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014
1 B1G East Division Title – 2014
14 New Years’ Day Bowl Appearances
11 BCS/New Years’ Six Bowl Appearances
4 National Title Game Appearances – 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015
2 National Championships – 2003, 2015
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or you’re so uninterested in college football that you completely tune it out, you’re well aware that it’s the best of times in Columbus with Buckeye football. Head coach Urban Meyer has yet to lose a B1G regular season game as coach of OSU, has only lost three games total, and led the Scarlet and Gray to the first-ever College Football Playoff title this year with wins over Alabama and Oregon.
Under previous head coach Jim Tressel, the Buckeyes grabbed another national title as an underdog with a 31-24 double overtime victory over Miami (FL) in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. In certain respects, both titles Ohio State has won since 2000 are similar in that a freshman played a crucial role in the success that transpired. J.T. Barrett’s quarterback play laid the foundation for last year’s title run, whereas during the 2002-03 it was running back Maurice Clarett.
The closest OSU hoops came to hoisting the NCAA plaque and cutting down the nets was in 2007 when they faced Florida in the national title game. The Gators would inevitably triumph 84-75, adding insult to injury since these two schools played each other in the BCS title game a few months earlier. Florida ran the Bucks out of the building that night 41-14. In a flourish of dramatic irony, though, the mastermind of that blowout, Meyer himself, would lead Ohio State to a title of their own eight years later.
1. Florida Gators
Average Win Percentage Between Two Sports: .725
Basketball (.739 win percentage)
5 Regular Season SEC Titles – 2001, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014
4 SEC Tournament Titles – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014
13 NCAA Tournament Appearances
3 Final Fours – 2006, 2007, 2014
2 National Championships – 2006, 2007
Football (.710 win percentage)
3 SEC Titles – 2000, 2006, 2008
6 SEC East Division Titles – 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012
12 New Years’ Day Bowl Appearances
6 BCS Bowl Game Appearances
2 National Championships – 2006, 2008
The Gators pretty much win this competition hands down. That’s kind of what happens when you’ve won a combined four titles between the two programs since 2000. Despite all that success, the recently completed seasons could aptly be described as disappointments. For the football program, it prompted them to go in a different directions coaching wise, replacing Will Muschamp with Jim McElwain.
There’s a possibility that Gator basketball may need to initiate a coaching search of their own in the near future as well. There have been whispers recently that current head coach Billy Donovan might want to test the NBA waters if the right job opens up in the future. If you remember, back in 2007 there was a deal in place to make him coach of the Orlando Magic but he got cold feet at the last minute and decided to remain in Gainesville.
Though he extended his contract by one year last week which keeps him with Florida until 2020, the buyout should he leave for the NBA is a paltry $500,000. The aforementioned Magic are currently under an interim coach after firing Jacque Vaughn midseason. Could Gator hoops be on the cusp of a new era in much the same way the football program has been recently?
Honorable Mention Schools: Texas, West Virginia, Stanford, Baylor
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