| Cincinnati Bearcats | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | University of Cincinnati |
| Conference | Big 12 Conference |
| NCAA | Division I (FBS) |
| Athletic director | John Cunningham |
| Location | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Varsity teams | 18 |
| Football stadium | Nippert Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Fifth Third Arena |
| Baseball stadium | UC Baseball Stadium |
| Other venues | Armory Fieldhouse,Heritage Bank Center |
| Mascot | The Bearcat |
| Nickname | Bearcats |
| Fight song | "Cheer Cincinnati" |
| Colors | Red and black[1] |
| Website | gobearcats |
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TheCincinnati Bearcats are theathletic teams that represent theUniversity of Cincinnati. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of theBig 12 Conference. The Bearcats were previously members of theBig East (2005-2013) and theAmerican Athletic Conference (2013-2022).[2] Prior to that, they were inConference USA, of which they were a founding member. The creation of Conference USA in 1995 was the result of a merger between theGreat Midwest Conference (of which Cincinnati was a member) and theMetro Conference (whom Cincinnati had previously been a member). Other collegiate athletic conferences of which the school has been a member include theMissouri Valley Conference, 1957–1969; theMid-American Conference, 1947–1952; theBuckeye Athletic Association, 1925–1935; and theOhio Athletic Conference, 1910–1924.
The Bearcat became the UC mascot on October 31, 1914, in a football game against the UK Wildcats. The key players in the birth of the Bearcat were a star UC player named Baehr, a creative cheerleader, and a talented cartoonist. During the second half of that hard-fought football game, UC cheerleader Norman "Pat" Lyon, building on the efforts of fullback Leonard K. "Teddy" Baehr, created the chant: "They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side."
The crowd took up the cry: "Come on, Baehr-cat!" Cincinnati prevailed, 14–7, and the victory was memorialized in a cartoon published on the front page of the student newspaper, the weekly University News, on November 3. The cartoon, by John "Paddy" Reece, depicted a bedraggled Kentucky Wildcat being chased by a creature labeled "Cincinnati Bear Cat".
The name stuck, but not immediately. Following Teddy Baehr's graduation in 1916, the name dropped out of use, at least in print, for a few years. On November 15, 1919, Cincinnati played at Tennessee.The Cincinnati Enquirer writerJack Ryder's dispatch on the game was the first time that the major media called UC's teams "Bearcats." From then on, the university's teams were regularly called Bearcats.[3]
In 2008 theCincinnati Zoo adopted a three-month-oldbinturong or "bearcat". The zoo had a public naming contest where they decided on the name "Lucy." Lucy was a prominent figure at the University of Cincinnati often to be found on Sheakley Lawn before home football games. On August 30, 2019, it was announced that "Lucy", the Cincinnati Zoo's binturong (Bearcat) would be retiring from her duties as Mascot.[4]
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Cross country |
| Cross country | Golf |
| Football | Lacrosse |
| Golf | Soccer |
| Swimming & diving | Swimming & diving |
| Track and field1 | Tennis |
| Track and field1 | |
| Volleyball | |
| 1 – includes both indoor and outdoor. | |
The University of Cincinnati sponsors teams in eight men's and 10 women'sNCAA-sanctioned sports, all of which compete in the Big 12 Conference. When UC joined the Big 12, the conference did not sponsor women's lacrosse, and the Bearcats played the spring 2024 season in their former full-time home of theAmerican Athletic Conference as a single-sport member. Women's lacrosse moved to the Big 12 when the conference added the sport in 2024–25.[5]
Cincinnati's men's basketball squads have been a perennial bracket team in theNCAA tournament. A prolific era inBearcats basketball was during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Bearcats posted five consecutiveFinal Four appearances. Unanimous three-time All American guardOscar Robertson led the nation in scoring during the 1957–58, 1958–59, and 1959–60 seasons and posted a career average of 33.8 points per game, which ranks as the third all-time best inDivision I.
Cincinnati has won twonational championships in 1961 and 1962. The 1961 and 1962 titles were won under rookie coachEd Jucker.
Cincinnati fell out of prominence during the early 1970s. After a brief resurgence in the mid-1970s, the program fell on hard times in the 1980s, but was revitalized under head coachBob Huggins following his hiring in 1989. Under Huggins, the Bearcats compiled a 399–127 record in sixteen seasons, and posted fourteen straight NCAA tournament appearances. The most notable of the teams from the Huggins era was the 1991–1992 team, which lost to theMichigan Wolverines in theFinal Four. In addition, Huggins was responsible for recruiting several futureNBA players includingKenyon Martin,Corie Blount,Ruben Patterson,Nick Van Exel andDerMarr Johnson. Huggins would eventually resign in 2005 after a power struggle with UC presidentNancy Zimpher following the coach's DUI and arrest,[6] with the resulting coaching vacuum leading to a dip in fortunes for the Bearcats. However, Zimpher's hiring of alumnusMick Cronin in 2006 would restore UC to national prominence, reaching the NCAA Tournament nine straight years until Cronin left to coach atUCLA.
Postseason tournaments
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The men's soccer program was discontinued effectively immediately on April 14, 2020.[7]
The university has a diverse number of intercollegiate club sports teams. Notable teams include alpine skiing (which competes in theUnited States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association), men's baseball, rowing, lacrosse, men's soccer, and the men's ice hockey team (which competes in theAmerican Collegiate Hockey Association DI). The Tennis Club competes in the USTA Tennis on Campus and the Great Lakes Tennis Conference. The Waterski Team were 2008 DII National Champions. The University of Cincinnati Rugby Football Club was established in 1971 and competes in Division 1college rugby in the MAC conference. The University of Cincinnati Women's Rugby Football Club was founded in 2012 and competes in Division 2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. In 2014 and 2015 UCWRFC competed in the Women's College Division 2 Fall Championship; advancing to the round of 8 in 2015. The UCDisc golf team have won the team national championship in 2023 and 2025, along with players earning individual championships in 2017 and 2023.
Club sports at Cincinnati operate in a tier system. The top tier are the Tier 5 sports, which are classified as semi-varsity. These clubs operate at a level similar to a varsity team in sports for which Cincinnati lacks varsity representation, and the tier reflects the commitment these students dedicate to their club. The four Tier 5 semi-varsity sports as of 2013 are equestrian, men's ice hockey, men's and women's rowing, and men's and women's waterski.[8]
In 2024, Cincinnati started anAustralian Rules Football club team at the University, the first current collegiate Aussie Rules team in North America.
Cincinnati has won 2 NCAA team national championships.[9]
Below are 5 national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA:
The Bearcats won theNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1961 and 1962, both times againstOhio State. The UC Dance Team has won 5 National Championships from 2004 through 2006, 2009 and again in 2015. They are the first team in UC history to ever capture three consecutive national titles. They remain one of the top dance programs in the country and are the winningest team in University of Cincinnati history. In 2009 the dance team was also selected to represent the United States of America in the first ever world dance championships where they won the gold medal in all three dance categories. The dance team was asked back to the world competition in 2015.[10]
Charles Keating won the 1946 200m butterfly national title for UC as a member of the men's swimming team and most recently,Josh Schneider[11] did the same in the 50-yard (46 m) freestyle in 2010. In men's diving, Pat Evans (3 m Dive – 1989) and women's diving Becky Ruehl (10 m dive – 1996) have brought home titles for the Bearcats. Annette Echikunwoke won the NCAA National title in the women's weight throw in 2017.
Cincinnati's oldest football rivalry, begun in 1888, is withMiami University, located inOxford, Ohio about 40 miles to the northwest. TheVictory Bell awarded to the winner of each contest. Cincinnati currently holds the bell with the longest winning streak in the rivalry's long history at 15 games (the teams did not play in 2020 due to the Covid Pandemic)
The teams take each other on annual in many other sports. After a decade hiatus from 2011-2020, the Men's basketball teams faced each other in Oxford with the Bearcats winning by a narrow 59-58 score.
The teams met 20 times between 1921 and 2011, every year from 2005 to 2011, as conference foes and members of theBig East Conference. The schools have competed asBig 12 Conference opponents since 2023, after Cincinnati's invite into the conference.West Virginia leads Cincinnati in the series 17-3-1 since 2011.[12]
Cincinnati and theUniversity of Louisville battled annually for theKeg of Nails. This rivalry dated back to 1929, but ended when Louisville joined theAtlantic Coast Conference in 2014.
The men's basketball teams of both schools have also participated in a fierce rivalry historically, with Louisville leading the all time series 53–44.
The schools continue to play in other sports, primarily an annual game in baseball.
The rivalry between these two schools dates to their first men'scollege football game in 1966, and has continued across all sports, with thebasketball series gaining attention as well, having started in 1968.
Interest in the series was renewed with both teams reuniting in theAmerican Athletic Conference and Memphis's basketball reemergence. Football has also intensified, with both teams playing in the2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game. The series is expected to go into hiatus upon Cincinnati's move to theBig 12 conference in July 2023.
Inbasketball, the Bearcats' crosstown rival is theXavier University Musketeers. Xavier is located less than 3 miles from the University of Cincinnati's main campus. The Bearcats and the Musketeers meet annually in the popularCrosstown Shootout.
Cincinnati and Xavier used to have a fierce rivalry in football, before Xavier eliminated their program after the 1973 season. The schools routinely battle each other in other sports annually as well.
When Cincinnati joined the Big East in 2005, they and theUniversity of Pittsburgh started the River City Rivalry. The game is a battle for the River City Rivalry trophy. In 2013 the rivalry series went on a ten year hiatus due to Pittsburgh's exit from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Bearcats and Panthers renewed their series in 2023 with the Bearcats winning in Pittsburgh by a 27-21 score.
Cincinnati and theDayton Flyers were another regional rivalry that has lost significance recently. The teams would play periodically in football, before Dayton went down to NCAA Division III in 1977. The teams also frequently played in men's basketball, though the series has ceased since 2011.
Cincinnati also has had intermittent rivalries with theOhio State Buckeyes,Ohio Bobcats, and theKentucky Wildcats. Although Cincinnati does not play these schools regularly, these are geographic rivals and are all universities of similar size and stature. In 1961 and 1962 Cincinnati defeated Ohio State in both of its back-to-back national title games in basketball.
All of the athletic facilities (with the exception of Fifth Third Arena and UC Baseball Stadium) are open 24/7 for student use.[13]
Since 1992,700 WLW has been the radio home for Bearcats athletics.Dan Hoard has been the football and basketballplay-by-play since 2000. Former Bearcat Terry Nelson began full time duties at the beginning of the 2017-18 season asanalyst for basketball replacing Chuck Machock. During the 2015-16 Basketball season, Machock decided to reduce his travel schedule and not attend every road game as in previous years; due to a leg injury,[15] Since the 2023-24 season former BearcatSteve Logan handles radio color commentary when Nelson is on TV.
Jim Kelly, a Bearcatwide receiver during the mid 1970s, provides analysis for football. Mo Egger an afternoon radio host onCincinnati's ESPN 1530 is the football pregame and postgame show host. in 2015 Former Bearcat QBTony Pike was named the new sideline reporter replacing Tom Gelehrter, When there is a conflict with theReds102.7 WEBN will usually air games, when a conflict with theBengals55KRC airs basketball games. Egger is the backup play-by-play man.
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