Colorado Buffaloes
University	University of Colorado Boulder
Conference	Big 12 (primary) Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (indoor track & field) Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (skiing)
NCAA	Division I (FBS)
Athletic director	Rick George
Location	Boulder, Colorado
Varsity teams	16
Football stadium	Folsom Field
Basketball arena	CU Events Center
Soccer stadium	Prentup Field
Mascot	Ralphie - (livebison) Chip - (costumed mascot)
Nickname	Buffaloes
Fight song	Fight CU
Colors	Silver, black, and gold[1]
Website	cubuffs.com

TheColorado Buffaloes are theathletic teams that represent theUniversity of Colorado Boulder. The university sponsors 16varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called theBuffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, theGolden Buffaloes.^[2] "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993.^[2] Thenickname was selected by the campus newspaper in a contest with a $5 prize in 1934 won by Andrew Dickson ofBoulder.

The university participates as a member of theBig 12 Conference at theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Division IFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Rick George was announced as the sixthathletic director in program history on July 17, 2013,^[3] following the resignation ofMike Bohn, and after an interim appointment by former Women's Basketball Head Coach former deputy athletic directorCeal Barry. Colorado has won 30 national championships in its history, with 21 in skiing, the most recent coming in 2024. It was ranked #14 of "America's Best Sports College" in a 2002 analysis performed bySports Illustrated.^[4]

Competitivefootball began on the Boulder campus in 1890. Early games, which bore more resemblance torugby than modern football, were played against theSchool of Mines andUtah. The football stadium, originally "Colorado Stadium," was opened in 1924 and was officially renamedFolsom Field in November 1944 to honor CoachFred Folsom, one of the most respectedcollege football coaches of his day.

In 1934, the university's intercollegiate teams were officially nicknamed the "Buffaloes." Previous nicknames used by the press included the "Silver Helmets" and "Frontiersmen." The final game of 1934, against theUniversity of Denver, saw also the inaugural running of abison in a Colorado football game. A bison calf was rented from a local ranch and ran along the sidelines.

The year 1947 marked key point in race relations on campus. The Buffaloes joined theBig Eight Conference. However,Missouri andOklahoma had rules which would not have allowed them to challenge teams with "colored" players. A student outcry, led by campus paperSilver and Gold, led to a movement against these Jim Crow restrictions which expanded to all the campuses of the Big 7 and eventually led to their repeal.

On June 10, 2010, the Buffaloes announced that they wouldjoin the Pacific-10 Conference, soon renamed thePac-12 Conference, in all sports beginning on July 1, 2011.^[5]

On July 27, 2023, the Buffaloes announced that they wouldrejoin theBig 12 Conference in all sports beginning in the 2024–25 academic year.^[6]

The University of Colorado was a member of theColorado Football Association in 1893, and became a charter member of theColorado Faculty Athletic Conference in 1909, which changed its name a year later toRocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference. Colorado left the RMFAC to become a charter member of theMountain States Conference (a.k.a. Skyline Conference) in 1938. CU joined theMissouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1947, then commonly known as the Big Six, changing the common name to the Big Seven. In 1958, the conference addedOSU to become theBig Eight Conference. It remained the Big 8 until 1996, when it combined with four member schools of the defunctSouthwest Conference (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor) to create theBig 12 Conference.

On July 1, 2011, the school joined thePac-12 Conference, along withUtah. A total of 12 of CU's 17 varsity sports competed in the Pac-12, except the ski teams, indoor track & field teams and the lacrosse team. The ski teams participate in theRocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA), of which it has been a member since 1947, along with fellow Pac-12 newcomer Utah. Both continue to house skiing in the RMISA. The indoor track & field teams participated in theMountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) as the Pac-12 didn't sponsor indoor track. With the Big 12 sponsoring indoor track, CU now competes in that conference. Women's lacrosse was added in the spring of 2014; that team competed in the MPSF until the Pac-12 Conference added women's lacrosse as a sport for the 2018 season.^[7] Women's lacrosse now competes in the Big 12, following the conference's decision to add the sport starting in the spring 2025 season.

Colorado is one of two Big 12 schools and one of only fivePower Four schools that do not sponsorbaseball, along with fellow Big 12 memberIowa State,SMU,Syracuse, andWisconsin. CU does not have a women'ssoftball program, one of five Big 12 members (Cincinnati,Kansas State,TCU,West Virginia) opting not to participate.

The Colorado football program is 16th on the all-time NCAA Division I win list and 22nd in all-time winning percentage (.614). SinceFolsom Field was built in 1924, the Buffaloes have been 280–132–10 (.675) at home. TheNebraska game in2006 was CU's 1100th football game.Bill McCartney is the most famous head coach, leading Colorado to its onlynational championship in1990. Current head coachDeion Sanders was approved by the university's board of regents in December2022.^[8]

Beginning competitive play in 1890, Colorado has enjoyed much success through its history. The team has won numerousbowl games (27 appearances in bowl games (12-15), 23rd (tied) all-time prior to 2004 season), 8 Colorado Football Association Championships (1894–97, 1901–08), 1 Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference (1909), 7 RFMAC Championships (1911, 1913, 1923, 1924, 1934, 1935, 1937), 4 Mountain States Conference Championships (1939, 1942–44), 5 Big Eight (Six) conference championships (1961, 1976, 1989, 1990, 1991), 1 Big 12 conference championship (2001), 4 Big 12 North Championships (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005), and anAssociated Press national championship in 1990. The team holds rivalries withNebraska,Colorado State, andUtah.

They play at theCU Events Center on campus and are 465–179 (.722) at home, through the 2020-21 season, including 139–24 (.853) in 11 years under coach Tad Boyle.

¹ Invitations

Women's Basketball started at Colorado in 1975. The team has had seven coaches and the current coach isJR Payne.

The CU ski team competes as a member of theRocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, as CU is one of two members of the Big-12 along with Utah that competes in skiing. Colorado is one of the dominant programs in the NCAA in skiing, winning 21 total national championships, including20NCAA Championships, most recently in 2024. The Buffaloes have won 29 RMISA championships, most recently in 2024. The Buffaloes have had 53 individuals connected to the school participate in the Olympics 85 times. Colorado has had 105 individual national champions, including Magnus Boee men's Nordic titles in 2021(2), and 2024 (20k), Cassidy Gray winning the women's GS championship in 2021, and Magdalena Luczak sweeping the alpine events in 2024.^[9]

Boulder's highelevation of 5,400 feet (1,650 m) adds aerobic stress to distance runners and is known to produce a competitive edge when altitude-trained athletes compete atsea level. The 1998 cross country team was the subject of a book,Running with the Buffaloes, which documents the team's training regimen under long-time coachMark Wetmore. Colorado has won fiveNCAA Men's Cross Country Championships (2001, 2004, 2006, 2013, and 2014) and threeNCAA Women's Cross Country Championships (2000, 2004, 2018). The men's team also has won four individual titles (Mark Scrutton,Adam Goucher, Jorge Torres, andDathan Ritzenhein), while the women's side has won two (Kara Goucher,Dani Jones).

The men won the first twelve Big 12 Conference titles in the conference's history and the women won 11 of the first 12 (all but 1998–99), with the two teams combining for 23 of the 32 championships awarded before the Buffs left the Big 12 in 2011 to join the Pac-12. Since joining the Pac-12 Conference, the Colorado men won their first six conference titles (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and the Colorado women have claimed four conference titles, including three consecutive following a shot lapse (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017).

The Colorado Buffaloes baseball team wasdiscontinued after the 1980 season.^[10] Baseball, wrestling, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming, and women's diving comprised the seven programs that were discontinued on June 11, 1980, due tobudget cuts.^[10][11][12] Colorado was the only Pac-12 school and one of only fivePower 4 schools that do not sponsor baseball, the other four beingIowa State,SMU,Syracuse andWisconsin.

The men's golf team won threeBig Eight Conference championships: 1954, 1955 (co-champions), 1968.Hale Irwin won the 1967NCAA Championship.

Colorado has a very active and developed club sports system with over 30 sports.

Colorado's rugby program was founded in 1967. The Buffaloes play in the Western Division ofDivision I-A, where they play against local rivals such as Colorado State and less localized teams like the New Mexico and Utah State.^[13] The Buffaloes are led by head coach Murray Wallace, assisted by John Barkmeier Chris Dyas, Justin Holshuh, Conor Sears, and Steve Brown. Kevin Whitcher coaches the Buffaloes sevens team.^[14]The Buffaloes have consistently been ranked among the topcollege rugby teams in the country.

Colorado's best run was 1984–1985, when it reached the 1984 national finals before losing 12-4 to powerhouse Cal, and finished third in the 1985 national playoffs losing again to eventual champion Cal, this time in the semifinals.^[15] More recently, in 2008 the Buffaloes went 15-3 and reached the semifinals of the national championships.^[16] Colorado won the 2011 Pac-12 rugby sevens tournament, defeating Utah 14–12 in the final,^[17] to qualify for the 2011USA Rugby collegiate rugby sevens national championship. Colorado finished the 2011–12 season ranked 14th in the nation.^[18] In the 2012–13 season, Colorado defeatedWisconsin 54-24 to advance to the national D1-A quarterfinals, before losing to St. Mary's.^[19] The Buffs also won the plate final in the 2015–2016 season at the Las Vegas Invitational 7s tournament in the college bracket. Most recently the Buffs lost in the plate final to Clemson in the inaugural international Red Bull University Sevens tournament.^[20]

Founded in 1983 by Jim Castagneri, thecycling team was taken to thenational championships in 1987 by 1992 OlympianJohn Stenner. The CU cycling team frequently ranks in the top fiveUSA Cycling Collegiate teams in bothroad cycling andmountain biking disciplines. They have won the national championship on several occasions, including 2005, when they won in both disciplines.^[21] Many members of the club have gone on into professional cycling, includingSepp Kuss andTyler Hamilton.

A founding club member of the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference,^[22] the team is open to any student who pays annual dues and meets a minimum amount of credits during the semester. The members include nearly every different type of cyclist, fromBMX riders,trials, andbicycle commuters to elite amateur or part-time professional road and mountain riders. Specifically, to qualify for road or mountain nationals, a rider must have enough high race results to upgrade to "A" category in the USA Cycling rankings. A number of "A" riders will be chosen by the coaches to represent CU at the national championships. The number of riders the team is allowed to send is based on how well the team did overall during the season.

Colorado has won 28 national championships.^[23]

• Men's (16)
  • Cross Country (5): 2001, 2004, 2006, 2013, 2014
  • Skiing (11): 1959, 1960, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982
• Women's (3)
  • Cross Country (3): 2000, 2004, 2018
• Co-ed (9)
  • Skiing (9): 1991, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2024
• see also:
  • Pac-12 Conference NCAA championships
  • List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships

• Men's (1)
  • Football (1): 1990
• Women's (1)
  • Skiing (1): 1982 (AIAW)
• Note: Skiing was a men's NCAA sport from 1954–82 and became co-ed in 1983. The AIAW sponsored women's skiing and a national championship from 1977-82 before being absorbed by the NCAA at which time skiing became co-ed.

The University has had several fight songs that have lost and gained popularity over the years. The oldest, "Glory Colorado", is sung to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and has been around nearly as long as the school. Glory Colorado is considered to represent all campuses of the University. "Go Colorado" was originally sung exclusively by the Glee Club at football games, though it is now played and known almost exclusively by members of the Golden Buffalo Marching Band. The most popular of the three fight songs and the most widely recognized is "Fight CU." Originally sung by the football team, the song has gained enough popularity that few people outside the band know that it is not the only fight song of the university. The original version included the line "fight, fight for every yard" but the line was changed to "fight, fight for victory" to allow the song to be used for all sports, not just football.

The two mascots present at all football games areRalphie,^[24] a livebuffalo, andChip, a costumed mascot who was selected to the 2003 Capital One All-America Mascot Team and won the 2009, 2010 and 2020 UCA Mascot National Championships. Ralphie is actually Ralphie VI and leads the football team onto the field at the beginning of the first and second halves. A buffalo leading the team onto the field dates as far back as 1934 and the Ralphie tradition began in 1966. In 1934 after the selection ofBuffaloes as a nickname when a group of students paid $25 to rent a buffalo calf and cowboy as his keeper for the last game of the season. The calf was the son of Killer, a famed bison at Trails End Ranch inFort Collins, Colorado. It took the cowboy and four students to keep the calf under control on the sidelines during the game, a 7–0 win at the University of Denver on Thanksgiving Day.

The official school colors aresilver andgold, adopted in 1888 as a symbol of the mineral wealth of the state. In 1959, the athletic teams started usingblack andyellow, because silver and gold ended up looking like dirty white and dirty yellow. The colors have stuck and many are unaware that the official school colors are silver and gold.

On May 28, 1981, black was curiously replaced by "Sky Blue" by a mandate of the CU Board of Regents, to represent the color of the Colorado sky.^[2][25] However, this color was different from the blue uniforms of theU.S. Air Force Academy. After three years, the blue was changed in1984 to a darker shade, though still unpopular. In black and white photographs the players' numbers are nearly invisible. During a difficult 1-10 season in 1984, footballhead coachBill McCartney employed black "throwback" jerseys for an emotional lift for the games againstOklahoma andNebraska, without success.

In April1985, the CU athletic teams were given the option of blue or black. The football team chose to wear black, and atFolsom Field the background for the signature "Colorado" arc (at the base of the seats behind the south end zone), blue for four years, was repainted black as well. On the football uniforms, the blue was reduced to a stripe on the sleeve for three seasons (1985–87) before being dropped completely in1988. In2007, CU debuted new football jerseys that reintegratedsilver as a uniform color.^[26]

Criteria for automatic selection: Three-time all-conference selection, two-time All-American, trophy winner or previously retired jersey. Beginning in 2015, the school went from a two-year to one year induction cycle to catch up on its history.^[27] Inductees are nominated by their peers in the Alumni C Club or by members of the selection committee.^[27]

• Byron White was aSupreme CourtJustice after his football career.
• Hale Irwin, who was a two-time All-Big Eight defensive back and an NCAA individual golf champion at Colorado, went on to spectacular success in professional golf. He won threeU.S. Opens and 17 otherPGA Tour events, and retired as the all-time leader in both wins and career prize money on the 50-and-over tour now known asPGA Tour Champions (both since surpassed byBernhard Langer).
• Adam Goucher was a professional runner who competed for theUnited States in the 2000 Summer Olympics.
• Chauncey Billups played for theBoston Celtics,Denver Nuggets,Detroit Pistons,Los Angeles Clippers,Minnesota Timberwolves,New York Knicks andToronto Raptors in a 17-year NBA career (1997–2014). He was named theNBA Finals MVP in2004.
• Jeremy Bloom played football and skied internationally finishing 6th in the2006 Winter Olympics in the moguls and briefly played in theNFL. He also sued the NCAA and lost, having to give up football for Colorado in 2004 because he received endorsement money for skiing.
• Bill Toomey won the gold medal in thedecathlon at the1968 Summer Olympics
• Jimmie Heuga,1964 Olympic bronze medalist, andSpider Sabich were both CUalpine ski racers fromnorthernCalifornia.
  (Billy Kidd, 1964 Olympic silver medalist, is a CU alumnus, but did not race for the Buffs.
  He skied for theUniversity of Vermont before joining theU.S. Ski Team, and later finished his bachelor's degree in Boulder.)
• Emma Coburn is a former world champion and American record holder in the 3000 meters steeplechase. She won the bronze medal at the2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the inaugural American to win any medal in the event, with an American record of 9:07.63. In London at the 2017 World Championships, she became the inaugural American woman to win the Gold Medal, bettering her American record to 9:02.59.
• Jennifer Simpson represented the United States at the2008 Beijing Olympics,2012 London Olympics and2016 Rio Olympics. She is a former American record holder for the 3000 meters steeplechase. In the 1500 meters, she won a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships, a silver medal at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, becoming the inaugural US woman to win a medal in the Olympics in any distance event along with Coburn.
• Stuart Krohn (born 1962), professionalrugby union player

• Davis, William E. "Bud" (1965).Glory Colorado! A history of the University of Colorado, 1858-1963. Boulder, CO: Prutt Press, Inc. LD1178 .D35.

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