| Georgia Bulldogs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | University of Georgia |
| Conference | SEC |
| NCAA | Division I (FBS) |
| Athletic director | Josh Brooks |
| Location | Athens,Georgia |
| Varsity teams | 21 |
| Football stadium | Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Stegeman Coliseum |
| Baseball stadium | Foley Field |
| Softball stadium | Jack Turner Stadium |
| Aquatics center | Gabrielsen Natatorium |
| Volleyball arena | Stegeman Coliseum |
| Other venues |
|
| Mascot | Uga (liveEnglish Bulldog) Hairy Dawg (costumed) |
| Nickname | Bulldogs, 'Dawgs |
| Fight song | Hail to Georgia[1] Glory, Glory (de facto) |
| Cheer | "Goooo Dawgs" "Sic 'em!" |
| Colors | Red and black[2] |
| Website | georgiadogs |
 | |
TheGeorgia Bulldogs are theintercollegiate athletic teams that represent theUniversity of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete inNCAA Division I and are members of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC). The official mascot is anEnglish Bulldog namedUga, (derived from an abbreviation of theUniversity of Georgia), while the costumed character version of Uga isHairy Dawg. Most of the school's athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs, with the exception of the women's basketball team, known as the "Lady Bulldogs", the women's gymnastics team, known as the "GymDogs", and the team also being referred to as "The Dawgs".
The university sponsors twenty-one sports – baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's equestrian, football, men's and women's golf, women's gymnastics, women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track, and women's volleyball. Those 21 teams have won a combined 52 national championships (including 33 NCAA championships) and 173Southeastern Conference championships (plus 264 individual national championships through the end of the 2013–14 school year).[3] University students have also won 56Olympic medals.[4][5][6]In 2006, the Bulldogs recorded the highest profit margin of any athletic program in the country (according to the EADA report),[7] pulling in $23.9 million.
The first mention of "Bulldogs" in association with Georgia athletics occurred on November 28, 1901, at the Georgia-Auburn football game played in Atlanta. The Georgia fans "had a badge saying 'Eat'em Georgia' and a picture of a bulldog tearing a piece of cloth".[8]
However, it was not until 1920 that the nickname "Bulldog" was used to describe the athletic teams at the University of Georgia. Traditionally, the choice of a Bulldog as the UGA mascot was attributed to the alma mater of its founders and first president, who graduated fromYale University.[9] On November 3, 1920, Morgan Blake, asportswriter for theAtlanta Journal wrote a story about school nicknames for football teams and proposed:
"The Georgia Bulldogs would sound good because there is a certain dignity about a bulldog, as well as ferocity."[10]
Shortly thereafter, another news story appeared in theAtlanta Constitution in which the name "Bulldogs" was used several times to describe the Georgia football team, and the nickname has been used ever since then.
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Cross country |
| Cross country | Equestrian |
| Football | Golf |
| Golf | Gymnastics |
| Swimming & diving | Soccer |
| Tennis | Softball |
| Track and field† | Swimming & diving |
| Tennis | |
| Track and field† | |
| Volleyball | |
| † – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor. | |
The Bulldogs play in the 3,291-seatFoley Field stadium.
The Georgia Baseball team has seen most of its success in recent years, including winning the1990 College World Series, as well as making the trip toOmaha in1987,1990,2001,2004,2006, and2008. TheDiamond Dawgs, as they are called, are coached byWes Johnson.
In its history, the team has claimed fiveSoutheastern Conference tournament titles, in 1933, 1954, 1955, 2001, and 2004, and five regular season conference titles, in 1933, 1953, 1954, 2004, and 2008.
The program dates back to 1886 and, according to former Sports Information DirectorDan Magill, was once the most popular sport on campus.[citation needed] However, from the mid-1950s to the late-1980s, and then through most of the 1990s, there were only scattered bright spots as the team managed only a modicum of success.
Since 2001, however, the program has enjoyed a resurgence, winning three championships in theSoutheastern Conference, and participating in theCollege World Series four times in those seven seasons.
The Georgia-Georgia Tech baseball rivalry is one of the South's most fierce.[citation needed] The teams' annual Spring Baseball Classic atTurner Field draws some of the largest crowds in college baseball (the 2004 game was seen by 28,836 spectators, the second-largest crowd in college baseball history).[citation needed]
CoachAndy Landers, a pioneer in the sport, coached the Lady Bulldogs from 1979 to 2015, leading them to seven regular-season SEC titles, four SEC tournament championships, twenty 21-win seasons (an average of 24.4 wins per season), 23NCAA tournaments, and five Final Fours. Landers currently stands as the winningest women's college basketball coach not to have won the national championship. The Lady Dogs' all-time AP ranking stands at 4th as of 2005[update].
Georgia's men's basketball program has enjoyed several impressive seasons, including a run to the2008 SEC Championship and berth in theNCAA tournament under former head coachDennis Felton.
WhileDominique Wilkins is considered the greatest player in school history,[11] the team's most successful season came one year after his graduation. The Bulldogs made their first NCAA appearance in1983 – which would have been Wilkins' senior year had he not opted for the NBA. That team advanced to the Final Four before falling to eventual national championNC State. Under theTom Crean regime, the Bulldogs landed the number one recruit in the country inAnthony Edwards in 2018, the highest rated recruit in school history. Edwards would go on to be selected first in the2020 NBA draft by theMinnesota Timberwolves, the first Georgia basketball player to do so.
Since making its first postseason tournament in 1980, Georgia has received 21 postseason invitations under coachesHugh Durham,Tubby Smith,Ron Jirsa,Jim Harrick, andDennis Felton, including 10 trips to theNCAA tournament.
Equestrian was added as UGA's 21st intercollegiate varsity sport in 2001. UGA's newest varsity team first competed in the 2002–2003 season.[12] Head coachMeghan Boenigguided the team to a national championship in the VarsityEquestrian National Championships (NCEA) that year as well as a repeat national championship the following year (2003–2004). After a series of runner-up finishes, the team reclaimed the top spot in 2007–2008 and repeated as champions in 2008–2009 and 2009–2010. They also earned national championship titles in 2014, 2021, and 2025 (its eighth).[13][14]
The University of Georgia consistently ranks number 1 in the nation for recruits per National Collegiate Equestrian Association's Coaches' poll.[15]
In January 2009, Georgia riders moved into their spacious new home, the UGA Equestrian Complex, located inBishop, Georgia. The site is approximately 12 miles south of theAthens, Georgia campus. The 109-acre farm was formerly used in the1996 Summer Olympics as a training site for theU.S. Dressage Team.[12] The team originally trained and held meets at the Animal Science Arena on South Milledge Avenue. The Animal Science Arena is maintained by University of Georgia'sCollege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). As the academic programs grew at CAES, the team relocated to the UGA Equestrian Complex.
The 93,033 seat Dooley Field atSanford Stadium is the home of theGeorgia football team. The white, and now also brownBulldog is UGA'smascot and is properly known asthe late "Uga VIII", now "Uga X", previously known as "Que".[16] The Bulldogs play in the tradition-richSoutheastern Conference.
The Bulldogs claim four football national championships: one for the 1942 seasons based on the determinations of several selecting organizations, and three consensus national championships for the 1980, 2021, and 2022 seasons based on the votes of theAP andCoaches Polls (several selectors have recognized the Bulldogs as national champions for the 1927, 1946, and 1968 seasons as well). Georgia has won 15 Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships (the most recent coming in 2024).
Georgia owns the nations longest active bowl streak at 26, surpassing the previous leader Virginia Tech, who reeled off 27 in a row. The bulldogs are 20–6 in that stretch, excluding the three CFP National Championship games in 2018, 2022, and 2023. In that time period; Georgia has accumulated 3 Peach Bowl victories, 3 Sugar Bowl victories, and a CFP Semi-Final Rose Bowl win to send them to the 2018 CFP National Championship game. Georgia's brand has grown exponentially under coach Kirby Smart, who's pieced together three #1 recruiting classes in his five seasons as Head Coach and led the Bulldogs to the 2021 National Championship victory over Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide team 33–18. The next year, the Bulldogs also won the National Champion over Sonny Dykes' TCU Horned Frogs team 65–7.
The Bulldogs' most historic rivalry is with theAuburn Tigers, referred to as theDeep South's Oldest Rivalry and dating back to 1892. The other rivalries are between the Bulldogs and theAtlantic Coast Conference'sGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets ("Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate") and theFloridaGators ("World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"). In addition, UGA enjoyed a strong rivalry with the nearbyClemson Tigers for many years in football, especially in the 1980s. The Bulldogs and theTennessee Volunteers annual showdown on the second Saturday of October has become a rivalry as a result of the 1992 division of the Southeastern Conference into Eastern and Western divisions. Before 1992, the two teams had only met 21 times since 1899. Beginning in 1992, the two teams have played annually as members of the same division. Georgia also enjoys a healthyrivalry with theSouth Carolina Gamecocks, meeting on the football field 70 times since 1894.[17]
The Georgia-Florida game is held annually in late October/early November inJacksonville, Florida, a site intended to be neutral. However, the game's location is a point of contention for many Georgia fans; many of whom argue that Jacksonville's location relative to the two universities favors Florida. The city lies 342 miles from Athens, Georgia, home of the Bulldogs, but only 73 miles from Gainesville, Florida, home of the Gators. The game is considered a must-do for many UGA students and alumni. The game was traditionally referred to as the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" due to the tailgating and celebration by fans, but in recent years the city and universities have dropped the usage to discourage drunkenness among fans. However, fans and former players on both sides of the rivalry still refer to it by that name, or a shortened "Cocktail Party," choosing not to ever use the sanitized "official" name. Georgia holds the all-time advantage in the series, posting a win–loss record of 56–44–2 (55–44–2 according to the University of Florida, which does not include the 1904 game in Macon, Georgia, played before officially sanctioning its football program). The University of Florida closed what was a substantial gap in the series by posting a better overall record in the 1990s and 2000s. Georgia turned the tables in the 2010s, winning 6 of 10, and Georgia leads the series since 2020, winning the last two games. The most recent game in the rivalry was a 24-20 Bulldogs win.
From 1946 to 1970,Howell Hollis built the Georgia men's golf team into a conference power,[citation needed] claiming 13 SEC titles. George Hamer won theindividual national title in 1946. Current coach Chris Haack has led the team to twogolf national titles (1999, 2005).
Overall, the men's golf team leads all Georgia sports with 29 conference championships,[citation needed] including seven since 2000 (1941, 1950–52, 1957–59, 1961–65, 1969–72, 1977–78, 1982–83, 1988, 1998, 2000–01, 2004, 2006, 2009–10, 2016).
Notable alumni include two-time Masters' champion Bubba Watson, as well as the winner of the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Kevin Kisner.
First organized by Liz Murphey, the Georgia women's golf team is a fixture among the nation's top finishers.[citation needed] In 1981Terri Moody won theAIAW individual nationalintercollegiate golf championship on her home course.
Todd McCorkle coached the Georgia women's golf team from 2001 to 2007, when he abruptly resigned before the NCAA Women's Golf Championship under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations.[18] His inaugural UGA team won thenational championship. UGA's sixth place tie at the 2006 national event marks the seventh top-10 final ranking in the last nine years. The program has won eleven SEC titles. Former players includeVicki Goetze, now on theLPGA Tour.
Since 1986, the Gymdogs have brought home 10gymnastics national championships (1987, '89, 1993, '98, '99, 2005, '06, '07, '08, '09),[19] the most of any team in NCAA history.[citation needed] (whileUtah has also won ten national titles, their first was anAIAW Championship in 1981). Georgia is also only the second team (Utah, 1982–86) to win the national title in five consecutive years,[citation needed] winning in 2005–2009. The Gymdogs have won 16 Southeastern Conference titles.
The Gymdogs consistently draw upwards of 10,000 fans to their meets,[citation needed] ranking them second only to football in average attendance among Georgia sports.[citation needed]
No Bulldog team has dominated its sport as much in the past 20 years as theGeorgia Gymdogs,[citation needed] under the direction ofSuzanne Yoculan.On October 18, 2007, Yoculan announced her retirement after the 2009 season.[20] Longtime assistantJay Clark succeeded Yoculan as head coach from 2009 to 2012.Danna Durante served as head coach from 2012 to 2017.In 2017 former GymdogCourtney Kupets-Carter became the head coach and Suzanne Yoculan became a volunteer assistant coach for the transition period.
UGA Alum and CoachJack Bauerle has placed the women's program among the nation's elite. As of the 2016 season the women's team is tied with theUniversity of Texas for the second highest number ofnational championships at seven (1999, 2000, '01, '05, '13, '14, '16) and posted eight national runner-up finishes (2002, '03, '04, '06, '09, '11, '12, '15). The women's swimming and diving team has also won twelve SEC team championships (1997, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '06, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15). Bauerle has coached 11 female Olympians and 88 SEC individual champions. Graduates of the Georgia Swimming and Diving program include three individual recipients of theNCAA Woman of the Year Award:Lisa Coole in 1997,Kristy Kowal in 2000 andKim Black in 2001.
The volleyball team participates in theSoutheastern Conference and is currently coached by Tom Black. They play home games at theStegeman Coliseum.
The Bulldog softball team began play in 1997. The team has won twoSEC regular season championships in 2003 and 2005. The Team won theSEC tournament in 2014. The team has made eighteen NCAA tournament appearances. The team has made fourWomen's College World Series appearances in 2009, 2010, 2016, 2018, and 2021. The current head coach isLu Harris-Champer.
Under the direction ofDan Magill from 1954 to 1988 and his successor (and current head coach) Manuel Diaz, the Georgia Men's Tennis program ranks among the nation's best.[citation needed] The team has won a total of eighttennis national championships in 1985, 1987, 1999, 2001, 2006 (indoor), 2007 (indoor and NCAA Division I), and 2008. The Bulldogs' six NCAA team championships rank fourth all-time.[citation needed] The 2007 indoor championship made Georgia only the sixth team in history to successfully defend the ITA Indoor title.[21] Coach Manuel Diaz is the only NCAA Division I active coach with more than one NCAA team Championships, with four.[citation needed]
The squad has won 32 Southeastern Conference championships, 25 regular season championships and seven SEC tournament championships.
The NCAA Men's Tennis Championship has been held in Athens 24 times in the past 35 years, including consecutively from 1977 to 1989 and in 2007. All but one (2008) of UGA's NCAA team championships have been won in Athens.[22]
UGA alumnus Jeff Wallace coached the Georgia Women's Tennis program from 1985 through 2023 and was then the winningest NCAA women's tennis coach with six National Championships (2 NCAA, 4 USTA/ITA Indoor) and an 814-198 record.[23] Former Georgia men's tennis national champion Drake Bernstein became head coach in 2024. He earned SEC Coach of the Year and his team won theNCAA team championship and SEC Championship in his second year coaching.[24][25][26] Recently the woman's teams have won three NCAA team championships (1994, 2000, and 2025), five ITA Indoor Championships (1994, 1995, 2002, 2019, and 2025) and ten SEC titles,[24][27] while individual players have won several individual NCAA titles, and Dasha Vidmanova was named the 2025 SEC Female Athlete of the Year, the first women’s tennis player in SEC history to receive the award.[28] The NCAA Women's Tennis Championship has been held in Athens three times.
Notable UGA men's track and field athletes include Olympic gold medalistForrest Towns and bronze medalistReese Hoffa.
Former UGA coachPetros Kyprianou guided the UGA men's track and field team to the2018 NCAA men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championship title.
Notable UGA men's cross country athletes include World Marathon ChampionMark Plaatjes.
The UGA women's track and field teams have won two national championships.Caryl Smith-Gilbert coached the Georgia team to the 2025NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship, which includedStephanie Ratcliffe who won thehammer throw as her second title after transferring from Harvard and became the first NCAA competitor to accomplish the feat at two different schools and in the non-consecutive years of 2023 and 2025. Former UGA coachPetros Kyprianou guided the UGA women's track and field team to the 2018NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship[29]
Notable UGA women's track and field athletes include Olympic gold medalistsGwen Torrence andShaunae Miller-Uibo, silver medalistHyleas Fountain, and bronze medalistDebbie Ferguson.
Other notable sports teams include the perennial power men'sswimming team.[30] Notable track and field athletes include Olympic gold medalistsForrest Towns andGwen Torrence as well as bronze medalistDebbie Ferguson.
The University of Georgia offers several non-varsity sports such asultimate frisbee,[31] fencing, rugby, Men's Wrestling, lacrosse, women's tennis and ice hockey. Club sports are administered by the university's Department of Recreational Sports.[32] Teams frequently play intercollegiate rivals and join club sports conferences, such as theSouth Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Founded in 1967, the University of Georgia Rugby Football Club plays Division 1college rugby in theSoutheastern Collegiate Rugby Conference against its traditional SEC rivals. Georgia finished the 2012 regular season with a 4–2 conference record, just missing the conference playoffs.[33] The Bulldogs are led by head coach Doug Porter.
The UGA Rugby Club won the 1979 Savannah St. Patrick's Day Rugby Tournament.
Georgia has won 52 total national championships and 33 team NCAA championships at the Division I level.[34]
Below are 19 national team titles in varsity sports that were not bestowed by the NCAA.
Note: Georgia's website has multiple pages which list national championships by sport; before the 2021 football title victory, it only called out one season for football (1980).[35][36][37] Pre-2022 Georgia football media guides contain a year-by-year results section in which five seasons (1980) have "National Champions#" headers paired with selector callouts,[38]: 159–161 but also a "Championship History" page which pairs 1942 and 1980 into a "The Consensus National Champions" section and groups 1927, 1946, and 1968 together as national champions without description, beyond identification of those specific selectors.[38]: 192
Georgia has won 180 SEC team championships.[39]
° = co-champions, t = tournament
The athletic department suffered through several controversies in the early 2000s, including a major scandal within the men's basketball program. In 2003, a power struggle between University PresidentMichael Adams and athletic director and Bulldog legendVince Dooley stole headlines when Adams refused to renew Dooley's contract, effectively firing him. The battle became one painted as academics versus athletics, though this idea was rejected when the university'sFranklin College of Arts and Sciences faculty issued a vote of "no confidence" on Adams' leadership in 2004.
The firestorm has calmed slightly since then, however, largely due to the success of Dooley's successor,Damon Evans. In 2006, the Bulldogs recorded the highest profit margin of any athletic program in the country (according to the EADA report),[7] pulling in $23.9 million, and also recorded another highly successful year on the field. However, Evans was arrested for DUI on June 30, 2010; his passenger, a 28-year-old woman, was arrested for disorderly conduct who told police that she had been seeing Evans for about one week.[40] Evans has been asked for his resignation effective on Monday, July 5, 2010, and he has agreed to resign.[41]
Damon Evans was replaced byGreg McGarity, a Georgia alum and Associate AD at the University of Florida, in 2010. McGarity's tenure as Georgia's AD was one that saw a great surge in fundraising prowess. In 2015, McGarity made the controversial decision to fire long time Head Coach, Mark Richt. He then hired Alabama Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart as Richt's replacement. Smart went on to win back-to-back College football National Championships.
Greg McGarity retired at the end of 2020 and was replaced in the summer of 2021 byJosh Brooks, who is the athletic director of record for the Bulldogs'2022 College Football Playoff National Championship win. McGarity brought Brooks back to UGA from Louisiana-Monroe to essentially make him the Athletic Director in waiting.
The Georgia Bulldogs football team boasts twoHeisman Trophy winners (Frank Sinkwich, 1942, andHerschel Walker, 1982), and holds the distinction of having three graduates becomeSuper Bowl MVPs (Jake Scott, 1972,Terrell Davis, 1998, andHines Ward, 2005). Additional notable former players include WRLindsay Scott, QBEric Zeier, QBFran Tarkenton, RBCharley Trippi, RBRodney Hampton, FBMack Strong, RBGarrison Hearst, DEBill Stanfill, DBTerry Hoage, CBChamp Bailey, RBOlandis Gary, DERichard Seymour, LBBoss Bailey, DE/LBDavid Pollack, QBDavid Greene, KKevin Butler, CBSean Jones, SS/LBThomas Davis, WRReggie Brown, FSGreg Blue, QBBuck Belue, RBKnowshon Moreno, QBMatthew Stafford, WRMohamed Massaquoi, QB Evan Boose, PRPrince Miller, RRennie Curran, LTJon Stinchcomb, WRA. J. Green, RBTodd Gurley, RBNick Chubb, RBSony Michel, LBRichard Tardits, QBStetson Bennett, DTJordan Davis. TEBrock Bowers, and WRLadd McConkey.
Despite being overshadowed by its football program, the Georgia Bulldogs basketball team has produced several notable players that went on to be successful in the NBA. In 2020, Georgia freshmanAnthony Edwards was selected first overall in the2020 NBA draft, becoming the first Bulldog to do so. The Bulldogs boast three U.S. Olympians (Vern Fleming,Willie Anderson, Anthony Edwards), with Fleming and Edwards eventually each earning gold medal. Other notable alumni includeDominique Wilkins, 9-timeNBA All-Star whose number 21 was retired by theAtlanta Hawks, as well asShandon Anderson,Jarvis Hayes,Kentavious Caldwell-Pope,Nic Claxton, andToumani Camara. In total, 24 Bulldogs have progressed to playing in the NBA.
The Lady Dogs basketball team has produced two U.S. Olympians who have combined to earn six Gold Medals (Teresa Edwards andKatrina McClain Johnson), 16 former players who have continued to the WNBA (second-most nationally), and six WNBA first-round draft picks in the past five years (second-most nationally). There were eight Lady Bulldogs on WNBA rosters in 2006:Kara Braxton,Detroit Shock;Kedra Holland-Corn, Detroit Shock;Deanna Nolan, Detroit Shock;Kelly Miller,Phoenix Mercury;Coco Miller,Washington Mystics;Christi Thomas,Los Angeles Sparks;Sherill Baker,New York Liberty; andKiesha Brown, New York Liberty.[42]
The Bulldogs baseball team has seen several of its former players move on to successful professional careers, most notably formerNew York Yankees pitcherSpud Chandler. Also,St. Louis Cardinals pitcherCris Carpenter (not to be confused with current Cardinals pitcherChris Carpenter), pitcherDerek Lilliquist, Chicago White Sox batterGordon Beckham,Seattle Mariners pitcherDave Fleming, and Georgia high school football coaching legend Billy Henderson played for the Bulldogs.
Bulldogs football and basketball games air locally onWRFC andWNGC in Athens, and onWSB andWSBB-FM in Atlanta. Scott Howard serves as radio announcer for both sports.Eric Zeier and Chuck Dowdle are the football and basketball color analysts respectively. With a gravelly voice that was one of the most distinctive in all of U.S. sports announcing and who was endeared by Georgia Bulldog fans, award winningLarry Munson provided radio play-by-play for the Georgia Bulldogs football games from 1966 to 2008. He also handled the play-by-play for UGA basketball and Atlanta Falcons radio broadcasts and hosted sports-related talk shows.
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