UW-Whitewater Poised To Make NCAA History With 3 Men’s Championships In Same Year

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is on the verge of doing what no other NCAA school, at any level, has ever done — winning national championships in all three major men’s sports in the same academic year.

The Warhawks football team won a national title in December, and the men’s basketball team won a title in March. Now, the baseball team wins is playing in a national championship game next Tuesday at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton. If they win, they’ll make history.

Whitewater has become an NCAA Division III dynasty in the last decade. Pat Coleman, executive editor of d3sports.com, says success breeds success – after the football team won its first of five national titles, and the basketball team has since won two, they have been able to recruit stronger players.

“You can go out and recruit kids and you can sell them with a straight face on the fact that ‘We breed champions here at Whitewater,’” said Coleman. “And I think too, in football especially, there are only a handful of Division III games on television in any given year, and Whitewater has been in one of those now eight of the last nine years, and that’s good exposure for the program there.“

In addition, long-serving coaches hold recruiting advantages in Milwaukee, Chicago, and the surrounding areas.

Amy Edmonds, Whitewater’s interim athletic director, says winning sports teams can raise an entire university’s profile. At first, potential students may notice the athletics success: “But then, when they look a little bit deeper, they’ll be able to see what our institution has to offer with majors and minors, as well as the student experience through study abroad programs (and) entrepeneurship,” said Edmonds.

Whitewater’s major men’s teams may have some company at the top: The women’s softball team, mens’ and women’s track-and-field teams, and three individual tennis players are all competing for national championships this weekend, too.