San Jose State Spartans


The San Jose State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. San Jose State is one of seven universities in the state of California to participate in NCAA Division I FBS athletics, along with the University of California, Fresno State, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, and USC. SJSU has participated in athletics since it first fielded a baseball team in 1890.
San José State University sports teams have won NCAA national titles in track and field, cross country, golf, boxing, fencing and tennis. As of 2018, SJSU has won 10 NCAA national Division 1 team championships and produced 50 NCAA national Division 1 individual champions. SJSU also has achieved an international reputation for its judo program, winning 51 National Collegiate Judo Association championships in 56 years.
SJSU alumni have won 19 Olympic medals dating back to the first gold medal won by Willie Steele in track and field in the 1948 Olympics. Alumni also have won medals in swimming, judo and boxing.
The track team coached by "Bud" Winter earned San Jose the nickname "Speed City", and produced Olympic medalists and social activists Lee Evans, John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Smith and Carlos are perhaps best remembered for giving the raised fist salute from the medalist's podium during the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City.
San José State University sponsors teams in eight men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports:

Nickname and mascot history

Due to the school's original designation as a teachers' college, SJSU's mascot changed many times before the school finally adopted the Spartans as the official mascot and nickname in 1922. Mascots and nicknames prior to 1922 included the Daniels, the Teachers, the Pedagogues, the Normals, and the Normalites. The school's mascot is Sammy the Spartan or Sammy Spartan for short.
After 1887, the official name of the San Jose campus was the State Normal School at San Jose. The school's athletic teams initially played under the "Normal" identity, but they gradually shifted to the State Normal School identity, as evidenced by images of the SNS football and basketball squads from this era. Despite the SNS identity, the school continued to be referred to as the California State Normal School, San Jose in official publications. A 2007 historical exhibit in the Martin Luther King Library on the San Jose State campus featured a number of pieces of State Normal School memorabilia, including an SNS pennant.

Sports sponsored

All varsity teams representing San José State University compete in the Mountain West Conference except beach volleyball, gymnastics and women's water polo, men's soccer, and men's water polo.

Baseball

In 1962, the San José State University cross country team was the first national champion to represent racial integration in NCAA Division I men's cross country.
The San Jose State men's cross country team appeared in the NCAA tournament six times, finishing first in the 1962–63 and 1963–64 school years. The team has garnered an unofficial record of 84–19.
1961No. 282Defeated Houston, Kansas, Iowa, Western Michigan, Southern Illinois,
Penn State, Michigan State, Air Force, Army, Texas A&M,
Central Michigan, Ohio, Miami, Bowling Green, and Buffalo
Lost to Oregon State
1962No. 158Defeated Villanova, Western Michigan, Houston, Michigan State, Ohio,
Colorado, Oregon State, Idaho, Kansas, Notre Dame,
Penn State, Iowa, and Texas A&M
1963No. 153Defeated Oregon, Notre Dame, Kansas, Michigan State, Houston,
Ohio, Miami, Villanova, Western Michigan, Wisconsin,
Brown, Bowling Green, Providence, Syracuse, Drake,
William & Mary, Rutgers, Oklahoma City, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech
1965No. 11277Defeated BYU, Furman, Colorado, Michigan State, Army,
Providence, and Houston
Lost to Western Michigan, Northwestern, Tennessee, Georgetown, Oklahoma State,
Kansas, Kansas State, Oregon, Notre Dame, and Wyoming
1966No. 3183Defeated Iowa, Washington State, Colorado, Oregon State, Southern Illinois,
Western Michigan, Houston, New Mexico, Michigan State. Colorado State,
Abilene Christian, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma State, William & Mary,
Miami, Providence, Notre Dame, Drake, Iowa State,
Tennessee, and Arkansas
Lost to Villanova and Kansas State
1967No. 7152Defeated Drake, BYU, Utah, Houston, Tennessee,
Kansas, and Wyoming
Lost to Villanova, Air Force, Colorado, Western Michigan, Indiana, and Missouri

The San Jose State women's cross country team never made the NCAA tournament.

Football

San Jose State first fielded a football team in 1893 and has won 16 conference championships dating back to 1932. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Spartan football program was considered a powerhouse, winning eight conference championships over an 18-year span. The 1932 team finished 7-0-2 and the 1939 team finished 13-0, marking the only undefeated seasons in school history.
Additional Football Facts
San Jose State has made 10 bowl appearances and the Spartans have an overall bowl game record of 7–3.

Golf

Results – Men's
19474th617
19481st579
19495th603
195021st626
19556th597
195615th621
19578th614
195917th609
196311th600
19644th600
19657th596
19662nd586
19679th599
196811th1,184
19729th1,200
19734th1,170
19749th1,194
197613th1,197
197713th1,241
19788th1,181
197914th1,234
198020th914
198120th894
198213th1,176
198326th910
19846th1,162
198524th916
198712th1,199
199221st587
199426th595
199610th1,220
199719th590

Results – Women's
198213th1,269
198417th1,303
19858th1,260
19868th1,215
19871st1,187
19866th1,187
19891st1,208
19904th1,225
19912nd1,197
19921st1,171
19933rd1,190
19943rd1,220
19952nd1,181
19962nd1,240
19972nd1,180
199917th946
200015th1,225
200117th1,227
201023rd1,218
201319th1,209
201919th938

Indoor track and field

The San Jose State men's indoor track and field team appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament six times, with their highest finish being 3rd in the 1968–69 school year. The San Jose State women's indoor track and field team never made the NCAA Division I tournament.
1969MenNo. 319
1977MenNo. 214
1983MenNo. 1510
1984MenNo. 199
1985MenNo. 914
1987MenNo. 1310

Soccer

The San Jose State men's soccer team has an NCAA Division I tournament record of 7–14 through fourteen appearances.
1963First RoundSan FranciscoL 0–2
1964First Round
Quarterfinals		Air Force
Saint Louis		W 5–2
L 0–5
1966First RoundSan FranciscoL 1–2
1967First Round
Quarterfinals		San Francisco
Saint Louis		W 4–3
L 3–4
1968Second Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals		UCLA
Air Force
Maryland		W 3–1
W 1–0
L 3–4
1969Second Round
Quarterfinals		Air Force
San Francisco		W 1–0
L 1–3
1970Second RoundDenverL 1–2
1971Second RoundSan FranciscoL 2–3
1972Second Round
Quarterfinals		Fresno State
UCLA		W 4–0
L 1–3
1974Second RoundUCLAL 2–3
1976Second Round
Quarterfinals		Washington
San Francisco		W 4–1
L 0–5
1998First RoundStanfordL 2–3
2000First RoundIndianaL 0–4
2003First RoundCaliforniaL 0–2

The San Jose State women's soccer team has an NCAA Division I tournament record of 0–3 through three appearances.
2000First RoundStanfordL 1–4
2015First RoundStanfordL 0–2
2018First RoundUCLAL 0–5

Softball

The San Jose State Spartans women's softball team has an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 1–8 through four appearances.
19900–2Eliminated by California in the No. 5 Regional
19920–2Eliminated by California in the No. 4 Regional
20130–2Eliminated by San Diego State in the Tempe Regional
2017Eliminated by CSU Fullerton in the Los Angeles Regional

Tennis

The San Jose State women's volleyball team has an NCAA Division I tournament record of 8–12 through twelve appearances.
1982First Round
Regional Semifinals		UC Santa Barbara
Hawaii		W 3–2
L 0–3
1983First RoundCal PolyL 1–3
1984First Round
Regional Semifinals
Regional Finals
Semifinals		Purdue
Oregon
Fresno State
UCLA		W 3–1
W 3–0
W 3–1
L 0–3
1985First Round
Regional Semifinals		Long Beach State
Cal Poly		W 3–0
L 0–3
1986First Round
Regional Semifinals		Cal Poly
Hawaii		W 3–1
L 2–3
1987First Round
Regional Semifinals		Idaho State
Pacific		W 3–0
L 0–3
1988First RoundSan Diego StateL 1–3
1989First RoundPacificL 0–3
1990First RoundLong Beach StateL 0–3
1998First RoundColoradoL 0–3
2000First RoundLong Beach StateL 1–3
2001First Round
Second Round		Santa Clara
Stanford		W 3–2
L 0–3

Water polo

The San Jose State men's water polo team has an NCAA Division I tournament record of 5–4 through four appearances.
1970First Round
Semifinals		Stanford
UCLA		W 9–7
L 4–7
1971First Round
Semifinals
National Championship		Stanford
CSU Fullerton
UCLA		W 10–4
W 10–9
L 3–5
1972First Round
Semifinals
National Championship		Loyola
USC
UCLA		W 21–6
W 19–14
L 5–10
1973First RoundUSCL 5–7

Club sports

San Jose State has a very active club sport program consisting of 25 sports and 30 teams. These sports include:
Archery, badminton, bowling, boxing, cycling, dance, ACHA Division II and Division lll ice hockey, judo, karate, MCLA Division III men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, mountain biking, power lifting, quidditch, roller hockey, men's rugby, salsa, men's & women's soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, track & field, triathlon, ultimate frisbee, men's & women's volleyball, men's water polo, and wrestling.

Hockey

Founded in 1990, the San Jose State men's ice hockey team garnered one PCHA Division ll championship and four PCHA Division l championship titles, before withdrawing from the PCHA and becoming an independent American Collegiate Hockey Association Division ll team in 1998. SJSU won one additional PCHA Division 1 title as a non-member in 2017.
The San Jose State judo program was established in 1937 for the Police Studies Department. In 1940, sophomore biology major Yosh Uchida was hired as the student-coach. The program was disbanded during World War II, and reestablished in 1946 upon Uchida's return to the college.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Uchida and University of California, Berkeley coach Henry Stone established rules to allow their students to compete with each other, including a weight class system. Uchida and Stone convinced the Amateur Athletic Union to sanction judo as a sport, and San Jose State hosted the first AAU national championship in 1953.
In 1962, the Spartans won the first National Collegiate Judo Championship. They would continue to dominate the event to the present day, winning their 51st national championship in 2017.
In 2005, alumnus and coach Mike Swain announced the establishment of the Swain Scholarship, the first full athletic scholarship in judo at an American university. In 2008, the SJSU judo program was named one of six National Training Sites by USA Judo.
Notable SJSU Judoka
Rugby
San Jose State Spartan Rugby was established in 1971 and competes in the Pacific Western Rugby Conference. The Pacific Western Rugby Conference plays at the Division 1AA level. The Spartans compete against Chico State, Fresno State, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, University of California Santa Cruz and University of Nevada. San Jose State competes for the USA Rugby National Championship in both 15's and in 7's. In 2013, SJSU finished first in the conference in 7's competition. According to the published SJSU rugby team mission statement, "San Jose State Rugby teaches Spartans honesty, humility, and hard work through the game of rugby for Spartan success both on and off the field."

Salsa

San Jose State's salsa team, "Spartan Mambo", was established in 2010 and competes at amateur and collegiate competitions across the country. Spartan Mambo holds two championship titles from the College Salsa Congress in 2011 and 2015 as well as the 2015 and 2016 Collegiate Salsa Open. Spartan Mambo also won the Collegiate Teams division at the 2013 World Latin Dance Cup.

Table tennis

The SJSU table tennis team regularly competes in National Collegiate Table Tennis Association tournaments. The San Jose State table tennis team rose to No. 4 in the national rankings and competed in the NCTTA national championship tournament in 2012. The team was led by Truong Tu and reached the semifinals.

Discontinued

Wrestling

has a history at San José State University dating back to the early 1930s, although SJSU has not sponsored a Division 1 wrestling program since the 1988 season. Eddie Baza is one of three two-time All-America wrestlers in San Jose State University history and was inducted into the Spartan Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Championships

Appearances

San José State University sports teams have competed in NCAA national tournaments across 16 active sports 170 times at the Division I FBS level.
NCAA Tournament Appearances
Baseball : 1955 • 1971 • 2000 • 2002
Men's basketball : 1951 • 1980 • 1996
Men's cross country : 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967
Football : 1946 • 1949 • 1971 • 1981 • 1986 • 1987 • 1990 • 2006 • 2012 • 2015
Men's golf : 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1959 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1987 • 1992 • 1994 • 1996 • 1997
Women's golf : 1982 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2010 • 2013 • 2019
Women's gymnastics : 2003 • 2006 • 2008 • 2009 • 2011 • 2012 • 2014
Men's soccer : 1963 • 1964 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1974 • 1976 • 1998 • 2000 • 2003
Women's soccer : 2000 • 2015 • 2018
Softball : 1990 • 1992 • 2013 • 2017
Women's swimming and diving : 1984 • 1985 • 1986
Women's tennis : 2013 • 2017
Men's indoor track and field : 1969 • 1977 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1987
Men's outdoor track and field : 1934 • 1937 • 1938 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1971 • 1973 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986
Women's volleyball : 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1998 • 2000 • 2001
Men's water polo : 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973

Team

The San Jose State Spartans have earned 10 NCAA championships at the Division I level.
Results
Below are five SJSU national championship titles not granted by the NCAA:
Below are 79 SJSU national club team championship titles:
San Jose State has produced 50 NCAA Division I individual championship winners.
At the NCAA Division II level, San Jose State has garnered two individual championship titles. Additionally, Patty Sheehan is an individual champion in women's golf at the highest level for the AIAW.

Rivals

Fresno State

San Jose State's biggest rival is California State University, Fresno, due in large part to the two schools' geographic proximity and long history of competing in the same conferences. Fresno State is San Jose State's most played opponent in the Mountain West Conference for college football and college basketball. Fresno State and San Jose State first started playing each other as members of the California Coast Conference in the 1920s.

Stanford

San Jose State also has a natural athletics rivalry with the Stanford Cardinal of Stanford University, due in large part to the two school's geographic proximity. The approximate physical distance between the two universities is 23 miles. Additionally, San Jose State and Stanford are each known for having a large alumni workforce presence in Silicon Valley. The two schools first played each other in football in 1900.

Facilities

, Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center, and the Spartan Complex are the principal sports facilities on the main campus for athletes. Additional athletics facilities, including CEFCU Stadium, athletics department administrative offices and multiple training and practice facilities, are located on SJSU's 62-acre south campus approximately 1.5 mi south of the main campus.
A CEFCU Stadium east-side building addition is in the planning stages and will cost approximately $40 million. The proposed facility will house a new football operations center, which will include locker rooms, offices, an auditorium and seating on the 50-yard line. The project will also include a major renovation of the stadium's entire east side.
In April 2014, a new $75 million master plan to renovate the entire South Campus was unveiled. The estimated cost has since been increased to $150 million including the cost of the new football stadium addition. The plan calls for construction of a golf training facility, new baseball and softball stadia, new track and field facilities, new soccer and tennis facilities, and three beach volleyball courts. The golf and soccer facilities broke ground in 2016, and the tennis and softball facilities broke ground in 2017. The remaining projects are in the planning stages.
In August 2015, a $55 million renovation of the Spartan Complex was completed. The Spartan Complex houses open recreation spaces, gymnasia, an indoor aquatics center, the kinesiology department, weight rooms, locker rooms, dance and judo studios, and other classroom space. The primary project objectives were to upgrade the structures to make them compliant with building codes, correct ADA deficiencies, correct fire safety deficiencies, expand and modify existing structures, and hazmat abatement.
A new student recreation and aquatic center is under construction. At a projected cost of $139 million, the new facility will house a gymnasium, weight and fitness center, exercise rooms, rock climbing wall, sports club organizations, and competition and recreation pools with support spaces. The new facility will be located on the main campus at the corner of 7th Street and San Carlos close to the existing aquatic and student recreation centers. The estimated project completion date is set for December 2018.
In June 2017, the first phase of the Spartan Golf Complex was completed, which includes a 400-yard driving range, hitting positions for 80 golfers, and chipping and putting areas. Phase 2 of the facility is currently in the planning stages and is expected to include a clubhouse, locker rooms, meeting rooms and coaches' offices.
Phases one and two of the new SJSU Spartan softball complex were completed in 2018. The final phase is currently in the planning stages and will add permanent bleachers, restrooms, a concession stand and press box. The final stadium will be an enclosed facility with seating for over 700.
Phase I of the San José State University tennis complex was completed in 2018 and includes six uncovered, USTA-sanctioned courts and a 4,000 seat spectator court. Phase II is slated to include six USTA covered courts and a clubhouse.

Main Campus

Baseball