Athletics in University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas offers a wide variety of varsity and intramural sports programs. As of 2008, the university's athletics program ranked fifth in the nation among Division I schools, according to the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Due to the breadth of sports offered and the quality of the programs, Texas was selected as "America's Best Sports College" in a 2002 analysis performed by Sports Illustrated. Texas was also listed as the number one Collegiate Licensing Company client for the second consecutive year in regards to the amount of annual trademark royalties received from the sales of its fan merchandise. However, this ranking is based only on clients of the Collegiate Licensing Company, which does not handle licensing for approximately three dozen large schools including Ohio State, USC, UCLA, Michigan State, and Texas A&M.
Varsity sports
The University's men's and women's athletics teams are nicknamed the Longhorns. A charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996, Texas now competes in the Big 12 Conference of the NCAA's Division I-FBS. Texas has won 47 total national championships, 39 of which are NCAA national championships.
The University of Texas has traditionally been considered a college football powerhouse. At the start of the 2007 season, the Longhorns were ranked third in the all-time list of both total wins and winning percentage. The team experienced its greatest success under coach Darrell Royal, winning three national championships in 1963, 1969, and 1970. It won a fourth title under head coach Mack Brown in 2005 after a 41-38 victory over previously undefeated Southern California in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
In recent years, the men's basketball team has gained prominence, advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen in 2002, the Final Four in 2003, the Sweet Sixteen in 2004, and the Elite Eight in 2006 and 2008.
The University's baseball team is considered to be one of the best in the nation with more trips to the College World Series (33) than any other school, with wins in 1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002 and 2005.
Additionally, the University's highly successful men's and women's swimming and diving teams lay claim to sixteen NCAA Division I titles. The swim team was first developed under Coach Tex Robertson. In particular, the men's team is under the leadership of Eddie Reese, who served as the head men's coach at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Rivalries
The Longhorns have a rivalry in all sports with the Texas A&M Aggies. The two schools have acknowledged the importance of this rivalry by creating the State Farm Lone Star Showdown series, which encompasses all sports where both schools field a varsity team. The football game played between the two schools is the third longest-running rivalry in the nation and is the longest-running rivalry for both schools. The Longhorns lead the "showdown," 75-36-5. The game is traditionally played on Thanksgiving day. Both schools hold a rally before the annual football game — Texas hosts the Hex Rally, and students at Texas A&M host the Aggie Bonfire (although it is no longer an officially sanctioned Texas A&M event after the deaths of 12 students in 1999).
The Longhorns also have a long standing football rivalry with the Oklahoma Sooners and hold a 59-41-5 edge in that series. Since 1932, the teams have played annually at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, in the Red River Rivalry game. The rivalry has grown in recent years, as the winner has gone to the Big 12 Conference championship and BCS National championship games.
Other schools, such as University of Arkansas and Texas Tech, also count Texas among their rivals; however, each of these schools also trail Texas by significant margins in overall series records, 56-21-0 and 45-15-0, respectively.