JMU Athletics’ Department-Wide Success Stands Among National Leaders

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Enjoying arguably the most successful era in department history, James Madison Athletics ranks among national leaders for competitive excellence across all sports. According to research compiled by the department, JMU's five-year (2015-2020) winning percentage of .656 across all sports ranks 14^th nationally among all 353 NCAA Division I institutions.

James Madison's five-year mark easily outdistanced any Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) peer with Harvard second at .610, Princeton third at .609 and Northern Arizona (.607) as the only other school over .600. The top 10 all hailed from the Power 5 conferences: UCLA (.727), Florida State (.723), Florida (.723), Stanford (.701), Michigan (.681), North Carolina (.680), Texas (.679), Southern California (.679), Baylor (.677) and Texas A&M (.676). BYU (.659) was the only school outside of the Power 5 to rank ahead of JMU at No. 11. The research included all intercollegiate sports that compile a traditional won-lost record.

JMU's strategic plan for Athletics, instituted in 2014, established the department's vision as the "NCAA model of the student-athlete experience." A significant piece of that strategic direction involved a focus on a holistic experience for all student-athletes and the pursuit of competitive excellence across all 18 sports. The department has continued to emphasize providing the support staff, facilities, coaching support, scholarships, cost of attendance and other resources necessary for all 18 sport programs to achieve success.

National accomplishments over the last five years have included two national championships (football 2016, lacrosse 2018), two additional national runner-up finishes (football 2017 & 2019), a top-eight men's soccer finish (2018) and two softball Super Regional (top 16) appearances (2016, 2019). JMU also gained national exposure by twice hosting ESPN College GameDay with record-level crowds descending upon the JMU Quad in 2015 and 2017.

Across all sports, James Madison made 36 total NCAA appearances over the last five years for an average of 7.2 per year. The Dukes captured 21 CAA championships and 23 CAA regular-season titles over the five-year span. Individually, JMU boasted 59 All-Americans (11.8 per year), 35 CAA Players of the Year and 25 CAA Coaches of the Year.

Over the five-year period, JMU's built a cumulative record of 1087-564-21 for the .656 percentage. Among the 13 sports that compile a traditional won-loss record, three had a percentage over .800, seven totaled over .700 and 11 of the 13 were over .500.

Sport	Percentage (2015-2020)	Overall Record (2015-2020)
Football	.845	60-11
Swimming & Diving	.844	40-7-1
Softball	.826	209-44
Women's Basketball	.783	130-36
Lacrosse	.744	67-23
Volleyball	.730	108-40
Women's Tennis	.714	80-32
Men's Tennis	.610	64-41
Field Hockey	.558	53-42
Men's Soccer	.535	45-38-16
Women's Soccer	.519	52-48-4
Baseball	.498	115-116
Men's Basketball	.427	64-86

DISCLAIMER: While every effort was made to accurately collect data, the sheer volume of data compiled for this research and inconsistency of available data in select sports leaves the possibility for slight variance in the final win percentage and thus the overall ranking of an individual institution. An assumption can be made for a slight margin of error in this data.

Top 50 Division I Institutions Ranked by All-Sport Winning Percentage

UCLA .727
Florida State .723
Florida .723
Stanford .701
Michigan .681
North Carolina .680
Texas .679
Southern Cal .679
Baylor .677
Texas A&M .676
BYU .659
Oklahoma .659
Minnesota .658
JMU .656
Notre Dame .655
Louisville .654
Kentucky .654
Ohio State .647
Florida Gulf Coast .644
Cal Baptist .643
Oklahoma State .642
South Carolina .637
Tennessee .635
Duke .634
UCF .634
Oregon .631
LSU .629
Boise State .629
Navy .629
Washington .629
Mississippi State .629
Denver .627
Georgia .625
Gonzaga .622
Miami .614
North Carolina State .611
New Mexico State .610
Harvard .610
Princeton .609
Virginia .609
Wisconsin .609
Auburn .609
Northern Arizona .607
Coastal Carolina .605
Creighton .604
TCU .603
Marquette .600
Texas Tech .600
Arizona .600
West Virginia .600

Color Code
Power 5 | Group of 5 | FCS | I-AAA

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