The San Diego State Aztecs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I (FBS) as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW); they will become a member of the Pac-12 Conference in 2026. The Aztec nickname was chosen by students in 1925; team colors are scarlet (red) and black. The university currently fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's).

Sports sponsored

Men's varsity sports

Baseball

Football

San Diego State University's football team is part of the highest level of American collegiate football, the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I (which was formerly known as Division I-A). SDSU is 10–9 all time in post-season bowl games. They first went to a bowl game in 1948 and first won a major-college bowl game in 1969. Until the 2010 season, the Aztec football team had not won a bowl game in the past 37 years. In 2019, the Aztecs reached their 10th straight bowl game. The Aztecs moved into the new Snapdragon Stadium, located in what had been the parking lot of the team's former home of San Diego Stadium, for the 2022 season. During the construction of Snapdragon Stadium, the Aztecs played the 2020 and 2021 seasons at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The team had played at San Diego Stadium from its opening in 1967 until its closure after the 2019 season; before that, it played in the on-campus Aztec Bowl (now the location of Viejas Arena).

Basketball

Aztec basketball alumni who became more famous outside the sport include 1930s player Art Linkletter, who went on to an illustrious entertainment career that spanned more than 70 years, and Tony Gwynn, who also played baseball at San Diego State and opted for that sport professionally, ending up in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In the 2010–11 season, the men's team had a record of 32–2 to capture a share of the Mountain West Conference title. They won the conference tournament outright for the automatic berth to the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The only losses of the regular season were to another top 10 ranked team, BYU, who the Aztecs later beat to win the conference tournament. They earned a 2nd seed in the NCAA tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16. In the 2013–2014 season, the Aztecs finished 29–4, again reaching the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 round. The Aztecs reached the Elite Eight, Final Four, and the National Championship for the first time during the 2022–23 season, where they finished runner-up to UConn. The Aztecs returned to the tournament in 2024, reaching the Sweet Sixteen.

Golf

The Aztecs men's golf team has more NCAA postseason appearances than any other San Diego State athletic team. Notable alumni include 2015 graduate and PGA Tour golfer Xander Schauffele. In 2017, Schauffele received the 2017 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award.

Soccer

The San Diego State men's soccer team competes in the Western Athletic Conference. In 1987, the Aztecs reached the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Final, losing in the game by a score of 0–2 to Clemson. The team has an overall NCAA Division Tournament record of 5–8 through eight appearances. Lev Kirshner was head coach for over two decades.

Tennis

Women's varsity sports

Basketball

Cross Country

The San Diego State Aztecs women's cross country team has appeared in the NCAA tournament one time, with that appearance resulting in 7th place in the 1981–82 school year.

Golf

Notable alumni include 2015 graduate Paige Spiranac.

Lacrosse

The women's lacrosse team began play in 2012 and will play its first season in the Big 12 Conference in spring 2025. The Aztecs had played in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation before that conference dropped the sport after the 2021 season (2020–21 school year) due to a lack of competing members. They then spent the next two seasons as an independent before becoming an affiliate member of the Pac-12 Conference in the 2024 season, the last before that conference's collapse. The Aztecs became one of the six inaugural members of Big 12 women's lacrosse, joined by full members Arizona State, Cincinnati, and Colorado plus fellow affiliates Florida and UC Davis.

Soccer

The Aztecs women's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 4–7 through seven appearances.

Softball

Swimming & Diving

Tennis

Track & Field (Indoor and Outdoor)

Volleyball

The Aztecs women's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 13–14 through fourteen appearances.

Water Polo

Conference affiliations

San Diego State has been a member of six different athletic conferences in its history.

Discontinued sports

In the past, San Diego State, like most American universities, has sponsored several additional varsity sports programs to those currently offered. These programs have since been discontinued. Budgeting and Title IX equity challenges have been cited as the primary reasons for these programs being cut. In some cases (notably men's crew and men's volleyball), club teams have emerged in place of discontinued sports programs.

Men's former varsity sports

Crew Cross Country The Aztecs men's cross country team won three consecutive NCAA Division II national championships in 1965, 1966, and 1967 shortly before the program's ascension to Division I. Gymnastics Swimming & Diving Men's swimming & diving won back-to-back NCAA Division II national championships in 1965 and 1966 shortly before the program's transition to Division I. Track & Field (Indoor and Outdoor) The men's track & field team won back-to-back NCAA Division II outdoor national championships in 1965 and 1966 shortly before the program's transition to Division I. Volleyball The men's volleyball team won San Diego State's first (and to-date only) NCAA Division I National Championship in 1973. The team's home court was Peterson Gymnasium. Water Polo Despite coming off a season in which the team was ranked in the top 10 nationally, the men's water polo team, along with other programs, was cut, due to a combination of a lack in athletic department funding, Proposition 13's passage, and necessity to comply with Title IX. Wrestling In 1949, San Diego State wrestler Harold Hensen became the first African-American to compete in an NCAA wrestling championship tournament when he competed in individual competition at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

Women's former varsity sports

Field Hockey Gymnastics

Rowing

The women's rowing team, which had last competed in the American Athletic Conference, was discontinued following the 2020–21 academic year due to ongoing Title IX gender equity challenges and financial stress on the athletics department brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team's home was the Mission Bay Aquatic Center.

Athletic facilities

Venues

Other facilities

Non-varsity club sports

In addition to the varsity sports officially sponsored by the athletic department, San Diego State also supports several club-level sports, most operating through the Aztec Recreation Center. Sports with both varsity and club-level teams at the university include baseball and soccer among men's sports, and lacrosse, soccer, volleyball and water polo among women's sports.

Co-ed club teams

Men's club teams

Women's club teams

Championships

NCAA tournament appearances

The San Diego State Aztecs have competed in the NCAA tournament across 16 active sports (6 men's and 10 women's) 191 times at the Division I FBS level.

National championships

Division I championships

The Aztecs of San Diego State have earned 1 NCAA national championship at the Division I level.

Division II championships

San Diego State won 7 national championships while at the Division II level. The Aztecs also claimed 3 national team titles at the varsity level while a member of NCAA Division II that were not bestowed by the NCAA (being awarded instead by sponsors of College Division football polls):

NAIA championship

Basketball (1): 1941 (NAIA)

Other championships

SDSU's cheerleading and dance teams have won national championships. Below are eleven national club team championships:

Individual Championships

San Diego State has had 15 individuals win NCAA individual national championships at the Division I level. At the NCAA Division II level, San Diego State garnered 14 individual championships. In 1975 Barbara Barrow won the women's national intercollegiate individual golf championship after a tie-breaker playoff (an event conducted by the AIAW, which was succeeded by the current NCAA women's golf championship).

National Award Winners

Rivals

BYU

SDSU athletics has had a rivalry with the BYU Cougars of Brigham Young University since at least the 1980s when both programs were members of the Western Athletic Conference. The rivalry intensified after both schools left the conference to become charter members of the Mountain West Conference in 1999. Through their many years in the same conferences, the Aztecs and Cougars were routinely tough competition for conference championships in numerous sports among both the men and women. The Cougars departed the Mountain West in 2011, though the programs continue to compete semi-regularly. Men's basketball and football have represented the most high-profile contests of the rivalry.

Fresno State

San Diego State has a longtime rivalry with California State University, Fresno, primarily stemming from the American football rivalry dating back to the 1920s. The two schools have competed against each other in over 55 football, 50 men's basketball, and 190 baseball matches.

San Diego

The Aztecs have a local rivalry with the University of San Diego's San Diego Toreros, emphasizing the competition in college men's basketball. The rivalry has featured many competitions in neutral locations such as Petco Park across many sports.

UC San Diego

Though more of a rivalry historically outside of sports, the University of California, San Diego, the other major public university in San Diego, represents another local rival of SDSU. The UC San Diego Tritons joined NCAA Division I in 2020. Similar to the way SDSU's student section, The Show, refers to the San Diego Toreros, they often refer to the UC San Diego Tritons as the "little brothers" or "little sisters".

San Jose State

El Camino Real Rivalry The rivalry between the two Cal State schools dates back to 1935. The matchup is named after the historic 600-mile Camino Real that connects the 21 Spanish missions in California, stretching from San Diego Bay in the south to San Francisco Bay in the north. In 2014, there were conversations between the two programs about creating a trophy using an old mission bell or a replica of an old Spanish mission bell to be awarded to the winner of the rivalry game, but no trophy ever materialized.

Aztec Hall of Fame inductees

Notable athletes

Footnotes