The UC Davis Aggies (also referred to as the Ags, Cal Aggies, or Aggies) are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis.
Seventeen of the school's 25 intercollegiate sports - baseball, men's basketball, men's cross country, men's golf, men's soccer, men's tennis, men's track & field, softball, women's basketball, women's beach volleyball, women's cross country, women's golf, women's soccer, women's tennis, women's track & field, women's volleyball and women's water polo - compete in the Big West Conference.
The Aggies' football team compete in Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) (formerly known as Division I-AA), and are members of the Big Sky Conference, granting UC Davis the distinction of being one of only three UC campuses to field a football team (Cal and UCLA being the other two).
The Aggies are also members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in women's indoor track and field, women's gymnastics, and women's swimming and diving, the America East Conference in field hockey, the Eastern College Athletic Conference for equestrian and the Western Water Polo Association for men's water polo. The Aggies women's lacrosse team will join the Pac-12 Conference as an affiliate member.
Nickname
The "Aggies" is UC Davis' official team nickname. This reflects the school's previous name, College of Agriculture at Davis.
History
Origins (1915–1959) Davis began its athletics program with football in 1915 as part of the University of California team.
Division II (1990–2003) The Aggies finished first in NCAA Division II six times in 2003 and won the NACDA Director's Cup four years in a row from 1999 to 2003. In 1998, the UC Davis men's basketball team won the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship, despite being one of the few non-scholarship institutions in Division II at that time.
UC Davis also won NCAA Division II championships in softball (2003), men's tennis (1992), and women's tennis (1990, 1993).
Division I (2004–present) In November 2002, UC Davis students voted to elevate the athletics program to Division I, passing by 8 percent, with 4,638 voters approving a $183 annual fee increase earmarked for sports funding through 2008, defeating 3,929 voters against. However, the vote was merely advisory.
Following a year of heavy discussion by campus administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the local community, taking a cue from the advisory vote, UCD chancellor Larry Vanderhoef officially announced the university's move to Division I on March 11, 2003.
The department then became a fully fledged D-I program on July 1, 2007.
Sports sponsored
Baseball
The UC Davis Aggies baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate athletic baseball team of the University of California, Davis. The team is a member of the Big West Conference, which is part of the NCAA Division I. The team plays its home games at Phil Swimley Field at the 3,500-seat Dobbins Stadium.
Former Stanford and Texas assistant coach Tommy Nicholson was hired as the 11th head coach in program history on December 11, 2021.
Basketball
Men's basketball
The school's team currently competes in the Big West Conference, which is part of the NCAA Division I. UC Davis' first men's basketball team was fielded during the 1910–11 season. UC Davis won an NCAA Division II national championship in 1998 and had 12 postseason appearances. The team plays its home games at a 7,600-seat arena called University Credit Union Center.
The 2022-23 season is head coach Jim Les 12th with the program. During his tenure with the Aggies, the men's basketball team earned its inaugural Big West championship and first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament appearance in 2017. Les, along with associate head coach Kevin Nosek and assistant coaches Jonathan Metzger-Jones and Kyle Vogt entered their seventh season together in 2022-23.
Women's basketball
Following a successful stint as an NCAA Division II program, the UC Davis women's basketball team began its transition to the NCAA Division I level in 2003–04, officially competing as a member of the Big West Conference in 2007–08.The team plays its home games at a 7,600-seat arena called University Credit Union Center.