The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the athletic teams of the University of Delaware of Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Coastal Athletic Association.
Sports sponsored
The Blue Hens have won twenty-two team CAA Championships since joining in 2001.
In January 2011, UD announced that men's cross country and outdoor track & field teams would be reclassified to club status, while women's golf would be added.
On November 20, 2016, the Delaware women's field hockey team won the 2016 NCAA Division I championship, defeating North Carolina, 3–2.
Women's basketball
The women's basketball team went undefeated in CAA play in the 2011–2012 and 2012–2013 seasons under head coach Tina Martin and All-American Elena Delle Donne. The 2011–2012 team finished went 31–2 and undefeated in the CAA conference (18–0) to win the conference championship. They also won the CAA conference tournament to qualify for the CAA's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, where the Fightin' Blue Hens won their first-round game against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock 73–42 before losing in the second round to the University of Kansas 70–64. This win over UALR was the first by a Delaware women's team in NCAA tournament history. The 2012–2013 team finished 32–4 overall, ranked #15 in the final AP poll. The 2012–13 team went undefeated in CAA conference play and also won the CAA conference tournament to qualify for the CAA's automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, where the team won their first and second-round games against West Virginia (66–53) and North Carolina (78–69) before losing in the round of 16 to Kentucky (69–62) in the 2013 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. The 2012–2013 team featured three seniors — Elena Delle Donne (3,039 points, 5th all time in women's college basketball and a record at Delaware), Lauren Carra, and Danielle Parker (1,064 rebounds, also a career record at Delaware) — who scored 1,000 points during their careers, and point guard specialist Kayla Miller. This senior class, which includes Chelsea Craig and Jaquetta May, won more games (104) than any senior class in Delaware women's basketball history, and won two CAA Conference Championships.
The 2007–2008 Delaware team finished 26–5 overall and 16–2 in the CAA (3rd place) and earned an bid to the 2007 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament where they lost to the Michigan State Spartans coached by Joanne P. McCallie (now the coach at Duke Blue Devils) by a score of 69–58. The 2000–01 Delaware team finished 26–5 overall and 17–1 in the America East Conference (where they were members from 1991 to 2001, before joining the CAA), and finished first in the regular season and won the conference tournament to qualify for their first NCAA bid. In the 2001 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, they lost to the NC State Wolfpack women's basketball team coached by the late Hall of Fame women's coach Kay Yow 76–57 in the first round.
Delaware women's cumulative NCAA tournament record is 3–4, the three wins being by the group of seniors Elena Delle Donne, Lauren Carra, Danielle Parker, Kayla Miller, Chelsea Craig and Jaquetta May who won 104 games together (some missing some games due to injuries).
Men's basketball
Football
Football is the most popular and most successful sport at Delaware. The Fighting Blue Hens football teams have won six national titles, including the 2003 NCAA Division I Football Championship. In 2007, the Delaware Blue Hens returned to the championship game, but were defeated by defending champion Appalachian State. In 2010 they were once again runners-up, that time to Eastern Washington.
Former head football coaches Bill Murray, Dave Nelson and Harold "Tubby" Raymond are College Football Hall of Fame inductees. Delaware is one of only two schools to have three straight head coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (Georgia Tech is the other).
Lacrosse
Delaware's first non-football NCAA National Championship came in 1983 for Women's Division I Lacrosse. The 2007 men's lacrosse program reached the final four of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in its history.
Soccer
The men's soccer team played in the 1968 and 1970 editions of the College Cup.