STANFORD, Calif. (AP) 鈥� Dick Gould has been around Stanford sports long enough as a tennis player and coach 鈥� a remarkable run of seven decades 鈥� that he clearly remembers some down years for the university’s sports programs.
He heard the excuses by coaches and student-athletes back in the day of 鈥渨e just can’t win at Stanford, you can’t be smart and be an athlete.鈥�
That’s what makes the current streak of success on the national stage extra special for the retired, longtime tennis coach 鈥� Stanford just captured an NCAA championship for a 50th consecutive year.
鈥淚 think it’s important to not take it for granted. I think that you get used to it, sometimes comfortable about it and I don’t think we ever should do that,鈥� Gould said. 鈥淚 know when I was at Stanford we went 0-10 in football in 1960, my last year playing on the tennis team.
“There was a pervasive fuel among the coaches and the athletes and everybody. Men’s golf won a championship in 1953 and men’s swimming did in the winter of 鈥�67 the year I started (as tennis coach). They hadn鈥檛 done anything since the early 40s, I think we won a basketball championship in (’42) or something like that during the war, so our successes were really small and in between.鈥�
During this current academic year, Stanford’s women’s cross country and soccer teams had already come up just short before the men’s gymnastics team won Saturday night in Champaign, Illinois, and extended the remarkable run to a half-century.
The reign of dominance by Cardinal athletics began with a 13-12 men’s water polo triumph over UCLA in 1976 and has featured 126 national titles.
And no other university currently even comes close: North Carolina is next with seven.
Southern California went 19 straight years with an NCAA championship, from the 1959-60 school year through 1977-78.
鈥淪tanford has had incredible success. We have outstanding coaches and student-athletes,鈥� said retired Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer said, whose teams captured three titles. 鈥滻t is really inspiring to be around such accomplished people.鈥�
Stanford has won 126 of its record 138 overall NCAA team titles in the current 50-year streak.
Women鈥檚 tennis at Stanford ranks No. 1 at the school with 20 NCAA team titles 鈥� six in a row from 1986-91 鈥� while men鈥檚 tennis has earned 15, men鈥檚 water polo and women鈥檚 swimming and diving have 11 each, and women鈥檚 water polo and men鈥檚 gymnastics have 10 apiece.
Gould coached the Cardinal, including players like John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner, for 38 years from 1966-2004 and is the program鈥檚 winningest coach with a record of 776-148 (.840). His wife, Anne, coached the first women鈥檚 team to a national title in any sport at Stanford when she guided tennis to the 1978 championship.
鈥淲hat we did in tennis coupled with football just kind of opened the floodgates,鈥� Gould said.
Women鈥檚 basketball coach Kate Paye credited the leadership of Stanford President Jonathan Levin, new athletic director John Donahoe and others for leading the way with 鈥渁 renewed commitment鈥� to excellence in the classroom and athletic venues.
鈥淲e have a singular identity as the No. 1 academic and athletic institution in the country and in the world,鈥� said Paye, born in Stanford Hospital and part of that 1992 NCAA championship team. 鈥淲e call it one team, Stanford is one team. We’re 36 strong. Stanford is a really special place, incredible student-athletes. … Stanford athletics has so much momentum right now.鈥�
___
AP college sports:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
