It’s difficult to distill an entire year of college sports action into a single cohesive story, but the year 2025 in Kansas Athletics certainly saw many of KU’s recent coaching hires begin to bear fruit.
Dan Fitzgerald (baseball), Lindsay Kuhle (women’s golf), Nate Lie (soccer) and Matt Ulmer (volleyball) led their teams on memorable postseason trips, in some cases surpassing what their programs had ever accomplished before, or at least in recent memory.
That’s not to say that KU’s more established programs were devoid of success — just consider Shiyun Lai’s accomplishments on the diving board, or the Barkdull brothers’ placements in the national pole-vault competition — but there were plenty of moments, too, that left the Jayhawks “heartbroken,” as quarterback Jalon Daniels said he was after KU football lost to Utah on his senior day and missed the postseason.
The year, in short, contained the full spectrum of human emotion. Here’s a look at some of the biggest storylines from 2025 in KU sports.
Lyla Louderbaugh smiles after winning the match on the 20th hole during the quarterfinals of the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025.
May 7, Aug. 8: Louderbaugh shines all year for KU women’s golf
Kansas golfer Lyla Louderbaugh had never finished higher than a tie for fourth in any given collegiate event when the Jayhawks set off for their third straight NCAA regional appearance in early May. Granted, that tie for fourth had come as a result of a pretty exceptional performance — she shot 7-under with a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the final round at the PING/ASU Invitational — and so she was hitting her stride late in her sophomore season.
What came next was a historic achievement. No KU golfer had ever finished higher than a tie for ninth in regional play. On this occasion, though, Louderbaugh led the way with a 12-under 204, claiming her first individual victory by an eight-stroke margin and pacing the Jayhawks as they claimed the team title in Columbus, Ohio, at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course. Louderbaugh’s performance included another bogey-free round as well as an impressive 7-under 65 with eight birdies in the final round.
Beyond a demonstration of Louderbaugh’s considerable growth, it was also a testament to the team’s increased success under coach Lindsay Kuhle. The regional went down as the sixth team title and fifth individual title (across three different golfers) in the span of a single season.
The Jayhawks finished 21st at the NCAA Championship, but Louderbaugh’s year wasn’t done. At the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in Bandon, Oregon, in August, the native of Buffalo, Missouri, made waves in the quarterfinal round by knocking off the world No. 1 amateur player Kiara Romero on the second playoff hole. Louderbaugh was ranked No. 249 at the time.
In the semifinal, Louderbaugh rallied against Michigan State alumna Brooke Biermann, a fellow Missourian, to force another playoff, but fell on the 19th hole. The Missouri Golf Association named Louderbaugh its women’s player of the year.
Teammates try to tear off Mike Koszewski’s jersey after he hit a walk-off single against BYU on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at Hoglund Ballpark.
May 30: KU baseball returns to postseason after memorable campaign
It was clear the 2025 season was going to be a special one for the Kansas baseball team from its first home game of the year, when the Jayhawks, already 7-0 after two sweeps in Texas, homered twice in the bottom of the ninth — including Dariel Osoria’s walk-off grand slam — to complete a comeback and a 12-8 win.
That was just the first of a season full of memorable moments, almost too many to list. KU recorded two more walk-off wins against Milwaukee in a four-game sweep the following week, then clubbed mind-boggling back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in a 29-1 win at Minnesota, tying an all-time NCAA record for consecutive homers.
That was just in nonconference play. Against league opponents, the Jayhawks continued to entertain. Shortstop Sawyer Smith hit a walk-off three-run home run to beat Oklahoma State 12-11 after KU had blown an 8-2 lead — he had an eighth-inning go-ahead grand slam against Utah, too. Right fielder Jackson Hauge set the tone in a Friday night comeback with a memorable homer as the Jayhawks earned three straight white-knuckle wins over rival Kansas State. And senior reserve outfielder Mike Koszewski walked off BYU to clinch a series win, and in turn essentially clinch KU’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2014.
This all occurred amid a remarkable groundswell of fan support at Hoglund Ballpark that caught the attention of national baseball media.
The Jayhawks then wrapped up their regular season by sweeping the conference leaders West Virginia on the road in fairly dominant fashion, although WVU still claimed the title on win percentage, despite having fewer wins, because it had played fewer total games due to cancellations.
Breakout star Brady Ballinger still had time for a signature moment of his own with a game-tying three-run shot in the Big 12 tournament against OSU that helped to set up another walk-off win for Koszewski.
From there, though, the Jayhawks ran out of steam. They got run-ruled by TCU in the second round and then lost to both Creighton and North Dakota State in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in regional competition to end their season.
Still, it was a record-breaking campaign with new team highs in wins, Big 12 wins, home runs and plenty more, and KU returns Ballinger, Osoria and ace pitcher Dominic Voegele for 2026.
Kansas forward Jaliya Davis has a chat with head coach Brandon Schneider during the Jayhawks’ game against Kansas City on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson talks with assistant coach Kurtis Townsend before tipoff against Princeton on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug
Oct. 24 and on, Nov. 12 and on: KU men’s and women’s basketball freshman stars battle injuries
The circumstances are different, but both KU basketball teams spent much of the fall semester operating without much-anticipated freshmen, and it has been harder to judge their long-term potential as a result. Neither saga has reached its resolution quite yet, as both the men and women will look to reincorporate their young stars to great effect in the new year.
KU men’s basketball freshman Darryn Peterson, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft whom head coach Bill Self has called the best player he’s ever recruited, initially battled cramping issues early in the season before missing a month due to a hamstring strain. He returned for two additional games, battled illness and then left the second game due to quadriceps cramping. Peterson missed KU’s last two games of nonconference play, and both Self and Peterson’s family are determined to get him “as close to 100% as possible” before he returns.
The Jayhawks finished their nonleague schedule at 10-3, and both Self and his players acknowledged that was a strong mark given Peterson’s injury issues, but that his presence could potentially have made a difference in narrow losses to Duke and UConn.
For the women’s team, Jaliya Davis is the headliner of the Jayhawks’ much-discussed 2025 recruiting class, which also features three more early contributors in Libby Fandel, Keeley Parks and Tatyonna Brown.
Her athleticism and tenacity in the paint became immediately clear when she scored 28 points in her second collegiate game against Northwestern State, but she missed the following matchup with Lamar due to what coach Brandon Schneider called “lower leg pain.” Davis returned to chip in 15 in a memorable Border War victory, but has not played since and has been seen in a walking boot.
In the meantime, KU has lost three games by a combined 10 points, including its conference opener at Iowa State on a buzzer-beater — after Schneider had said the goal was to get Davis back for league play.
The Jayhawks are still off to a strong start to the year — also 10-3, with their next game on New Year’s Day at home against West Virginia — but could undoubtedly use a boost at the power-forward spot, especially with Regan Williams also injured.
Kansas offensive lineman Kobe Baynes (70) sheds some tears as he gets a hug from Kansas offensive lineman Amir Herring (56) following the Jayhawks’ 31-21 loss to the Utes on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug
Nov. 8, Nov. 22, Nov. 28, Dec. 7: KU squanders three chances to reach third bowl game in four years, then declines a potential invite at 5-7
The 2025 football season followed a dramatically different arc from the 2024 campaign, but concluded with KU in the same place: 5-7 on the year and enduring a quiet December with no bowl berth.
In 2024, with a bevy of experienced players, the Jayhawks got off to a disappointing 1-5 start, clawed their way back to 5-6 with a string of three straight wins over ranked teams and then fell flat in a winner-take-all game against Baylor to fall short of six wins.
The next season followed quite a different script. With KU fielding a revamped, transfer-heavy roster, the Jayhawks bounced back from a disappointing blowout loss to rival Kansas State — one of the worst K-State teams of recent years — by beating moribund Oklahoma State to get to 5-4. That left them three chances at one win to reach bowl eligibility.
The best chance was the first, on the road at Arizona, in which KU led 20-17 with a fourth-and-short deep in the Wildcats’ territory with less than three minutes remaining. Head coach Lance Leipold opted to attempt a short field goal because the quarterback Daniels had been removed from the game by officials for a suspected injury. Laith Marjan missed his first kick of the year, and Arizona drove down for the game-winning score.
Despite their past success against the Cyclones, the Jayhawks weren’t competitive at Iowa State two weeks later, but they had a chance at a momentous upset when they ran all over fringe College Football Playoff contender Utah on senior day — only for Daniels to throw two late red-zone interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, to consign KU to a 31-21 loss.
The disappointing conclusion was followed by an unusual epilogue nine days later when, after a series of teams withdrew from postseason consideration, KU had a chance at a bowl despite being 5-7, but turned it down.
New KU volleyball coach Matt Ulmer, left, and athletic director Travis Goff speak at Ulmer’s introductory press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
The rest from 2025
Jan. 17: The Kansas volleyball team made an offseason splash by hiring the Oregon head coach Ulmer to replace the retired Ray Bechard. Ulmer, who led Oregon to seven NCAA Tournament trips in eight seasons, three of which went as far as the Elite Eight, ended up getting KU to the Sweet 16 in his first season at the helm, after the Jayhawks had stumbled in five sets at home each of the prior two postseasons.
Jan. 25: The KU men’s basketball team held six-point leads late in regulation and overtime but missed free throws, committed turnovers and suffered a stunning 92-86 double-overtime loss to Houston at Allen Fieldhouse. It was emblematic of a season in which so much seemingly inexplicably went wrong for the Jayhawks; just a week later they suffered the largest blown lead in school history, and they ended the year in March with a first-round loss after a late Achilles injury to forward KJ Adams.
March 16: Riddled with injuries throughout the year, which worsened further in the final days of the season when key players Elle Evans and S’Mya Nichols got hurt, the KU women’s basketball team did not receive a postseason bid on Selection Sunday, having withdrawn from consideration for the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
March 20: The legendary broadcaster Bob Davis, who over 32 years called some of the most significant games in KU Athletics history, died at 80 years old.
Kansas sophomore Shiyun Lai flips through the air in the 3-meter diving event in a meet against Iowa State in Robinson Natatorium Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
March 24: KU’s sophomore diver Lai earned first-team All-American honors from the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America after scoring 309.10 for seventh place in the 1-meter dive and 357.40 for sixth place in the 3-meter dive at the NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Washington.
April 14: KU men’s golf won a team title for the first time in three years at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa, and Will King took the individual title by shooting a 9-under 207.
Sharon Lokedi, of Kenya, crosses the finish line to win the women’s division of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 21, 2025, in Boston.
April 21: Former KU seven-time All-American Sharon Lokedi, just three years removed from running her first-ever marathon, won the Boston Marathon with a time of two hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds. In the process, she broke the course record for the venerable competition.
May 17: Sophomore distance runner Emmah Jemutai won a conference title in the 1,500-meter race in the Big 12 Outdoor Championship at Rock Chalk Park and took bronze in the 800 meters on the same night. Her times in each event — 4:08.60 and 2:01.83, respectively — were each school records.
Kansas assistant coach Jacque Vaughn has a laugh on the bench during the second half on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug
May 21: Former Jayhawk standout and NBA head coach Jacque Vaughn returned to KU as an assistant coach under Self, replacing the retired Norm Roberts, as part of a series of changes to the men’s basketball staff over the course of the offseason.
June 14: Ashton and Bryce Barkdull each earned first-team All-American honors for KU in the men’s pole vault, with Ashton, a junior, the national runner-up at 5.73 meters and Bryce, a freshman, in fifth place at 5.53. Decathlete Alexander Jung, discus thrower Dimitrios Pavlidis and pole vaulter Erica Ellis were KU’s other top finishers at the national competition in Eugene, Oregon.
June 27: KU hired Andrew Derrick, the Gonzaga rowing coach, to the same position, after declining to renew Carrie Cook-Callen’s contract. Athletic director Travis Goff said he was looking to create new energy around the program and that “settling for rowing to be in the 40s or low 50s across the country didn’t match where we’re trying to go in this program broadly.”
July 14: Self had two stents inserted at Lawrence Memorial Hospital after he “felt unwell and experienced some concerning symptoms,” as KU put it. He remained there for three days before returning to his coaching responsibilities. Speaking to reporters in August, he said he didn’t consider stepping away due to health issues; his surgeon had asked him, “Do you love what you do?”, and when Self responded yes, the surgeon told him, “Well, keep doing it.”
Aug. 13: KU Athletics announced a $300 million donation from longtime benefactor David Booth, which it positioned as one of the largest single gifts in college athletics history. As Goff later explained, the donation will take the form of annual distributions of approximately $10-12 million, which until they total $75 million will go to KU’s Gateway project. Beyond that, the money will be unrestricted for the athletic department’s use.
Kansas senior Laith Marjan kicks a 47-yard field goal against Fresno State at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025 in Lawrence.
Aug. 23: The KU football team played its first game at the newly renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, effectively bringing to a close the long-awaited first phase of the Gateway project, and beat Fresno State 31-7, with Cam Pickett scoring the venue’s first-ever touchdown after saying in the offseason he had envisioned himself doing just that.
Nov. 20: KU soccer beat Louisville 3-1 on late goals from Jillian Gregorski and Lexi Watts to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third time in its history (where it ultimately lost to Duke). In two years at the helm, Lie has led his squad to a Big 12 tournament title and two NCAA Tournament victories.
Nov. 21: KU tennis junior Kyoka Kubo concluded her run at the NCAA Championship in Orlando, Florida, with a 7-5, 6-2 loss to California’s Berta Passola Folch in the national quarterfinals. Kubo was KU’s first competitor to advance that far since Kylie Hunt in 1996, and she earned International Tennis Association All-American honors in the process.
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Kansas Athletics
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