Baseball

The JMU baseball team's head coach is Marlin Ikenberry. Founded in 1970, the JMU baseball team played at Long Field at Mauck Stadium through the end of the 2009 season. In 2010 they opened play at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park, the school's new baseball and softball complex. The "Diamond Dukes," as the team is known, have compiled a 1092-670-8 all-time record and have made the NCAA tournament nine times, most recently in 2011. Billy Sample is JMU's most famous baseball alumnus, who played in 862 career major league games with the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves. In the 2006 season, JMU had the top-two home run hitters in Division I. One of them, Kellen Kulbacki, placed in the top five in all three of the triple crown categories. Kulbacki received the 2006 National Player of the Year award as a sophomore. In 2008, the Dukes won their first CAA Championship defeating Towson University qualifying the team for the 2008 NCAA Division I baseball tournament hosted by North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Dukes also won the CAA Championship in 2011 defeating Old Dominion University qualifying the team for the 2011 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

Men's basketball

The men's basketball team at JMU was founded in 1945. On March 25, 2008, it was announced that Matt Brady, former head coach of Marist College, had accepted the position of Head Men's Basketball Coach. Brady replaced Dean Keener who resigned after four years as head coach. Prior to Dean Keener, Lou Campanelli and Charles "Lefty" Driesell enjoyed long and successful tenures in the position. The men moved to the new Atlantic Union Bank Center (capacity 8,500) in fall 2020 after a 28-season tenure in the James Madison University Convocation Center (capacity 6,426). The Dukes have appeared in the NCAA tournament five times, most recently in the 2013 tournament. Their combined record is 4–5. They've also been selected to compete in the NIT five times, most recently at the end of the 1993 season. At the end of the 2008–09 season, the Dukes were selected for the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament. JMU made the semifinals before losing to CAA conference rival and eventual CIT champion Old Dominion Monarchs. The men's basketball team has compiled an all-time record of 567–432. On March 12, 2013, the Dukes defeated Northeastern University to win the CAA tournament, earning an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. This is the first appearance in the tournament since 1994 and only the second time in school history they have won the CAA.^[6]

Women's basketball

The women's basketball team was founded in 1920 making it one of the longest-running women's basketball programs in the country. The team has made the NCAA tournament eleven times, most recently in the 2013–14 season. They have gone to the WNIT six times. A perennial postseason participant throughout the 1980s, the program has seen a revival in recent years. Nationally recognized JMU players who have recently graduated include Meredith Alexis (2007) who has continued to play professional basketball in Europe. Alexis holds the CAA record for most career rebounds and was the school's all-time leading scorer before being passed by Tamera Young during the 2007–08 season. Young would graduate and finish the 2008 season having established a new all-time CAA scoring record and was selected in the first round (8th overall) of the 2008 WNBA draft. Dawn Evans, was an Associated Press All-American honorable mention in 2009 after finishing the season as the nation's third leading scorer, and was named CAA Player of the Year in 2011. The team won the 2010 Colonial Athletic Association championship for the first time since 1989, defeating ODU in the championship game, and again in 2011, defeating the University of Delaware. In 2012 the team competed in the WNIT defeating Davidson, Wake Forest, South Florida, Virginia, and Syracuse to reach the championship game. Competing for their first ever WNIT title, they played Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma and lost 75–68. As of 2010, the women's basketball team had compiled an all-time record of 779–447–5. On January 6, 2015, the Dukes became the 3rd NCAA women's basketball team to reach 1000 wins in program history, defeating the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks 74–57.

The Dukes women moved into Atlantic Union Bank Center alongside the men in fall 2020.

Field hockey

The field hockey team, currently coached by former Old Dominion field hockey standout and 1984 Olympian Christy Morgan, has enjoyed great success, winning the national championship in 1994 over North Carolina in double overtime.^[7] The team has made the NCAA tournament nine times since the tournament started in 1981, most recently in the 2008 season.^[8] With JMU's move to the Sun Belt in 2022, a conference which does not sponsor field hockey, the Dukes field hockey program became an independent effective for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. In April 2023, the school and the Mid-American Conference reached an agreement for the field hockey team to become an affiliate member of the conference beginning in the 2024 season. ^[9]

Football

Latrele Palmer carries the ball during the 2023 Armed Forces Bowl

The Dukes played their first season in 1972 and were coached by Challace McMillin until 1984. Madison moved from NCAA Division III to NCAA Division I-AA in 1980 and would join what is now the Colonial Athletic Association's football conference in 1993 (at the time it was an independent entity known as the Yankee Conference). The football team's popularity grew with the addition of head coach Mickey Matthews in 1999, who in 2004 led JMU to their first National Championship, defeating Montana by a score of 31–21 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Since that time, the Dukes have proven to be one of the more formidable teams in all of FCS football. In 2010, JMU went on the road to defeat Virginia Tech in what was one of the biggest upsets in college football history.^[10] On January 7, 2017, JMU won their second National Championship in the program's history, defeating Youngstown State by a score of 28–14 in Frisco, Texas.^[11] During the 2017 season, JMU continued its dominance over FCS competition, reaching its second consecutive title game with a 14–0 record before losing a close game to emerging rival North Dakota State, 17–13. The decade of dominance by NDSU, combined with the short-term dominance by James Madison, made it one of the most anticipated title games in the history of FCS Football.^[12]

Notable Dukes include Charles Haley, one of only two players to win five Super Bowl rings and inductee of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame;^[13] Scott Norwood, the Buffalo Bills' all-time leading scorer; and Gary Clark, an All-Pro wide receiver for the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders).

Softball

Men's soccer

Women's lacrosse

JMU has fielded a women's lacrosse team every year since 1969, when the program began. It became a member of the CAA in 1992 and has played its conference schedule against Colonial teams every year since then. The Dukes currently compete as an affiliate member of the American Athletic Conference.^[14]

JMU Lacrosse won the school's fourth Division I National Championship in May 2018, when JMU's senior-laden team capped a Cinderella run with a 16–15 win over Boston College.^[15]

Old Dominion

On October 26, the JMU Dukes and in-state rival Old Dominion University announced the official beginning of the "Royal Rivalry".^[16] As the Virginia-based schools within the Sun Belt Conference, they will compete for an all-sports trophy that contains a football component and draws its name from the royal inspiration of both schools' mascots.