7 moments that defined UCLA sports in 2025

From buzzer-beating championship victories to major transitions, 2025 underscored the Bruins' national stature while signaling a new era ahead. In their second year in the Big Ten, UCLA teams continued to deliver standout performances while alumni made headlines on the biggest stages in sports and long-standing traditions reminded fans what makes UCLA special. Below, enjoy Newsroom's top sports-related stories of the year.

1. Men's water polo team repeats as NCAA champions

With a dramatic, down-to-the-wire 11-10 victory against USC, the squad captured the NCAA title for the second year in a row, bringing their number of national championships to 14 and UCLA's overall tally to 125. Frederico Jucá Carsalade, who scored the difference-making goal just as time expired, was named the championship tournament's Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Ryder Dodd and Chase Dodd.

2. Women's basketball makes first trip to the Final Four

Completing oneof the most extraordinary seasons in team history, women's basketball won the Big Ten conference title and logged 30 or more wins for the first time (34-3), then staged a thrilling run through the NCAA tournament, culminating in a first-ever appearance in the Final Four that turned LA blue-and-gold with excitement.Coach Cori Close collected multiple Coach of the Year honors, while Lauren Betts earned Naismith and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year awards and Janiah Barker was recognized as the Big Ten Conference's Sixth Player of the Year.

3. Gymnastics returns to the NCAA championship tournament

UCLA's gymnastics team showed their mettle in making it to the NCAA championship tournament as they looked to capture an eighth national crown. And while they fell short of a team championship, Olympian Brooklyn Moors won her first-ever individual NCAA title, in the floor exercise, and Olympian Jordan Chiles captured her third individual title, this time on the uneven bars . In the postseason, Chiles would move from balance beam to the ballroom - competing on ABC's reality competition show "Dancing With the Stars."

4. UCLA names Bob Chesney new head football coach

UCLA's football program turned a new page with the hiring of James Madison University's Bob Chesney as the Bruins' 20th head coach. Chesney comes to Westwood with a reputation for quickly building winners at every turn in his 25-year collegiate coaching career. UCLA leaders praised his clear vision, attention to detail and alignment with Bruin values, while Chesney called UCLA "a very special place" with everything needed to win at the highest level. "Leadership is ready. The alumni are ready. The fanbase is ready," Chesney said. "And I am ready."

5. Best of Bruin alums: From Wimbledon to Chavez Ravine

UCLA's alumni athletes continued to extend the university's legacy on the national and world stage, with former Bruin baseball standout and current Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, profiled this fall in UCLA Magazine, cementing his place among baseball's elite skippers by winning his ninth divisional title, fifth National League pennant and third World Series.

And in an animated short, the magazine took a look back 50 years ago to the all-Bruin Wimbledon final in 1975, when underdog Arthur Ashe shocked the tennis world by defeating Jimmy Connors to become the first and so far only Black man to win the Wimbledon men's singles trophy.

And let's not forget - it just wouldn't be a UCLA home game without the Alumni Band, which celebrated half a century of musically keeping Bruin Spirits high.

6. UCLA: Where Olympic mermaids come to prepare

The secret to the USA artistic swimming team's success? Training at UCLA. In the pool at Sunset Canyon, the nation's competitors plan, practice and perfect routines that earned the American team a silver medal at the Paris Olympics - its first in two decades. And with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon, it's important to recognize that much of that triumph can be traced to the team's Westwood digs, with team members able to feel more engaged in a college campus community than in more traditional, isolated training facilities.

7. UCLA's rock climbers reach for the sky

Bruin rock climbers hail from various backgrounds and places, but they are bonded by their fascination with scaling the heights. In 2025, UCLA Magazine followed members of the UCLA Climbing Team as they learned the value of teamwork and camaraderie and reminded us that it's not what's waiting on the other side that counts - it's the climb. And in reaching for audacious dreams, alumna Sara Safarito became the first Iranian ever to climb the world's Seven Summits, the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents.

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