I don’t know where to begin.

How does one characterize this year of UCLA sports?

Broken records.

Banners raised.

Players drafted.

It would be an understatement to say this past year was a period of unprecedented success.

UCLA women’s basketball’s season alone would be a top-10 moment of the century for most schools – maybe even top-five.

The Bruins went 37-1, falling only Nov. 26 despite playing 11 ranked games throughout the regular season. Their 18-0 conference record secured the squad’s second consecutive Big Ten regular season championship, despite joining the league only two years ago.

UCLA swept the Big Ten tournament, winning its three games by an average of 26.3 points – including a 51-point victory in the conference championship. And nothing changed when the Bruins entered the NCAA tournament, winning their six games by an average of 23.8 points each, including a 28-point trouncing of fellow No. 1 seed South Carolina in the national championship.

[Related: Finally champions: Women’s basketball dominates in program-first NCAA title win]

The squad – arguably the program’s greatest team ever – saw its unforgettable season eternalized in the 2026 WNBA Draft, when a record-breaking six Bruins heard their names called on draft night. Five went in the first round, including three in a row in the top six and four total in the top 10.

But the women’s basketball team’s first national title in the NCAA era marked not just the raising of a banner or the falling of confetti.

It also signified the final hurdle for coach Cori Close – who spent 14 seasons in Westwood before ever lifting a national trophy – and the culmination of a goal set forth years ago by a group of underclassmen who stayed together through thick and thin.

[Related: ‘The last opportunity’: UCLA women’s basketball seniors finally claim NCAA title]

But the women’s basketball team was not the only Bruin program to bask in glory.

UCLA men’s water polo took home its second consecutive national championship and the school’s first of the academic year.

[Related: UCLA men’s water polo sinks USC 11-10 for back-to-back national championship win]

And it’s not only that the Bruins took home their program’s 14th NCAA title, but it is how they did it – in a moment worthy of an Oscar.

A goal as time expired, courtesy of redshirt junior attacker Frederico Jucá Carsalade, gave UCLA the 11-10 victory over crosstown rival USC – an opponent that snatched the MPSF tournament title from UCLA just two weeks prior. The last-second buzzer beater sent the Bruins, and coach Adam Wright, jumping into the pool.

The Bruins lost just two games the entire season – falling both times to the Trojans – and took home a multitude of individual accolades.

Carsalade, alongside brothers Ryder and Chase Dodd, took home ACWPC First Team All-American honors, with the former winning his second consecutive ACWPC Player of the Year honors. And outside of the pool, Wright and associate head coach Jason Falitz received ACWPC National Coach of the Year and National Assistant Coach of the Year honors.

Rounding out the three Bruin national championship-winning squads – increasing UCLA’s total to 127 – was UCLA beach volleyball, which took home its first NCAA trophy since 2019 and gave coach Jenny Johnson Jordan her first as the leader of the blue and gold.

[Related: UCLA beach volleyball secures 3rd national championship after besting Stanford]

UCLA lost six matches all season – and held a 14-game winning streak – but fell to Texas in the MPSF tournament in one of two losses to the Longhorns. But the Bruins got the last laugh, avenging their defeats in the NCAA semifinal before trouncing Stanford 3-0 in the NCAA final.

Maggie Boyd took home the 2026 AVCA Beach Player of the Year, also earning First Team All-American honors and an MPSF Pair of the Year nod alongside partner Sally Perez, who was also named 2026 MPSF Player of the Year.

With the honor, Boyd became the fourth Bruin to be named a First Team All-American four times, while Perez received her second consecutive First Team All-American selection. Rounding out the All-American trio was Ensley Alden, who earned a Second Team All-American nod – the first All-American honor of her career.

The success did not just end with UCLA’s national champions, either.

UCLA gymnastics took home its second consecutive Big Ten title in just as many years.

[Related: Jordan Chiles wins all-around, floor champion in UCLA Big Ten victory]

And it seemed that senior Jordan Chiles did everything and more.

Chiles was named the 2026 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, the Big Ten all-around champion and finished her illustrious Bruin career with 19 perfect 10s – a mark that puts her in the all-time top 10. She also holds four NCAA individual titles to her name and finished her senior campaign ranking in the top four on all four events and in the all-around.

[Related: Jordan Chiles’ UCLA legacy proves she will always be ‘that girl’]

And topping off a UCLA career that ranks as high as anyone to don the four letters was the winning of the AAI award – an annual achievement given to the nation’s most outstanding senior female gymnast for leadership, athleticism and dedication to the sport.

There is no doubt Chiles will not only go down as one of the best to wear the blue and gold but as one of the most successful to ever play her sport.

Echoing Chiles’ greatness, UCLA softball duo Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant – dubbed the “Bruin Bombers” – combined for 78 home runs and 208 RBIs in 2026. The tandem were both named NFCA First Team All-Americans and Player of the Year finalists, with the former taking home the crown.

[Related: Jordan Woolery wins Softball America Player of the Year award]

While Woolery took home Softball America’s National Player of the Year, Grant broke the Bruins’ all-time career home run record and was named a finalist for the Honda Sport Award for softball. She also took home a national championship with the UCLA women’s basketball team after playing both sports during her senior year.

[Related: Dual-sport athlete Grant to play softball at home as her other team vies for title]

But it would also be completely naive to say this year of UCLA sports was all glitz and glamour.

No. 1 UCLA baseball failed to advance to the super regional, becoming the second-ever top national seed to miss the regional final. Before their late-season collapse, the Bruins were 48-6 in the regular season, including a 28-2 conference record – never losing a series throughout the entire 2026 campaign.

[Related: UCLA baseball season ends with 10th-inning loss to Saint Mary’s in NCAA regional]

Coach John Savage’s squad not only took home its second Big Ten regular season championship and first-ever Big Ten tournament title, but finished the regular season as the first team in history to go wire-to-wire as the top-ranked squad in the nation.

[Related: Third walk-off wins UCLA baseball Big Ten championship against Oregon in extras]

But all of that came crashing down in the Los Angeles regional, with UCLA falling twice to St. Mary’s – the first time all season the Bruins fell to the same team multiple times.

UCLA baseball’s season finish was an absolute disappointment – there’s no other way to put it.

But baseball was not the only group to fall short of high expectations.

Despite securing the Big Ten regular season and championship titles, UCLA gymnastics failed to reach the national championship after logging a season low on vault. It missed out on a trip to the Final Four by just two-tenths of a point to No. 13 seed Minnesota – a squad UCLA had defeated during the regular season.

[Related: Despite Jordan Chiles’ floor title, semifinal loss finishes UCLA gymnastics season]

The Bruin men’s soccer team also saw an early exit in the NCAA tournament, despite defeating No. 1 seed Maryland and No. 3 seed Michigan en route to the program’s first Big Ten title. But for the third consecutive year, UCLA fell in its first game of the national tournament in the friendly confines of Wallis Annenberg Stadium.

[Related: UCLA men’s soccer wins Big Ten tournament, trounces Michigan 5-0]

And just as gymnastics fell by less than two-tenths of a point and baseball on a walk-off single, UCLA men’s and women’s soccer finished their seasons in dramatic fashion – both falling in penalty kicks.

[Related: BYU dashes UCLA women’s soccer’s hopes for revenge, Sweet 16 entry in penalties]

But, arguably, no season ending was worse than UCLA men’s volleyball’s.

The Bruins looked like the best team in the nation all season.

They opened the season 20-0 – the best start in program history – took home the MPSF tournament trophy and seemed locked into their third national championship trophy in four years.

But all came crashing down in the NCAA championship quarterfinal.

[Related: UCLA men’s volleyball loss to UC Irvine ends season, marks 1st NCAA final absence since 2022]

Not only did the Bruins get upset in their home gym for just their second loss of the season and first in Pauley Pavilion, but like what seems to be the case for all UCLA teams, they went out in the most gut-wrenching fashion.

It was so egregious that the Bruins actually advanced to the national semifinal – but just for a few minutes, as what was called a Bruin win was switched to a tipoff off senior middle blocker Cameron Thorne, leading to a UC Irvine point that sucked the air out of the gym and the energy out of the Bruins. The Anteaters then went on a run that secured the upset.

[Related: Jacob’s Wake-Up Call: NCAA must address discrepancies so ‘Touchgate’ does not happen again]

The 2025-26 UCLA athletic seasons were nothing short of a roller coaster.

There were the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

Extreme jubilation and joy.

Confetti and trophies.

But also desperation and despair.

Extinguished hopes and unfulfilled expectations.

The Bruins gave their faithful a journey worthy of an Academy Award. And no program may be more perfect of a microcosm than UCLA football.

Heading into the 2025 season, it seemed like there was hope in year two under former head coach DeShaun Foster. The Bruins went 5-7 in their first year under the former legendary UCLA tailback. But this time around, they had a blue-chip, former five-star recruit under center. In fact, the acquisition of Nico Iamaleava marked one of the highest-ranked prospects to ever don the blue and gold.

[Related: 5-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava transfers to UCLA amid spring training]

But it did not take long for the Bruin faithful to realize the season would be a dumpster fire.

After week four, the Bruins were winless – and without the head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator they started the season with.

Everyone across the UCLA community was up in arms over the state of the school’s biggest program.

But on a random Saturday in October, UCLA defeated then-No. 7 Penn State, giving the school its first top-10 victory since 2010 and a sliver of hope that appeared to be all but lost.

[Related: UCLA football claims first season win in matchup against No. 7 Penn State]

Two weeks after the historic upset, the Bruins were 3-4 heading into Bloomington to not only play a top-ranked Indiana squad – a team that would end up winning the national championship – but to do so for Big Noon Kickoff.

There was real optimism that if, somehow, UCLA escaped victorious, the squad could become ranked or even earn a College Gameday when it faced Ohio State at the Horseshoe.

But on the second play of the game against Indiana, Iamaleava’s pick-six would be representative of what the rest of the season would look like – opposing teams’ touchdowns and lopsided scores.

UCLA football finished the season on a five-game losing streak, cementing the team’s finish in the cellar of the Big Ten and making the program’s turnaround imperative.

And the Bruins may have struck gold with newly minted head coach Bob Chesney – at least, most fans think so.

[Related: UCLA introduces Bob Chesney as head football coach, instills hope in Bruin community]

Collectively, this year has been nothing short of madness.

UCLA boasted wins it had no business logging and losses that made many wonder what happened.

Some teams gave the Bruin faithful reasons to revel.

Others gave reasons to forget.

Not only was there inconsistency and a roller coaster of outcomes across all 21 Division I teams, but individual seasons caused many headaches from just watching.

No one said being a fan was easy.

But if you were here for the 2025-26 UCLA Athletics season, then you may have seen the craziest, most unexplainable year in recent memory.