One in 38,618,370: the odds that a NCAA Division III school won national championships in football, men’s basketball and baseball in the 2013-14 athletic season. Nearly impossible, but the UW-Whitewater Warhawks turned the improbable into monumental.

A baseball driven into the mitt of senior outfielder Dylan Friend secured the unprecedented trifecta May 27, 2014. Nearly 11 years later, Whitewater still stands alone in history.

“Being part of such a remarkable, cohesive movement toward success was what I really take away from that,” said Pat Miller, then-men’s basketball head coach. “Being part of the entire aspect of it has been extremely rewarding.”

Initially, the trifecta was an afterthought when Warhawk football secured its fifth national championship in seven years. Warhawk football head coach Lance Leipold was focused on recovering from the 2012 season where the team missed the playoffs for the first time during his tenure.

“Things had kind of leveled out on expectations, we just wanted to get ourselves back to being competitive,” said Leipold, who is now the head coach at Division I’s Kansas University. “You can’t live in the past on what you’ve done or what hasn’t gone your way. It was focusing on getting better each and every day.”

When Miller and company took home men’s basketball’s fourth national championship, Leipold immediately shot a text to baseball head coach John Vodenlich: “it’s your turn.”

“That right there not only gave me confidence to know that we could do it, but you felt like we had some synergy between the three of us and our three programs,” Vodenlich said.

What followed was possibly Warhawk baseball’s most dominant season in program history, eventually cruising to a 7-0 victory over Emory University in the national championship. Three national championships later, and the standard was set.

“There’s a vision and there’s a belief and confidence that we can do it,” Vodenlich said. “We went into the season knowing it was doable. We had the skill set, we had the mentality that we could do it.”

Yet, 11 years after the esteemed season, coaches understand that this accomplishment was more than an accolade. It is a reflection of historic greatness and camaraderie.

All three coaches played at Whitewater in their respective sports, all overlapping at some point. Leipold was a quarterback for the Warhawks from 1983-86, Miller played guard for the men’s basketball team from 1986-89, and Vodenlich was a catcher on the baseball team from 1989-92. To complete the loop, Leipold was an assistant coach with the football team while Vodenlich was in his playing days.

Forming a connection nearly 30 years before winning the trifecta largely contributed to the renowned feat. Success bleeding into the other programs and student-athletes was an added bonus.

“It shows the commitment that our administration had made for successful athletic programs,” Leipold said. “Frank Barnes, the tennis coach, shared that sometimes things can get competitive in our athletic department, whether it be through funding and resources, but he said the success of the football program helped his tennis program in a lot of different ways.”

On top of the NCAA trifecta, the university secured a non-NCAA trifecta of its own in the same season. In 2014, both wheelchair basketball programs won National Wheelchair Basketball Association titles, and the gymnastics team won their third National Collegiate Gymnastics Association championship.

While winning championships in the three most popular collegiate sports brought the main course of attention, winning six national championships in one season said volumes about the athletic administration and the “powered by tradition” mantra.

“High tide raises all ships, and I think that was part of the thing that made Whitewater special during that time,” Leipold said. “I think there’s a sense of success in an athletic department – athletes say ‘why can’t we do that?’”
One effect the 2013-14 athletic season had on Whitewater sports is the amount of national attention brought to the program. New York Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN and other popular news organizations produced story packages about the school’s accomplishments.

When these headlines clash against more prominent DI programs, the recognition just means more for small town Whitewater.

“In order to get that national attention, you have to do something extraordinary,” Vodenlich said. “Other big time Division I schools, they’re on TV every day whether they do something amazing or it’s just another day at the ballpark.”

The fact that a DIII school, not a well-known university, secured the first trifecta is not to be underestimated. The number of marketing tactics and recruiting opportunities birthed by the trifecta help build the athletic programs to this day.

“The amount of visibility and recognition it brought the whole university is significant and extraordinarily valuable,” Miller said.

The remarkable season opened eyes for recruits across the country. For example, 2% of the 2013 football team came from outside of Wisconsin and Illinois. That number quadrupled by 2024, with 8.1% of the roster having the same criteria.

Whitewater became a destination where student-athletes expected high success. “Powered by tradition” means that much more when the tradition is greatness.

“It was a very interesting dynamic in terms of how sports perceived their ability to have success,” Miller said. “The synergy amongst everybody that contributed to athletics and the value they placed on athletics was truly exceptional for that era.”

There is a reason the odds sat at 1-38,618,370. But there is also a reason the odds aren’t 2 or 3 in 38,618,370. Whitewater is that one.