Duke University Sports

Duke University, a private research university with an undergraduate enrollment of 6,789 students, plays a total of 25 NCAA sports, 12 of them for men and 13 of them for women. In the 2021/2022 season, Duke University had a total of 716 NCAA athletes comprising 11% of the total student body.

Duke University is likely to have recruited many of the athletes on its NCAA sports teams through the Division 1 athlete recruitment process, enabling these recruited athletes to leapfrog the normal admissions process. It is our best estimate based on team profiles that about 50% to 75% of their teams comprise of recruited athletes while the remaining athletes are “walk-on” athletes who were admitted to Duke University on merits unrelated to sports.

How Top Colleges in Division 1 Select their Athlete Recruits

The table below lists the NCAA and varsity sports played at Duke University and the number of athletes in each sports team.

All data compiled from Duke University athletic website.

Duke University
Division 1
	Men's	Men's	Women's	Women's	Total
	Sports	Team Size	Sports	Team Size	Team Size
1	Baseball	43	-	-	43
2	Basketball	14	Basketball	15	29
3	Cross Country	29	Cross Country	14	43
4	Fencing	20	Fencing	19	39
5	-	-	Field Hockey	25	25
6	Football	85	-	-	85
7	Golf	9	Golf	6	15
8	Lacrosse	52	Lacrosse	39	91
9	-	-	Rowing	51	51
10	Soccer	28	Soccer	19	47
11	-	-	Softball	24	24
12	Swimming and Diving	29	Swimming and Diving	30	59
13	Tennis	12	Tennis	8	20
14	Track and Field	58	Track and Field	46	104
15	-	-	Volleyball	16	16
16	Wrestling	25			25
Total Sports Played	12		13		25
Total Athletes		404		312	716

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