UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs

UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs
University	University of California, Santa Cruz
Conference	Coast to Coast Athletic Conference/ American Southwest Conference (women's golf only)
NCAA	Division III
Athletic director	Courtnie Prather (Interim)
Location	Santa Cruz, California
Varsity teams	15
Basketball arena	Kaiser Permanente Arena
Mascot	Sammy the Slug
Fight song	Banana Slugs Racing Down the Field
Colors	Navy blue and gold[1]
Website	www.goslugs.com

The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Banana Slugs compete in Division III of the NCAA, mostly in the Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C). There are fifteen varsity sports – men's and women's basketball, tennis, soccer, volleyball, swimming and diving, cross country, track & field, and women's golf. UCSC teams have been Division III nationally ranked in tennis, soccer, men's volleyball, and swimming. UCSC maintains a number of successful club sides.

UC Santa Cruz joined the NCAA in September 1980 after years of playing in unofficial club competition. In 2016, due to mounting debt in the funding of the athletic program, the university polled its students on whether or not they would approve an increase in student fees which would be necessary to maintain the athletic program. There was a significant doubt that the students would approve this increase. Contrary to predictions, a majority of the students approved a significant addition to their annual fees to maintain the existence of the athletic program.^[2][3]