National Championships

Outside of schools in California, Oklahoma State has more NCAA National Championships than any other Division I college or university. Oklahoma State at one time was the overall leader in NCAA championships, but the program cannot match the number of sports offered by schools on the West Coast and across the country. Oklahoma State's athletic budget (based on USA Today 2014–15 financial figures) is the second lowest of the schools ranking in the top 10 all-time in NCAA championship wins.

Oklahoma State has won 52 NCAA championships, which ranks fourth all-time as of 2017. The Cowboys have claimed all 52 of those championships; the school is still looking for its first national championship in an NCAA-accredited women's sport. Once dubbed the Princeton of the Plains, Oklahoma State has more than held up its end of the bargain when it comes to collegiate athletics, as the school has maximized its success based on how much has been spent over the years on athletics.

The Oklahoma State breakdown of championships is as follows: 34 in wrestling, 10 in golf, four in men's cross country, two in basketball, one in football, and one in baseball.

Below is an interesting chart featuring the top 10 schools with NCAA Division I championships won, the number of sports they offer, and their annual athletic expenditures based on the figures published by USA Today for the 2014–15 academic year.

Edward C. Gallagher

Former Oklahoma State basketball coach Eddie Sutton — who, by the way, was a pretty good basketball player before he moved into coaching the sport — once said that a good coach could coach any sport. The philosophy of coaching can be the same for any sport; the subject and technique are what differ.

One of the greatest coaches in the history of college athletics and of wrestling didn't actually wrestle. Edward C. Gallagher was never involved in amateur wrestling in his athletic career, yet, when he was done after 23 years as Oklahoma A&M's wrestling coach, Gallagher had a record of 138 wins, just five losses, and four ties.

Gallagher's teams won 11 NCAA team championships. He coached 32 individual national champions, and the Aggies also won six AAU team championships.

How does a man who never wrestled competitively coach that much success?

A native of Perth, Kansas, Gallagher's parents had their family in Oklahoma, which allowed Gallagher to attend Oklahoma A&M College, a land-grant university. He was an outstanding athlete, a track star who once was said to have run a 100-yard dash in 9.8 seconds in a Southwest Conference meet. Gallagher had the longest run from scrimmage in school history — 99 yards in 1908 against Kansas State. He was the captain of the track and football teams at Oklahoma A&M and the senior class president. Gallagher was awarded a degree in engineering, which would later prove to be very important.

He was so impressive that he stayed on after graduation as the school's track coach for four years. Gallagher married and started a family, having six children: three boys and three girls. Then Baker College came calling as Gallagher coached football, basketball, baseball, and track. After two years at Baker, Oklahoma A&M brought Gallagher back as its athletic director. His return is considered the launching point for the school into big-time college athletics.

At the time, Oklahoma A&M had no wrestling program. The first matches were more like exhibitions, and Gallagher admitted he had no idea how to coach the sport. The school's early champions won on their pure physical ability. The coach called on his engineering training and his coaching gene to put together a series of successful techniques and moves. Gallagher became enthralled with the sport and went on to write a book, Amateur Wrestling, which became somewhat of a textbook on the sport. His second book, titled simply Wrestling, documented more than 400...