Indiana’s Mendoza, UCLA’s Betts Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Indiana University football quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been selected as the 2025-26 Big Ten Conference Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year, and University of California, Los Angeles basketball center Lauren Betts has been recognized as the 2025-26 Big Ten Conference Female Athlete of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday.

Mendoza is the sixth Indiana student-athlete to earn the Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year honor and the first since track and field student-athlete Derek Drouin in 2013. This is the second such honor for the Hoosiers’ football program, as Mendoza joins Anthony Thompson, who won the award in 1990.

Mendoza is the eighth football student-athlete to claim the honor, joining Iowa’s Chuck Long (1986), Thompson (1990), Michigan’s Desmond Howard (1992) and Charles Woodson (1998), Ohio State’s Eddie George (1996) and Chase Young (2020), and Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne (2000).

Betts becomes the first Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year award winner from UCLA and the 12^th basketball student-athlete to capture the honor.

Other basketball recipients have included Purdue’s Joy Holmes (1991), MaChelle Joseph (1992), Stephanie White (1999) and Katie Douglas (2001), Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante (2004), Ohio State’s Jessica Davenport (2007), Minnesota’s Rachel Banham (2016), Iowa’s Megan Gustafson (2019) and Caitlin Clark (2023, 2024), and USC’s JuJu Watkins (2025).

Mendoza led the Hoosiers to the first-ever 16-0 season in FBS history and Indiana’s first football national title during the 2025 season. The Miami native won the 2025 Heisman Trophy, the first player in program history to win the award and the first Big Ten player to receive the honor in 19 years. Following the campaign, Mendoza was taken as the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, a feat not accomplished by a Big Ten student-athlete in nearly 20 years.

With his selection atop the NFL Draft, he is just the fourth player in the common draft era, and first from the Big Ten, to go No. 1 overall, win the Heisman Trophy, and claim a national title in the same season. He is among a group that includes Joe Burrow (LSU, 2019), Jameis Winston (Florida State, 2013) and Cam Newton (2010, Auburn).

Mendoza led the FBS in passing touchdowns (41), passing efficiency (182.9) and points respon­sible for (288), behind an FBS-best 48 touchdowns accounted for. He was the only FBS quarterback with six games of four-plus touchdown passes and zero interceptions and accounted for at least one touchdown in all 16 games, including 14 with a touchdown pass.

Betts delivered one of the most dominant seasons in UCLA Bruins women's basketball history, leading the program to its first NCAA Championship title. Anchoring the Bruins on both ends of the floor, Betts recorded 14 points and 11 rebounds in the national title game and was named the 2026 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

Betts led the Bruins with 17.1 points and a Big Ten-best 8.8 rebounds per contest, as UCLA finished the season 37-1, including 18-0 in conference play. Betts became the third player in NCAA history to tally at least 600 points, 300 rebounds, 100 assists, and 75 blocks in a single season, joining Connecticut’s Breanna Stewart and USC’s Cheryl Miller. As one of 45 Division I women’s basketball players 6-foot-6 or taller to play at least 2,500 minutes since 2000, Betts is the only one to never foul out of a game.

The Bruin center was named the 2026 Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player in conference history to claim both honors in the same season. Betts earned WBCA First Team All-America honors for the second time in her career and was named the Honda Sports Award winner for Basketball. The Centennial, Colo. native also collected her second Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award, her third All-Big Ten First Team honor, and was named a finalist for the 2026 Wade Trophy, Naismith Trophy, and Wooden Award.

Mendoza and Betts were among a high-powered field of 36 nominees (one male and one female per Big Ten school) that included 16 national champions, 31 All-Americans, 16 conference champions, 19 conference players of the year, 14 standouts who collected at least one national player of the year accolade, and three Olympic gold medalists. 

The Big Ten Conference has recognized a Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year since 1982 and first honored a Female Athlete of the Year in 1983. The Big Ten Athletes of the Year are selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each institution. 

The complete list of 2025-26 Athlete of the Year nominations, as well as the list of all-time winners for each award, can be found below. 

2025-26 Big Ten Athlete of the Year Nominees

BIG TEN JESSE OWENS MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS 
1982 – Jim Spivey, Indiana, cross country/track & field 
1983 – Ed Banach, Iowa, wrestling 
1984 – Sunder Nix, Indiana, track & field 
1985 – Barry Davis, Iowa, wrestling 
1986 – Chuck Long, Iowa, football 
1987 – Steve Alford, Indiana, basketball 
1988 – Jim Abbott, Michigan, baseball 
1989 – Glen Rice, Michigan, basketball 
1990 – Anthony Thompson, Indiana, football 
1991 – Mike Barrowman, Michigan, swimming 
1992 – Desmond Howard, Michigan, football 
1993 – John Roethlisberger, Minnesota, gymnastics 
1994 – Glenn Robinson, Purdue, basketball 
1995 – Tom Dolan, Michigan, swimming 
1996 – Eddie George, Ohio State, football 
1997 – Blaine Wilson, Ohio State, gymnastics 
1998 – Charles Woodson, Michigan, football 
1999 – Luke Donald, Northwestern, golf 
2000 – Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, football 
2001 – Ryan Miller, Michigan State, ice hockey 
2002 – Jordan Leopold, Minnesota, ice hockey 
2003 – Amer Delic, Illinois, tennis and Matt Lackey, Illinois, wrestling 
2004 – Damion Hahn, Minnesota, wrestling 
2005 – Luis Vargas, Penn State, gymnastics 
2006 – Peter Vanderkaay, Michigan, swimming 
2007 – Cole Konrad, Minnesota, wrestling 
2008 – Brent Metcalf, Iowa, wrestling 
2009 – Jake Herbert, Northwestern, wrestling 
2010 – Evan Turner, Ohio State, basketball 
2011 – David Boudia, Purdue, diving 
2012 – Draymond Green, Michigan State, basketball 
2013 – Derek Drouin, Indiana, track & field 
2014 – David Taylor, Penn State, wrestling 
2015 – Logan Stieber, Ohio State, wrestling 
2016 – Denzel Valentine, Michigan State, basketball 
2017 – Kyle Snyder, Ohio State, wrestling 
2018 – Kyle Snyder, Ohio State, wrestling 
2019 – Bo Nickal, Penn State, wrestling 
2020 – Chase Young, Ohio State, football 
2021 – Luka Garza, Iowa, basketball 
2022 – Gable Steveson, Minnesota, wrestling 
2023 – Zach Edey, Purdue, basketball
2024 – Zach Edey, Purdue, basketball
2025 – Carter Starocci, Penn State, wrestling
2026 – Fernando Mendoza, Indiana, football

BIG TEN FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS 
1983 – Judi Brown, Michigan State, track & field 
1984 – Lisa Ishikawa, Northwestern, softball 
1985 – Cathy Branta, Wisconsin, cross country/track & field 
1986 – Stephanie Herbst, Wisconsin, cross country/track & field 
1987 – Jennifer Averill, Northwestern, field hockey/lacrosse 
1988 – Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, cross country/track & field 
1989 – Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, cross country/track & field 
1990 – Suzy Favor, Wisconsin, cross country/track & field 
1991 – Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse, Michigan State, diving and Joy Holmes, Purdue, basketball 
1992 – MaChelle Joseph, Purdue, basketball 
1993 – Lara Hooiveld, Michigan, swimming 
1994 – Kristy Gleason, Iowa, field hockey 
1995 – Laura Davis, Ohio State, volleyball 
1996 – Olga Kalinovskaya, Penn State, fencing 
1997 – Kathy Butler, Wisconsin, track & field and Gretchen Hegener, Minnesota, swimming 
1998 – Sara Griffin, Michigan, softball 
1999 – Stephanie White-McCarty, Purdue, basketball 
2000 – Lauren Cacciamani, Penn State, volleyball 
2001 – Katie Douglas, Purdue, basketball 
2002 – Christie Welsh, Penn State, soccer 
2003 – Perdita Felicien, Illinois, track & field 
2004 – Kelly Mazzante, Penn State, basketball 
2005 – Jennie Ritter, Michigan, softball 
2006 – Tiffany Weimer, Penn State, soccer 
2007 – Jessica Davenport, Ohio State, basketball 
2008 – Hannah Nielsen, Northwestern, lacrosse 
2009 – Maria Hernandez, Purdue, golf 
2010 – Megan Hodge, Penn State, volleyball 
2011 – Shannon Smith, Northwestern, lacrosse 
2012 – Christina Manning, Ohio State, track & field 
2013 – Amanda Kessel, Minnesota, ice hockey  
2014 – Dani Bunch, Purdue, track & field 
2015 – Taylor Cummings, Maryland, lacrosse 
2016 – Rachel Banham, Minnesota, basketball  
2017 – Lilly King, Indiana, swimming 
2018 – Lilly King, Indiana, swimming 
2019 – Megan Gustafson, Iowa, basketball 
2020 – Dana Rettke, Wisconsin, volleyball 
2021 – Sarah Bacon, Minnesota, diving 
2022 – Dana Rettke, Wisconsin, volleyball 
2023 – Caitlin Clark, Iowa, basketball
2024 – Caitlin Clark, Iowa, basketball
2025 – JuJu Watkins, USC, basketball
2026 – Lauren Betts, UCLA, basketball