ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University athletic department's success wasn't limited to championships in 2024-25.

For the second year in a row, the NAIA named SOU a Champions of Character Five-Star Award winner – giving the school its top "Gold" designation.

Institutions are measured by their demonstrated commitment to the Champions of Character program, earning points for character training, conduct in competition, academic focus, character recognition, and character promotion. Other factors considered include exceptional student-athlete GPAs and limiting student-athlete and coach ejections in competition.

SOU produced record numbers of Academic All-Conference, Academic All-America, and NAIA Scholar Athlete honorees in 2024-25. For the first time in department history, every single Raider athletic program is expected to attain NAIA Scholar Team status next month.

At the same time, SOU experienced its winningest year since 2015-16. The Raiders finished ninth out of 237 NAIA schools in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings, which measures success based on finishes as national tournaments. Seven different Raider teams finished top-10 in their respective sports.

The two conferences in which SOU competes – the Cascade and Frontier – were also named Champions of Character Five-Star Conferences.