Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com AUGUST 2019 53 a couple of upset losses along the way — before ending the final month of the regular season on a rampage, and then highlighted by another victory versus top rival Connecticut in the Final Four. This year, the Irish fell one point short of a repeat with an 82-81 de- feat to Baylor in the championship game, but stealing the show during that week was McGraw expanding her platform on empowering women. She bluntly had stated earlier that she would never hire another male assis- tant coach. "I'm getting tired of the novelty of … the first female governor of this state, the first female African- American mayor of this city," she said. "When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception? How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don't have enough female role models. We don't have enough vis- ible women leaders. We don't have enough women in power. "When you look at men's basketball and 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn't 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women's basketball go to women? Maybe it's because we only have 10 percent women athletic direc- tors in Division I. People hire people who look like them. And that's the problem." As anticipated, the comments na- tionally drew both tremendous praise Notre Dame placed 17th among the 295 teams that tallied points in one sport or another in the final 2018-19 Learfield IMG Directors' Cup Standings. It was the Irish's best finish since also coming in 17th in 2016. Each school can count its top scoring 19 sports toward the final point total — with 100 the highest for a national title — but four of the sports have to be baseball, men's and women's basketball, and volleyball. The competition began with the 1993-94 academic year, and the Stanford Cardinal has captured the Cup every school year since 1995, winning six na- tional titles during the 2018-19 academic year: women's volleyball, women's swimming and diving, men's gymnastics, women's water polo, women's tennis and men's golf. This year's top 10 consisted of: 1. Stanford — 1,503.75 2. Michigan — 1,272.25 3. Florida —1,156.75 4. Texas — 1,148.50 5. USC — 1,075.75 6. UCLA —1,056.50 7. Florida State —1,046.25 8. Virginia — 1,037.50 9. Duke — 1,001.00 10. North Carolina — 987.00 17. Notre Dame — 885.00 Among the 15 ACC schools, Notre Dame was fifth. It was also fifth among cold-weather schools, behind No. 2 Michigan, No. 12 Ohio State (986.00), No. 13 Penn State (963.50) and No. 16 Wisconsin (895.00). Notre Dame had a school-record three consecutive top-10 placements in 2013 (No. 9), 2014 (No. 3, the school's best showing ever) and 2015 (No. 10). SPRING SPORTS POINT TOTAL: 263.00 Notre Dame did not score any points in baseball, men's and women's golf, rowing or women's tennis. • Men's lacrosse earned 60 points, advancing to the quarterfinals of the 16- team NCAA Championship. The No. 7-seeded Irish defeated Johns Hopkins 16-9 in the opening round before falling 14-13 in overtime to Duke. • Women's lacrosse received 53 points for defeating Stanford 15-9 in the first round of the NCAA Championship before losing 13-10 to Northwestern. There were 28 teams invited, hence the fewer points than the men. • Highlighted by sophomore Yared Nuguse's national title in the 1,500-me- ter race, Notre Dame's No. 28 finish in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships resulted in 44 points. • The women's track and field team contributed 43.5 points with its No. 30 placement. • Softball advanced to its 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament, but were unable to get past the regional round and finished with 37.5 points. • Men's tennis headed to the NCAA Championship with a No. 26 ranking, but lost to No. 35 Vanderbilt in the first round and finished with 25 points. WINTER SPORTS POINT TOTAL: 342.00 Despite no points in men's basketball, the Fighting Irish winter sports once again were the most productive overall. • Women's basketball earned 90 points by finishing as national runner-up to Baylor. • Fencing placed third at the National Collegiate Fencing Championships for 85 points. Foil Nick Itkin captured his second individual national title among seven Irish All-Americans. • Hockey captured the Big Ten championship a second straight season and advanced to the Northeast Regional final (quarterfinals) in the 16-team NCAA Tournament before losing. That earned 60 points, with teams Nos. 5-8 deemed a "fifth-place finish." • Men's indoor track and field chipped in 52 points with a 20th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, highlighted by a national title from the men's distance medley relay team of Dylan Jacobs, Edward Cheatham, Samuel Voelz and Nuguse. • The men's and women's swimming and diving programs combined for 55 points while placing 36th (31 points) and 41st (24 points), respectively, at the NCAA Championships. FALL SPORTS POINT TOTAL: 280.00 The 280 points from the fall were ninth best in the country, although Notre Dame did not score in volleyball and women's soccer. • 75 points for a No. 5 finish in football. Notre Dame was the lone school in the fall top 10 to also finish in the top 10 in football. • 73 points in men's soccer, which advanced to the quarterfinals under first-year head coach Chad Riley. The program also had two Academic All- Americans in Thomas Ueland (first team) and Jack Casey (second team). • 70.5 points for a No. 8 finish by women's cross country, with Anna Rohrer and Jessica Harris earning All-America notice. • 61.5 points for a No. 14 placement in men's cross country, which also captured the ACC championship under head coach Matt Sparks. — Lou Somogyi Notre Dame Finishes 17th In Directors' Cup Standings Sophomore foil Nick Itkin was one of seven All-Americans who helped lead the Fighting Irish to a third-place finish at the National Collegiate Fencing Championships. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA