The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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continued its ascension back into the national elite with a 10th-place finish in the 2011-12 Directors' Cup — the program's first top-10 placing since the 2008-09 academic calendar. L ed by the athletic department's top two moneymakers, Michigan YEAR IN REVIEW Directors' Cup to make a run at the overall crown early on. Led by that fifth-place fin- ish from the Big Ten champion field hockey team (60 points), a No. 9 placing from the volleyball team (64 points) and a No. 9 result from a reinvigorated football team under first-year head coach Brady Hoke (69 points), Michigan entered the winter months fifth in the overall standings with 272 total points — tops in the Big Ten. Despite a pair of first-round NCAA Bowl title and the men's basketball squad's first Big Ten crown since 1986 may have been the university's most visible accomplishments, field hockey (fifth), men's swimming and diving (fifth) and women's rowing (second) recorded the three best fin- ishes nationally among U-M's 28 ac- tive varsity sports. The Maize and Blue looked poised While the football team's Sugar Tournament upsets for the men's bas- ketball squad (No. 33, 25 points) and ice hockey team (No. 9, 25 points), U-M was able to ride strong perfor- mances by men's swimming and div- ing (No. 5, 75 points) and men's gym- nastics (No. 6, 64 points) to maintain its fifth-place spot with 666.0 total points after the completion of the 10 winter disciplines. The Wolverines were, however, jumped by two Big Ten foes in the standings — Ohio State, which fin- ished the winter campaign in sec- ond place with 807.75 points, and Penn State, which came in third with 793.00 points. For the second straight year, the third-session slate doomed the Maize and Blue. A second-place overall fin- 46 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2012 Resurgent Michigan Finishes 10th In The Directors' Cup Rk. Team FINAL STANDINGS 1. Stanford 2. Florida 3. UCLA 7. Southern Cal 8. North Carolina 9. Texas A&M 10. Michigan* 12. Penn State* 21. Illinois* 4. Ohio State* 5. Florida State 6. Texas 22. Minnesota * 26. Wisconsin* 34. Michigan State* 38. Indiana* 40. Nebraska* 44. Northwestern* 47. Purdue* 48. Iowa* *Big Ten teams School Points 1,448.25 1,314.00 1,142.75 1,104.25 1,061.00 1,032.50 1,006.75 1,005.50 990.25 986.50 975.50 782.25 757.75 685.00 591.50 571.00 517.75 503.00 493.50 482.00 TOP-FIVE FINISHES SINCE 1993-94 4. Michigan 6. Texas 1. Stanford 2. UCLA 3. Florida The men's swimming and diving team, including sophomore Jack Lee, finished first in the Big Ten and fifth in the nation this season. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS ish by the rowing team (90 points), which tied as the best result in pro- gram history (2001), could not anchor a struggling Michigan spring contin- gent; U-M received zero points from five of 11 sports — baseball, men's golf, men's lacrosse, women's track and field, and water polo — and the Wolverines limped to a 10th-place fin- ish with a total 986.50-point output. Although thoughts of what could 9. Georgia 10. Arizona 7. Penn State Ohio State North Carolina 10 6 4 4 3 2 Year DIRECTORS' CUP FINISHES MICHIGAN'S have been remain, the 2011-12 ath- letic year was a vast improvement for a traditional athletic powerhouse that finished 15th nationally in 2010-11 and 25th in 2009-10. Michigan is now tied with North Carolina for fourth in Directors' Cup top-10 finishes with 10 since its inauguration in 1993-94. Only Stanford (19), UCLA (16) and Florida (12) rank above the Maize and Blue. — Kevin Minor 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 Seventh Fifth Place Ninth Fourth Second Fourth 24th Fourth Sixth T-11th Fifth Sixth Third Fourth Third Fifth 25th 15th 10th Total 19 16 12 10