For just the second time in the 28-year history of the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup, a school other than Stanford has taken home the crown, with Texas being named the 2020-21 champion after winning three national championships and earning 1252 total points.
The Stanford Cardinal finished second overall with 1195.75 points, while the Michigan Wolverines slotted third with 1126.50 points, beating out fourth-place North Carolina, which wound up with 1126.25 points, by a razor slim margin.
For reference, first-place finish in a sport earns 100 points, second place 90 points, third place 85 points, and lesser values for lower finishes.
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The Maize and Blue took home the women’s gymnastics national championship, along with 10 top-10 showings across the 18 sports that they scored in.
In spring sports, the final — and most recent — season that factored into the standings, the Wolverines earned 382.0 points after placing 49th nationally in baseball (25 points awarded), 20th in women's golf (54 points), fourth in women's rowing (80 points), 17th in softball (50 points), ninth in women's tennis (64 points), 33rd in men's tennis (no points), 24th in men's track and field (49 points) and fifth in women's water polo (60 points). They did not place nationally in men's golf, women's lacrosse, men's lacrosse or women's track and field.
Michigan posted 130 points in fall sports and 614.650 points in winter sports.
The Wolverines topped the Big Ten and were one of two schools — joined by No. 9 Ohio State — to finish in the top 10 of the standings. Other Big Ten institutions to crack the top 50 were No. 28 Minnesota, No. 30 Iowa, No. 31 Northwestern, No. 34 Indiana, No. 35 Nebraska, No. 37 Wisconsin, No. 39 Penn State, No. 46 Maryland and No. 47 Illinois.
Michigan athletics has a history of strong showings since the award began in 1993-94. The Wolverines have placed top 10 in 21 of the 27 renditions, which is tied with Texas for the fifth-most top-10 finishes. Only Stanford (27), Florida (27), UCLA (23) and North Carolina (22) have wound up in the top 10 more.
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