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The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. These teams compete in the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
's Division I and in the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
in all sports except women's
water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...
, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisional Collegiate Water Polo Association. Team colors are maize and blue, though these are different shades of "maize" and "blue" from those used by the university at large. The winged helmet is a recognized icon of Michigan Athletics. In 11 of the previous 20 years (as of the end of 2018–19), Michigan has finished in the top five of the
NACDA Directors' Cup The NACDA Directors' Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup or simply as the Directors' Cup, is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and univer ...
, a list compiled by the
National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) is a professional organization for college and university athletic directors in the United States. NACDA boasts a membership of more than 6,100 individuals and more than 1,600 in ...
that charts institutions' overall success in college sports. Just as impressive, UM has finished in the top ten of the Directors' Cup standings in twenty of the award's twenty-six seasons (through 2019); good for 5th best nationally.


Sports sponsored

The University of Michigan Athletic Department sponsors teams in 14 men's and 15 women's NCAA sanctioned sports.


Baseball

The men's baseball team won national championships in
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...
and 1962 and has sent 138 players to the major leagues. The current coach of the Michigan Wolverines is
Erik Bakich Erik Michael Bakich (born November 27, 1977) is an American baseball coach and former left fielder, who is the current head baseball coach of the Clemson Tigers. Bakich played college baseball at San Jose City College (1997–1998) and East Caro ...
, who came to the University of Michigan after the 2012 season when
Rich Maloney Richard Allen Maloney (born September 22, 1964) is an American college baseball coach, the head coach at Ball State since the start of the 2013 season. He is the former head coach of the Michigan Wolverines where he compiled a record of 341–244 ...
stepped down. Michigan has won 35 conference championships, made 25 NCAA Tournament appearances and won those 2 national titles. For 13 seasons from 1990 to 2002, Michigan won a lone Big Ten title in 1997 and made just one NCAA appearance in 1999. In 2015, Coach Bakich led the program to its first NCAA tournament berth since 2008 after needing to win the Big Ten tournament to qualify. In 2019, the Michigan Wolverines baseball team made it to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, its first trip to the College World Series since 1984.


Basketball


Men's basketball

The men's basketball team plays its games at
Crisler Center Crisler Center (formerly known as the University Events Building and Crisler Arena) is an indoor arena located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the home arena for the University of Michigan's men's and women's basketball teams as well as its women's ...
. The Wolverines have won 14 Big Ten regular season titles, as well as the inaugural Big Ten tournament in 1998, which it later forfeited due to NCAA violations. The team has appeared in the NCAA Final Four on eight occasions (1964, 1965, 1976, 1989, 1992*, 1993*, 2013, 2018) and won the National Championship in 1989 under
Steve Fisher Steve Fisher may refer to: * Steve Fisher (American basketball coach) (born 1945), American college basketball coach * Steve Fisher (writer) Stephen Gould Fisher (August 29, 1912 – March 27, 1980) was an American author best known for h ...
. The program later vacated its 1992 and 1993 Final Four appearances due to NCAA violations. Other notable players who played for Michigan include Roy Tarpley,
Loy Vaught Loy Stephen Vaught (born February 27, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), primarily with the Los Angeles Clippers. Vaught played at East Kentwood High Sch ...
, Gary Grant, Terry Mills, Glen Rice,
Jalen Rose Jalen Anthony Rose (born January 30, 1973) is an American sports analyst and former professional basketball player. In college, he was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines' " Fab Five" (along with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy ...
,
Rumeal Robinson Rumeal James Robinson (born November 13, 1966) is a Jamaican-American former professional basketball player. Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Robinson graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and went on to play point guard for the ...
,
Rickey Green Rickey Green (born August 18, 1954) is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Green, a and point guard, led Chicago's Hirsch High School to the 1973 IHSA Class AA State cha ...
, Phil Hubbard, Jamal Crawford, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber,
Jimmy King Jimmy Hal King (born August 9, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. King played in the NBA and other leagues. He is most famous for his time spent on the famed University of Michigan Wolverines Fab Five along with Ray Jac ...
, Ray Jackson,
Cazzie Russell Cazzie Lee Russell (born June 7, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. An NBA All-Star, he was selected by the New York Knicks with the first overall pick of the 1966 NBA draft. He won an NBA championship wit ...
, Daniel Horton,
Campy Russell Michael Campanella "Campy" Russell (born January 12, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player. He played the forward position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks for ni ...
, and Mark Hughes. During the 1990s, the program became involved in a scandal involving payments from a booster named Ed Martin to four players: Chris Webber, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor, and Louis Bullock. The scandal ultimately resulted in four years' probation and a self-imposed ban from postseason play in the 2002–03 season. UM also voluntarily vacated regular season wins and NCAA tournament games from selected past seasons. Vacating the results of 113 games won while the four players were eligible, including the 1992 and 1993 Final Fours, the entire 1992–93 season, and all seasons from fall 1995 through spring 1999. After the scandal, Michigan men's basketball would then go 10 years without making the NCAA tournament from 1999 to 2008. They would eventually end the drought in 2009 under then-head coach John Beilein. In 2013, the program would reach its first Final Four in 20 years before falling to Louisville in the national championship, 82–76. The program reached another Final Four in 2018, its second under Beilein. The team would once again reach the championship game, but instead fall to the
Villanova Wildcats men's basketball The Villanova Wildcats men's basketball program represent Villanova University in men's college basketball and competes in the Big East Conference of NCAA Division I. Their first season was the 1920–21 season. Named the "Wildcats", Villanova i ...
. Beilein would accept a position as the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach after 12 years at Michigan. His replacement for the following season would be alumnus Juwan Howard.


Women's basketball

Michigan traveled to St. Thomas for the
Paradise Jam tournament The U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam is a NCAA college basketball tournament that takes place annually in late November. The men's tournament typically takes place the week before Thanksgiving, with the women's tournament occurring during Thanksg ...
over Thanksgiving weekend in 2011. They took on Prairie View A&M in their first game on Thanksgiving Day, and won 59–53. In their second game, they faced Washington State and won easily, 69–39. On the final day of the tournament, they played Marquette, and won 71–51, to win the 2011 Paradise Jam (Reef Division) Championship. Jenny Ryan had a double-double, with 13 points and ten rebounds, to help Michigan to a 7–0 record on the year. The women's basketball team is coached by
Kim Barnes Arico Kimberly Ann Barnes Arico (born August 9, 1970) is an American women's basketball coach, and the current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines women's basketball team. Previously, she was head coach of the St. John's University women's basketball ...
, who became the head coach in 2012. Formerly the head coach of the St. John's Red Storm, Arico was named the Big East Conference Coach of the Year for 2012.


Cross country

The men's and women's cross country teams have been nationally renowned since 1974 when Ron Warhurst started coaching the men, and more recently as alum Mike McGuire took on the women's team in 1991. The women's team has qualified for the NCAA championships every year but two since 1988, finishing 2nd in 1994, and winning five consecutive Big Ten titles from 2002 to 2006. The men's team has qualified for the NCAA 24 times in the last 34 years, with a highest finish of 4th. Michigan men have won seven Big Ten titles in that period.


Football

The Wolverines have won a record 962 games and have the most all-time wins and the third highest winning percentage in college football history, after Boise State and Ohio State. Michigan won the inaugural Rose Bowl in 1902, the first college
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
ever played. The Wolverine football program has claimed 11 national titles. Michigan's 11 national championships have come under the direction of five coaches. The first six were garnered by the team's first coaching superstar, Fielding H. Yost. Yost directed his "Point-a-Minute" teams to four consecutive national titles from 1901 to 1904, amassing a record of 41–0–1. Yost also led Michigan to national titles in 1918 and 1923. Yost was instrumental in the creation of Michigan Stadium and designed it to permit its expansion to expand to a capacity of over 150,000. Yost's legacy also lives on with Yost Ice Arena, where Michigan's men's ice hockey team plays their home games. Michigan football has won five more national titles since Yost permanently retired in 1926. The Wolverines won back-to-back titles under
Harry Kipke Harry George Kipke (; March 26, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at Michigan State College in 1928 and at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 193 ...
in 1932 and 1933 and two more consecutive championships under
Fritz Crisler Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler (; January 12, 1899 – August 19, 1982) was an American college football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and ...
and Bennie Oosterbaan in 1947 and 1948. Michigan won its most recent national title under Lloyd Carr in 1997. Michigan's famous football coaches include: Yost, who came to Michigan from
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
in 1901, Fritz Crisler, who guided Michigan to a pair of Big Ten Conference championships and the 1947 national title, has his name carried by the home of Michigan men's basketball team,
Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University o ...
won 13 Big Ten titles in his 21 seasons as head coach between 1969 and 1989, the first in 1969 when he beat his friend and mentor Woody Hayes, beginning of "The Ten Year War" era of the Michigan – Ohio State football rivalry, Lloyd Carr won five Big Ten titles in his 13 seasons at the helm and posted a winning percentage of .753. His winning percentage of .779 in conference play trails only that of Schembechler in Michigan history, Rich Rodriguez succeeded Carr following his retirement in 2007. Rodriguez coached the Wolverines through the 2010 season, compiling a record of 15–22. Rodriguez would be followed by coach Brady Hoke who would go onto coach four seasons. Hoke would end with a record of 31-20. Alumnus Jim Harbaugh would replace Hoke for the 2015 season.


Rivalries

Michigan has a major rivalry with
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
, considered one of the fiercest rivalries in American sports. In a pair of
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
fan polls, in 2000 and 2003, the Michigan–Ohio State series was voted the greatest rivalry in sports in America. Michigan's meeting with Ohio State is almost always the last game of the two schools' regular seasons and has provided many memorable contests, such as the " Snow Bowl" of 1950. The game has frequently decided the Big Ten Champion. Michigan leads the series 58–50–6. The contest on November 18, 2006 marked the first time ever these teams had been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 going into the game, and the first time they were both undefeated since 1973. The 2007 college football match-up between Ohio State and Michigan was predicted to be the No. 2 college football game to watch in 2007 by SI.com's "Top 20 Games To Watch in 2007" list. Michigan has a spirited rivalry with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Michigan leads the series 25–17–1. The two schools are among the top college football programs in all-time wins (Michigan first, Notre Dame fifth) and winning percentage (Michigan third, Notre Dame fourth) in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), so it is perhaps fitting that when college football was in its infancy, students from the University of Michigan traveled to South Bend to teach the game to students there. Michigan also has an intrastate rival in
Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
; the schools' football teams compete for the
Paul Bunyan Trophy Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...
. Michigan leads the series 68–34–5. The Wolverines also have a tradition-rich history with the
Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big T ...
. The two football teams compete for the Little Brown Jug, a five-gallon jug with the respective schools' "M"s on either side and the scores of previous games down the middle. The Little Brown Jug was the first trophy played for between college football teams. Through 2017, Michigan leads the Brown Jug series 75–25–3.


Field hockey

Women's
field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
became a varsity sport at Michigan in 1973. The Wolverines field hockey team won the 2001 NCAA title, which was the school's first national title in a women's team sport. Marcia Pankratz served as the head coach of the program from 1996 to 2004 and returned to the position in 2009. The Wolverines have won a total of eight Big Ten regular season titles and five Big Ten tournaments.


Golf


Men's golf

Men's golf has been a varsity sport at Michigan since 1919. The team's first coach was elocution and oratory professor
Thomas Trueblood Thomas Clarkson Trueblood (April 6, 1856 – June 5, 1951) was an American professor of elocution and oratory and the first coach of the University of Michigan golf and debate teams. He was affiliated with the University of Michigan for 67 yea ...
who served as coach from 1920 to 1935. Trueblood led the Michigan golf team to consecutive national championships in 1934 and 1935. Two coaches, Bert Katzenmeyer (1947–1968) and Jim Carras (1982–2002), have had tenures of at least 20 years with the program. Andrew Sapp has been the coach since 2002. In 2009, Sapp led the team to its best record in more than 50 years with 6th-place finish at the NCAA championship finals. Chris Whitten became head coach in 2011 and led the team to a runner-up finish in
2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
. Three Michigan golfers have won the individual intercollegiate golf championships:
Johnny Fischer John W. Fischer (March 10, 1912 – May 25, 1984) was an American amateur golfer in the 1930s. Fischer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He won the 1932 NCAA individual golf championship and the Big Ten Conference individual championship in 193 ...
(1932),
Chuck Kocsis Charles R. Kocsis (January 27, 1913 – May 30, 2006) was an American amateur golfer. Kocsis was introduced to the game as a caddie at the Phoenix Country Club, which is now Rogell Municipal Golf Course. One of fourteen children, he grew up in the ...
(1936), and
Dave Barclay David Barclay (July 5, 1920 – October 28, 2009) was an American amateur golfer in the 1940s. He played for the Michigan Wolverines golf team and won the 50th annual NCAA intercollegiate golf championship held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in June 194 ...
(1947). The team has won the Big Ten Conference Championship 12 times: 1932–36, 1942–44, 1946–47, 1949, and 1952.


Women's golf

Women's golf has been a varsity sport at Michigan since 1976. Cheryl Stacy, a former All-American golfer for
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
, took over as the team's head coach in 2009. In the fall of 2009, Stacy signed a trio of highly rated high school golfers from Ohio, Florida and Georgia to national letters of intent for the 2010–11 academic year. The Wolverines won their first Big Ten Championship in 2022 by four shots with a total of 857.


Gymnastics


Men's gymnastics

The Michigan men's gymnastics team has won 6 NCAA championships, 18 Big Ten championships and have been invited to 33 NCAA tournaments.
Newt Loken Newton C. Loken (February 27, 1919 – June 28, 2011) was an artistic gymnast and coach of gymnastics, trampolining and cheerleading. While a member of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team, Loken was NCAA all-around gymnastics c ...
was the head coach for 36 years from 1948 to 1983, during which time he coached the Wolverines to two NCAA team gymnastics championships, two NCAA team trampoline championships, and 21 NCAA individual event championships. Since 1999, head coach Kurt Golder has led Michigan to national championships in 1999, 2010, 2013, 2014 and the Super Six at the NCAA tournament in 13 of the last 14 seasons. Until 1969, men's trampoline was one of the events that comprised the NCAA gymnastics championships. At that time, the event was removed in order to conform to the international gymnastics itinerary. The NCAA then bestowed a separate national title in trampoline for two years, both won by Michigan.


Women's gymnastics

Women's gymnastics has been a varsity sport at Michigan since 1976. Bev Plocki has been the head coach of the women's gymnastics team since 1990. Under Plocki's leadership, the Wolverines have won 25 Big Ten championships, advanced to 28 consecutive NCAA tournaments (1993–2021) and had seven seasons in which they finished in the Top 5 at the NCAA tournament. The Wolverines gymnastics team won their first NCAA Championship in 2021.


Ice hockey

The Wolverines
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
team, which was a member of the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) is a college athletic conference that participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The current CCHA began play in the 2021–22 season; a previous incarnation, which the curr ...
until 2013 and is now a member of the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
, plays its home contests at Yost Ice Arena. The hockey team was coached by
Red Berenson Gordon Arthur "Red, The Red Baron" Berenson (born December 8, 1939) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team from 1984 to 2017. Berenson was inducted into Canada's Sports ...
, a former UM player and is currently coached by Mel Pearson. Altogether, the program has won nine NCAA national championships (1948, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1964, 1996, 1998), which is also an NCAA record. In 2011, the team was invited to the NCAA tournament for a record 21st year in a row. In 2011, Michigan reached the national semi-finals (now referred to as the "Frozen Four") for an unmatched 24th time.
Vic Heyliger Victor Heyliger (September 26, 1912 – October 4, 2006) was a National Hockey League center and the head coach of the University of Michigan ice hockey team. Career Born in Concord, Massachusetts, he attended the Lawrence Academy in Groto ...
led Michigan to a record six NCAA titles, including the first one in college hockey history in 1948. Heyliger, who played for the Wolverines from 1935 to 1937, also won national titles as Michigan coach in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974, in recognition of his lifetime achievement. Heyliger is considered instrumental in getting the NCAA Tournament off the ground. Following the 1946–47 season, Heyliger wrote to each of the college coaches around the country to see if they would be interested in creating a national tournament. They obliged and the inaugural four-team NCAA tournament began the following season in 1948. Heyliger was 228–61–13 as head coach at Michigan, and his .776 winning percentage is the best at the school. His only losing season was his first year, 3–6 in 1944–45. In 1980, Heyliger was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor. The Vic Heyliger Trophy has been given out at the end of each season by the Michigan hockey team to recognize its most outstanding defenseman.


Lacrosse


Women's Lacrosse


Men's lacrosse

The Michigan men's lacrosse team is one of the oldest collegiate lacrosse programs in the midwest, having been founded in 1940, the program is also the most successful athletic program at Michigan, with an .830 all-time win percentage. The program was elevated from varsity-club status to NCAA status by the university in May 2011 and began NCAA Division I competition in 2012. The Wolverines previously competed at the Division I level of the
Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association The Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) is a national organization of non- NCAA men's college lacrosse programs. The MCLA oversees game play and conducts national championships for over 200 teams in ten conferences throughout the United ...
(MCLA), in the
Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association The Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA) was a lacrosse-only athletic conference affiliated with the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA). The CCLA incorporates teams in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. On August 8th ...
(CCLA). In 2008 the team became the first MCLA team to complete a season undefeated, finishing 20–0 and winning their first national championship at Texas Stadium. The feat was repeated in 2009 with another 20–0 season and earned their second national championship with a 12–11 victory over Chapman University at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in
Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. In 2010, they won their third MCLA national championship in a row, defeating
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
12–11 in Denver.


Women's rowing

Women's rowing has been a varsity at sport at Michigan since 1996. Mark Rothstein has been the team's coach for 18 years – since it was a club sport in 1991. Rothstein led the rowing program "from an over-achieving club squad to one of the nation's top-notch varsity rowing programs." The team has placed in the Top 10 at the NCAA tournament ten times in the past 12 years. The team's best seasons came in 2000–01 and 2011–12 with Big Ten championships and second-place finishes in the NCAA tournament.


Soccer


Men's soccer

The men's soccer team plays
Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
annually for the rights to the
Big Bear Trophy Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show presente ...
, a wooden sculpture purchased by Michigan head coach Steve Burns in 2000. The men's soccer advanced to the College Cup in 2010, their first in program history. More recently, the program won its first Big Ten championship in 2017.


Women's soccer

The women's soccer team has played at the varsity level since 1994 and has twice won the Big Ten conference tournament, in 1997 and 1999. It has also reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship twice, in 2002 and 2013 during the tenure of
Debbie Rademacher Debbie Belkin Rademacher (; born May 27, 1966) is an American retired soccer defender who was a member of the United States women's national soccer team. She was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The National Jewish Spo ...
, who coached the team from its inception until 2007. The team is currently coached by Jennifer Klein.


Softball

Carol Hutchins Carol Sue Hutchins (born May 26, 1957) is an American former softball coach. In 38 years as the head coach of Michigan Wolverines softball, (1985–2022), she won more games than more than any other coach in University of Michigan history in any ...
has been the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines softball team since 1985. With a career record of 1,274–435–4 (.745 winning percentage), Hutchins has more wins than any other coach in the history of the university—in both men's and women's athletics. Hutchins' teams have won 22 Big Ten championships and appeared in 28 NCAA tournaments. In June 2005, the team won the NCAA Division I Softball Championship, defeating two-time defending champion and perennial softball power UCLA two games to one. Michigan won the decisive game, 4-1, with Samantha Findlay slamming a three-run homer in the top of the tenth inning. Michigan was the first school east of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
to win the Women's College World Series since rival
Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
(with Carol Hutchins playing shortstop) did so in 1976. The Wolverines have appeared in 13 Women's College World Series in 1982, 1995–98, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2009, 2013 and 2015–16.


Swimming and diving


Men's swimming and diving

Men's swimming and diving has been a varsity sport at Michigan since 1921. With 12 NCAA national championships (as well as 7 unofficial) including the 2013 NCAA championship, the Michigan men's swimming and diving team has won more national championships than any other varsity sport in the history of the university. In addition to its 19 national championships, the team has finished in the Top 5 nationally 48 times. The team's swimmers have also won 145 individual NCAA championships. Three head coaches have led the squad for a combined 77 years: Matt Mann (1925–54), Gus Stager (1954–82) and Jon Urbanchek (1982–2004). Michigan swimmers and divers inducted into the
International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...
include
Mike Barrowman Michael Ray Barrowman (born December 4, 1968) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Barrowman was one of the pioneers of the "wave-style" breaststroke technique. Prior to attending Univers ...
, Dick Degener, Tom Dolan, Taylor Drysdale,
Bruce Harlan Bruce Ira Harlan (January 2, 1926 – June 22, 1959) was a diver from the United States and Olympic champion. He represented his native country at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where he received one gold medal and one silver medal. Harla ...
,
Harry Holiday Harry Holiday, Jr. (July 2, 1923 – February 16, 1999) was a world record holder in the backstroke at the University of Michigan in the 1940s and the president of steelmaker AK Steel Holding, American Rolling Mill Co. (Armco) from 1974 to 1986. ...
, Dick Kimball,
Carl Robie Carl Joseph Robie III (May 12, 1945 – November 29, 2011) was an American swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Biography At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Robie received a silver medal for his second-place fini ...
, and Bob Webster. Mike Bottom took over as the team's head coach in 2008. In his first season as the team's head coach, Bottom led the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship and a 7th-place finish at the NCAA championship. In 2013, Bottom won the program's 12th official NCAA national championship (19th overall) and its first since 1995.


Women's swimming and diving

Women's swimming and diving has been a varsity sport at Michigan since 1974. The team has won 19 Big Ten championships, including 12 consecutive championships from 1986 to 1998. The team has also finished in the Top 10 teams nationally 17 times. The team's best finish came in the 1994–95 season with a second-place finish in the national tournament. The team has produced several national individual champions, including Julie Bachman (one-meter and three-meter diving, 1978), Emily Brunemann (1,650-yard freestyle, 2008), Ann Colloton (200-yard backstroke, 1989), Mary Fischbach (one-meter and three-meter diving, 1988), Mindy Gehrs (400-yard individual medley, 1993), Lara Hooiveld (100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, 1993), Alecia Humphrey (100-yard backstroke, 1994; 200-yard backstroke 1994 and 1995), Sue Cahill (400-yard individual medley, 1982), and Chris Seufert (one-meter and three-meter diving, 1977). Jim Richardson is in his 25th season as the head coach of the women's swimming and diving team.


Tennis


Men's tennis

Michigan's men's tennis team was formed in 1893. Between 1948 and 1999, the team had two head coaches. William Murphy was the coach from 1948 to 1969 and led the Wolverines to 11 Big Ten championships and the NCAA championship in 1957.
Brian Eisner Brian Eisner (born ) is an Americans, American tennis player and coach. He played collegiate tennis at Michigan State University from 1960 to 1962. From 1963 to 1969, he was the head tennis coach at the University of Toledo. During his 30 years ...
was the coach from 1969 to 1999 and led the team to 16 Big Ten championships and 21 NCAA tournament appearances.
Peter Fishbach Peter Fishbach (born August 29, 1947) is an American former professional tennis player. Biography Fishbach was born and raised in New York City. He attended Great Neck North High School. In 1963, 1964, and 1965 he was the New York State Public ...
and
Eric Friedler Eric Friedler (born September 8, 1954) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Friedler grew up in Chicago and attended Evanston Township High School. From 1972 to 1976 he was at the University of Michigan, where ...
played for the school. Joel Ross was captain of the tennis team, and was
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
singles champion in 1971. Berque was the head coach from 2004 to 2014 and led the team to four consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament. The current coach is Adam Steinberg.


Women's tennis

Women's tennis was established as a varsity sport in 1973.
Bitsy Ritt Bitsy or Bitsie may refer to: Nickname * Bryan Grant (1909–1986), American tennis player * Bitsy Mott (1918–2001), American Major League Baseball backup infielder, later personal security manager of Elvis Presley * Elizabeth Tulloch (born 1981) ...
was the head coach for 22 years from 1984 to 2006 and led the team to NCAA tournament berths in 8 of her last 11 years as head coach. The current head coach is Ronni Bernstein who has led the team to NCAA tournament berths in her first two years with the program.


Track and field


Men's track and field

The men's track and field team has won 57 Big Ten men's team titles and one NCAA team championship. Notable alumni include
Ralph Craig Ralph Cook Craig (June 21, 1889 – July 21, 1972) was an American track and field athlete. He was the winner of the sprint double at the 1912 Summer Olympics.Brian Diemer Brian Lee Diemer (born October 10, 1961, in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is a former American track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 3000 metre steeplechase during his career. He was high school state champion in the mile while running ...
,
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
bronze medalist in the steeplechase, Bill Donakowski, U.S. marathon champion in 1986,
Archie Hahn Charles Archibald Hahn (September 14, 1880 – January 21, 1955) was an American track athlete and is widely regarded as one of the best sprinters of the early 20th century. He is the first athlete to win both the 100m and 200m race at the sam ...
, a winner of four Olympic gold medals at the 1904 and 1906 Olympics, DeHart Hubbard, the first African-American to win an individual Olympic gold medal and a former world record holder in the
long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...
,
Greg Meyer Greg Meyer (born September 18, 1955) is an American long-distance runner. Meyer's winning time for the 1983 Boston Marathon race was 2:09.00. He was the last American to win the Boston Marathon until 2014, and the last person born in America to win ...
, 1983 Boston Marathon winner, Ralph Rose, winner of 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals in three Olympic games, Kevin Sullivan, Canadian 1500 meter record holder, Eddie Tolan, winner of two gold medals and a former world record holder in the 100-yard dash, Alan Webb, U.S. mile record holder, and
Nick Willis Nicholas Ian Willis (born 25 April 1983) is a New Zealand middle distance runner and the country's only two-time Olympic medalist in the 1500 metres. He won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Ri ...
, a four-time Olympian and a two-time Olympic medallist, with a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and a bronze at the summer Rio Olympics in 2016, Joseph Ellis, a multiple-time Big Ten champion and first-team All American in the hammer throw and member of the British national team, and Andrew Liskowitz, a Big Ten champion and first-team all American in the shot put throw.


Women's track and field

Women's track and field was established as a varsity sport in 1978. The team has won 17 Big Ten titles (eight outdoor and nine indoor). James Henry has been the head coach since 1984. The Wolverines have had their strongest finishes in the NCAA tournament in recent years—finishing third in the 2007 outdoor tournament and third in the 2008 indoor tournament. Notable alumna include Lisa Larsen Weidenbach Rainsberger, who won the Boston and Chicago Marathons.


Women's volleyball

The women's volleyball program at the University of Michigan began in 1973. Mark Rosen has been the head coach since 1999 and has led the team to the NCAA Tournament in 18 of his 22 years as head coach, as well as took the program to its first-ever national semifinal in the NCAA Tournament in 2012.


Women's water polo

Women's
water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...
became a varsity sport at the University of Michigan in 2001. In its first nine years, the program has placed first in the conference nine times, won eight NCAA division titles and four NCAA eastern titles, and appeared four times in the NCAA national tournament. The Wolverines finished in the Top 5 at the national tournament in 2002 and 2009. In the spring of 2014, the Athletic Department hired Dr. Marcelo Leonardi as their new head coach. Dr. Marcelo Leonardi is in his first season as head coach for the Michigan women's water polo team. Leonardi took over the Michigan women's water polo program after spending the past five seasons as the women's water polo coach at California State University in Northridge. He also serves as the national technical director for the women's Olympic Development Program (ODP) associated with the organization since 2013. Caitlin Haskell, the assistant coach, played varsity water polo at University of California, Irvine. The Wolverines enter their 15th season in 2015. Former Olympic Gold Medalist
Betsey Armstrong Elizabeth Anne "Betsey" Armstrong (born January 31, 1983) is an American water polo goalkeeper, who won gold medals with the United States women's national water polo team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2007 and 2011 Pan American Games, and 2007 a ...
was hired as the assistant coach in 2012.


Wrestling

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...
has been a varsity sport at Michigan since 1921. The Wolverines have finished in the Top 5 in the NCAA tournament 19 times. Home dual meets and tournaments take place at Cliff Keen Arena, dedicated and named after longtime wrestling coach Cliff Keen, who coached the team from 1925 until 1970 and led the Wolverines wrestling team to 13
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
championships. The Michigan wrestling team has produced 175 individual NCAA All-Americans dating back to 1928, has 22 individual NCAA Championships for the university, and made two winners of the NCAA Most Outstanding Wrestler Award (1940, 1978). A few notable former Wolverine wrestlers include Olympic gold medalist
Steve Fraser Steven Howard "Steve" Fraser (born March 23, 1958) is an American Greco-Roman wrestler and coach. He was the 1984 Olympic Games gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, in the 90 kg weight class. Fraser's gold medal was the first ever for the Un ...
, 1978 NCAA Most Outstanding Wrestler
Mark Churella Mark Churella, Sr. (born c. 1957) is a former American wrestler and collegiate wrestling coach. He was a three-time NCAA national champion from 1977 to 1979. He served as the head wrestling coach at UNLV from 1979 to 1984. He has been inducte ...
, professional wrestlers The Steiner Brothers and 2006 Greco-Roman World Wrestling Champion Joe Warren, currently a mixed martial artist in Bellator MMA.


Sponsorship

Michigan Athletics announced in July 2015 that it would switch from sponsorship by Adidas to Nike. The deal at the time had an estimated value of $169 million and was described as "the richest apparel deal in intercollegiate athletics". In April 2016, the University announced the signing of an 11-year $127.12 million contract for 31 Michigan sports teams, going into effect on August 1. With the agreement, Michigan Wolverines football became the first football program to wear Jordan Brand attire accompanied by the jumpman logo. Nike identifies the yellow color in the new uniforms as "Amarillo" rather than the traditional "Maize".


Varsity club sports

In 2000, athletic director Bill Martin announced the creation of a special level for sports at Michigan called Varsity Club status. The new system was established to recognize and increase support for club sports teams that have reached a level of budget, organization and competition that is similar to varsity levels. Varsity club squads are not necessarily closer to being elevated to full varsity status, and will remain for the time being primarily self-funded and administered through the Department of Recreational Sports. However, the designation will give these teams a closer relationship to the U-M athletic department.MGoBlue
Retrieved September 3, 2012.
The Varsity Club status has proven to be a launching pad for sports to eventually become varsity sports at Michigan. In May 2011, men's and women's lacrosse were officially granted varsity status. Men's lacrosse began their first season of NCAA competition in 2012 while the women's program will begin varsity competition in 2014. Current varsity club sports: * Men's rowing * Women's synchronized skating * Women's synchronized swimming


Club sports

The Club Sports Program at the University of Michigan, administered by the Department of Recreational Sports, comprises 37 club sports. Each club sport is a student-led organization composed primarily of students, faculty, and staff. Each club is formed, developed, governed, and administered by the student membership of that particular club, working with the Club Sports Program staff. The club sports programs include: * Alpine skiing * Baseball * Boxing – Men * Boxing – Women * Brazilian jiu-jitsu * Climbing * Cycling * Dance * Esports * Fencing * Field Hockey * Gymnastics * Ice Hockey – Men * Ice Hockey – Women * Lacrosse – Women * Rifle * Roller Hockey * Rugby – Men * Rugby – Women * Running * Sailing * Shotokan * Soccer – Men * Soccer – Women * Softball * Tae Kwon Do * Tennis * Triathlon * Ultimate Frisbee – Men * Ultimate Frisbee – Women * Volleyball – Men * Volleyball – Women * Water Polo – Men * Water Polo – Women * Waterski * Weightlifting * Wrestling


Boxing

The men's and women's boxing teams compete as part of the
United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association The United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association (USIBA) is a nonprofit amateur collegiate boxing league founded in 2012 and formed, in part, to address perceived safety and fairness issues present in the National Collegiate Boxing Association ...
. The men's team won the USIBA national championship in 2014 and 2017, while the women's team won four straight championships from 2015 to 2018 and was the runner-up in the 2022 tournament. Michigan also hosted the 2015 USIBA tournament.


Rugby

The University of Michigan Rugby Football Club plays college rugby in the
Big Ten Universities Big Ten Universities is a Division 1-A college rugby conference founded in summer 2012 by ten of the twelve schools that then made up the Big Ten Conference (which has since expanded to 14 members). The Big Ten Universities was formed to improve ...
conference of
Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...
against its traditional rivals such as Michigan State and Ohio State. The Michigan rugby club was formed in 1959, although rugby at Michigan dates back to at least 1890 before fading from campus. Michigan rugby is led by head coach Brandon Sparks. Michigan reached the 2013 Big Ten championship match, where they lost to Indiana 58–38. Michigan played in the 2014
Collegiate Rugby Championship The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC is the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010–2017, on ESPN News an ...
, notching some upset wins to reach the quarterfinals in a tournament broadcast live on NBC from PPL Park in Philadelphia. Michigan returned to the 2015 Collegiate Rugby Championship, where they notched wins against UCLA and Texas to again reach the quarterfinals.


Athletic facilities

University of Michigan Athletics Facilities
, Retrieved December 29, 2011.


Other facilities


Championships


NCAA team championships

Michigan has won 39 NCAA team national championships. *Men's (36) **
Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
(2): 1953, 1962 **
Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
(1): 1989 **
Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
(2): 1934, 1935 **
Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
(6): 1963, 1970, 1999, 2010, 2013, 2014 **
Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
(9): 1948, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1964, 1996, 1998 ** Swimming (12): 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1995, 2013 **
Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
(1): 1957 **
Outdoor Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...
(1): 1923 ** Trampoline (2): 1969, 1970 *Women's (3) **
Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
(1): 2001 **
Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
(1): 2021 **
Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
(1): 2005 † The NCAA started sponsoring the intercollegiate golf championship in 1939, but it retained the titles from the 41 championships previously conferred by the National Intercollegiate Golf Association in its records. *See also: ** List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships **
Big Ten Conference NCAA national team championships The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...


Other national team championships

* Below are the 18 national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA (although seven were unofficial NCAA championships): * Men's ** Football (11): 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, 1997 ** Swimming (7): 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936 UM's official NCAA Division I national championships have come from 11 different sports – this broad-based success is the fifth most in the NCAA record book. Only UCLA and Stanford, each with titles in 16 varying sports, USC in 15, and Texas in 12, have more diverse championship histories than the Wolverines. University of Michigan teams have also been national runners-up 41 times in 14 different sports: baseball (1), men's basketball (6), women's cross country (1), field hockey (2), men's golf (3), men's gymnastics (2), women's gymnastics (2), men's ice hockey (3), rowing (2), softball (1), men's swimming and diving (10), women's swimming and diving (1), men's outdoor track and field (1), and wrestling (6). *See also: **
List of Big Ten Conference National Championships The list of Big Ten national championships includes championships won by teams from the Big Ten Conference and former member Chicago. Including football champions listed in the official ''NCAA Records'' book, Big Ten teams have compiled 299 NCAA ...
**
List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships This is a list of U.S. universities and colleges that have won the most team sport national championships (more than 15) that have been bestowed for the highest level of collegiate athletic competition, be that at either the varsity or club level, ...


NCAA Division I Directors' Cup

In the NCAA Division I Director's Cup (renamed Learfield Sports Directors' Cup), Michigan has ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten rankings in 16 out of the last 28 years ending in 2021–22; the university has ranked in the top 5 nationally a total of 15 years during that 28-year span.


Olympians

Through the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
, 204 UM students and coaches had participated in the Olympics, winning medals at each
Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...
except 1896, and winning gold medals in all but four Olympiads. Through the year 2020, UM students/student-coaches (e.g., notably, Michael Phelps) have won a total of 185 Olympic medals: 85 Golds, 48 Silvers, and 52 Bronzes.


Athletic directors


Mascot

The Michigan Wolverines is one of the few college sports teams that does not have a live or costumed
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...
, largely for reasons of tradition. In the late 1920s, the Wolverines did have an unofficial mascot –
Biff, the Michigan Wolverine Biff was a wolverine who served as a team mascot at University of Michigan football games and was later kept in a small zoo at the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s. In the mid-1920s, before the acquisition of a live wolverine, the Uni ...
. The first Biff was a stuffed wolverine. The second Biff was a live wolverine, who had a companion named Bennie, but the two mustelids grew to become too ferocious to be taken to games, which ended their career as mascots.


See also

* List of college athletic programs in Michigan * Big Ten Athlete of the Year * University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor


References


External links

* {{Michigan Sports