Athletics & Student-Athletes

At the Michigan Union, guests are greeted by two statues. The first represents the scholar, facing north toward the academic heart of the university on Central Campus. The second represents the athlete, gazing south towards the playing fields and training facilities on the Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus. The two stand together as equals, representing a core tenet of the modern university: Mens sana in corpore sano. “A sound mind in a sound body.”

U-M student-athletes strive to achieve the highest-caliber performance in both mind and body. That’s because at Michigan, a world-class public research university works alongside a nationally renowned athletics department to provide an unrivaled destination for aspiring student-athletes. Michigan Athletics is one of only 23 Division I sport programs in the nation to be completely self-funded and self-sufficient, with no funding coming from student fees, university assistance, or government aid. To advance its mission and ensure the highest-quality experience for its student-athletes, the department is largely reliant on generous donations.

At the outset of the Victors for Michigan campaign, Michigan Athletics established three objectives. First, generate new scholarship support for some of the country’s most talented student-athletes. Second, build revolutionary, game-changing facilities for those student-athletes to call home. And third, focus on the holistic student-athlete experience with new enrichment programming. With those objectives in mind, donors answered the call. You provided student-athletes with the resources they need to be nationally competitive, both on the field and in the classroom.

With this campaign, Michigan Athletics donors demonstrated the loyalty and enthusiasm that defines the spirit of Michigan. Fielding H. Yost, the university’s first varsity football coach and later director of athletics, defined that spirit at his 1942 retirement banquet. “It is based on a deathless loyalty to Michigan and all her ways… And a conviction that nowhere is there a better university, in any way, than this Michigan of ours.” Thanks to you, that spirit grows stronger each and every year.