Ashland University has always said that it has an athletics program predicated on broad-based success. Saying that is one thing. Having the numbers to back it up is another.

When the final standings for the 2011-2012 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup were released June 6, Ashland was third in NCAA Division II with 750.50 points, its best finish ever.

Since 1995, the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup has measured the cumulative success of college athletics programs across the country, in all divisions. Each school is ranked according to the total number of points it achieved throughout the fall, winter and spring sports seasons.

Points are assigned to teams that qualify for national postseason competition in descending order, with the team that wins the national championship receiving 100 points. Second place receives 90 points, third receives 85, and so on. In bracket sports, points are assigned according to the round in which each team was eliminated.

In the 16 years since the Directors’ Cup competition began, AU has finished in the top 20 twelve times. It has placed in the top 10 each of the last four years.

The 2011-12 athletic year was the first time Ashland placed in the top five. The steady improvement is even more impressive considering that NCAA Division II continues to grow. In 1995-96 – when AU finished 11th – there were 172 schools listed in the final standings. There are now 244. Also, AU was the only school from Ohio in Division II in 1995-96. This year, with the additions of Walsh, Malone and Notre Dame College, there are 12 Ohio institutions that compete at the Division II level.

“We’re trying to do something different here at Ashland University than anybody else in the country,” Athletic Director Bill Goldring said. “We’re trying to have a broad-based program of excellence in a private school setting.”

According to Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Al King, one of the keys to the successes of many of Ashland’s 20 athletic programs is that a lot of them have had the same coach for over a decade.

“I just think the stability factor has made a big difference,” he said.

The presence of the Directors’ Cup has also helped, allowing the school to measure itself against programs around the country. Having the data to prove that AU does have a broad-based athletic program has aided with recruiting.

It did not always look as if Ashland was going to improve on its ninth-place finish from 2010-11 in 2011-12. The only sport that scored points last fall was cross-country. The men earned 36 points by finishing 18th and the women gathered 32 points by placing 21st. That left AU in 49th place overall.

Ashland needed a good winter season to gain ground, and what it got was one of the best seasons in school history.

“We just took off in the winter with our winter sports,” King said.

Women’s swimming placed seventh (72 points) at Nationals and the men were 16th (42). Men’s indoor track and field was seventh (72) while the women were 12th (64.5). Wrestling earned 63 points by finishing 13th.

Individually, swimmer Julie Widmann became a national champion in the 100-meter backstroke and thrower Ryan Loughney won his second straight title in the weight throw.

And then, of course, there was women’s basketball. Head coach Sue Ramsey said she brought the Directors’ Cup to her team’s attention before the season started. Her goal was for the team to earn points by making it to the postseason for just the third time ever.

The Eagles made a historic run, going all the way to the Elite Eight in San Antonio before losing to Shaw in the national championship game.

The second-place finish was worth 90 points in the standings, but the effect it had on the university and the community is almost impossible to measure.

“The big difference was obviously having women’s basketball do what they did because it’s been so rare here that you’ve had what I call a ‘true team sport’ go this deep in the postseason,” King said.

When the team traveled to San Antonio, many decided to go with them. Ashland had the largest following of any team at the Elite Eight, and thousands more watched the game on television. When senior guard Jena Stutzman hit a 30-foot jump shot to send the final game into overtime, it seemed like the entire town was celebrating.

“Our team, because of who they are as people, made people feel like they knew them personally,” Ramsey said. “And they did. They could relate to them, they could identify with them, and people wanted to just encourage them and support them.”

Ramsey appeared on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” June 17 to talk about Title IX. Forward Kari Daugherty was named the 2011-2012 Honda Sports Award Division II Female Athlete of the Year, an award she received at a ceremony in Los Angeles that aired on ESPNU. She and Ramsey have been excellent representatives for Ashland athletics.

The success of the winter carried over to the spring. Nearly every spring sport – softball, men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s track and field – made the postseason.

Baseball bowed out of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament after two games, just barely missing the NCAA tournament.

Softball garnered 50 points for winning two games in the Midwest Regional tournament. Women’s golf got 55.5 points for fifth-place at the Super Region I Championships and senior Erin Misheff finished 10th at Nationals. Men’s golf got 11.5 points for finishing 16th at the Super Regional.

As always, the Eagles made their presence felt at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

The men earned 71.25 points for seventh place and the women got 69.75 for finishing eighth. Loughney was the national champion in the men’s hammer throw and Janine Tessarzik finished third in women’s discus.

The third-place finish in the Directors’ Cup was nearly buried in all of the other exciting headlines for Ashland athletics.

The school had its first football player drafted in forty years when the Jacksonville Jaguars took defensive lineman Jeris Pendleton in the seventh round; strength and conditioning coach A.G. Kruger competed in the Olympics in the hammer throw; Ashland graduate Ajay Meyer leads Minor League Baseball in saves.

“Often we’re in the limelight, and it’s our job to try to bring good news to the university,” Goldring said. “I think, by and large, we’ve tried to do that. Everybody talks about sports.”

As a whole, Ashland Athletics might be at its highest point, but its goal is to make sure that it stays there.

“We can’t get complacent,” King said. “We’ve still got to keep doing the things that we’ve always done.”