By Kristen Davis
Athletic Communications contributor

When Jeff Konya first came to Oakland University as the new Director of Athletics, he commented on how he hoped the Golden Grizzlies would eventually become top 10 in their classification inside Division I-AAA (non-football). Little did he know, that goal was close to being fulfilled in year one.

Oakland scored 100.0 points and placed 18th in the 2014-15 Learfield Directors' Cup for Division I-AAA, recording its highest finish since joining Division I in 1999-2000, and the highest finish among Horizon League schools.

"It's a great result for us. We've said we wanted to be top 10 in our classification in everything that we do, that's one of our overriding objectives for our student-athletes and our athletics enterprise," Konya said. "This year, we finished in the top 20 with some remarkable performances. I think it's a mile post that suggests we're on the right path and hopefully, we can continue that momentum and get into the top 10 quicker than we thought was possible."

Oakland women's volleyball and softball each recorded 25 points for winning the conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA tournament. Men's soccer scored 50 points for winning the conference tournament, advancing to the NCAA tournament and defeating Kentucky in the first round.

Oakland tied with Arkansas Little Rock, Loyola Chicago, UNC Wilmington and Quinnipiac for 18th. The Golden Grizzlies also placed 151st among all Division I schools.

"We're going to have to continue to win conference championships to qualify for the NCAAs and then, when we are competing in the NCAA tournaments, have good performances," Konya said. "We're going to have a lot of conversations for the sports that did extremely well last year, and some of the other ones that were close, about what it's going to take to elevate those performances in order to get to a championship level. If we are successful with one, two or three of those, hopefully we can continue to move up those rankings."

Last year, the Golden Grizzlies didn't score any points after not appearing in the NCAA tournament for any sport.

The Learfield Directors' Cup is an all-sports trophy that honors institutions that maintain a broad-based program by achieving success in both men's and women's sports in NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and two-year colleges/universities.

Each institution is awarded points in a pre-determined number of sports for men and women. For Division I, points are awarded in 20 intercollegiate sports to schools that advance to either the postseason championships.

Oakland captured the McCafferty Trophy this season, the all-sports champion in the Horizon League. This was the first-ever all-sports championship for the Black and Gold since joining an athletic conference in 1973.

Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Standings (DI-AAA)
1. Denver - 508.75
2. Providence - 450.50
3. Pepperdine - 247.00
4. UC Irvine - 236.75
5. Iona - 204.00
6. St. John's - 197.00
7. Boston - 195.00
8. Gonzaga - 192.50
9. FGCU - 173.00
10. Wichita State - 170.50
11. VCU - 141.00
12. DePaul - 140.50
13. Xavier - 128.00
14. Cal State Fullerton - 123.00
15. Northeastern - 113.00
16. Portland - 104.00
17. UMBC - 103.00
T18. Oakland - 100.00
T18. Arkansas Little Rock - 100.00
T18. Loyola Chicago - 100.00
T18. North Carolina Wilmington - 100.00
T18. Quinnipiac - 100.00

#WEARtheBEAR