When Kurt Golder coached the Michigan men's gymnastics team to the national title in 1999, he sported a bushy mustache.

Last Thursday at practice, senior co-captain Phil Goldberg decided that a mustache revival might be just what the Wolverines need as they host the Big Ten Championships tonight at 7 p.m. in Crisler Arena.

Golder didn't have a chance to protest. Goldberg announced in front of the team that if Michigan wins the Big Ten Championship, Golder would regrow the mustache for NCAA Championships.

Following the Wolverines' last regular-season win over Ohio State on March 21, the coaches wanted to make sure the fun from their victory carried through the next two weeks. So far, it hasn’t been much of a problem.

In a normal week, each gymnast must perform a certain number of “competition sets” — full routines on each of his events done exactly as if in a meet. Gymnasts call these routines out to the coaches to be sure they’re being evaluated.

On Thursday, redshirt freshman Andrew Vance was the first to call out a “mustache set.” Senior Ralph Rosso, warming up on the pommel horse, laughed so hard he fell off.

The joking, confident spirit could help the Wolverines earn their first Big Ten title since 2000.

In their final regular-season meet, the team's new attitude helped Michigan to its highest team score and highest hit percentage in Columbus, where it hadn’t won in 32 years.

“When you watched us in the 1999 NCAA Championships, you could see that everybody was having a blast,” Golder said. “We were the team that was having the most fun, and everything was falling into place. … I’m glad we had that Ohio State meet, because I think a lot of the guys really learned a lot from it.”

The coach did express concern that the memory of the victory in Columbus might fade because of the two-week layoff.

But that seems to be far from the case. A strong sense of self-assurance has been evident at practices ever since the team’s return, and the Wolverines are determined to carry their new outlook into Big Tens.

“I think we’ve found a whole new way to do gymnastics as a team,” sophomore Ben Baldus-Strauss said. “Just enjoying it more than letting it stress us out and control our minds so much. Stepping back and looking at the whole sport differently is really helping our team and bringing us together.”

Michigan, which has finished fourth at Big Tens each of the last three years, will start the conference meet on high bar, an event that's been a pleasant surprise for much of the year, and finish up on parallel bars.

No. 4 Illinois is expected to give the Wolverines their toughest competition, with No. 6 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State close behind. Michigan has beaten every Big Ten team but the Nittany Lions at least once this season.

“I think maybe the toughest opponent might be ourselves," said senior Scott Bregman, who will be healthy for Big Tens for the first time since his freshman year. "Making sure we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves and that we just do our best performances. Let the pressure elevate our performances instead of taking them the other way.”

Everything seems to be in the Wolverines’ favor.

For the first time since 2005, they’re hosting Big Tens. Even though Michigan hasn't competed at Crisler since 2005, the Wolverines feel comfortable there. All the equipment will be familiar, either from the Newt Loken Gymnastics Training Center or Cliff Keen Arena. And a majority of the crowd will be behind Michigan.

“Big Tens could be tomorrow and we would be set,” Baldus-Strauss said last Friday. “We just need to be able to access what we’ve been doing all week in gym and (against Ohio State) at this meet. If we’re able to tap into that and find that momentum again, we’ll be unstoppable.”