Ohio State, Stanford find themselves at the top of updated Directors’ Cup Standings

Ohio State is leading the way in the latest Learfield Cup standings while Stanford is not too far behind as the Cardinals chase for their 26th title.

With winter sports officially behind us, the latest Learfield Directors’ Cup Division I standings were released on Thursday with the winter sports included in the update.

Ohio State and Stanford lead the pack through the fall and winter seasons with the Buckeyes holding a comfortable 109-point lead heading into the heart of spring sports.

The Learfield Directors’ Cup more commonly referred to as the Directors’ Cup is an award given out annually to the most successful college athletics program in the country at each level. Throughout the 28-year history of the NCAA Division I Directors’ Cup, there have only ever been three winners. Stanford leads the charge with 25 overall wins and 28 top-ten finishes.

After winning each cup from 1994-1995 through 2018-2019, the Cardinals have finished second in each of the last two years as the Texas Longhorns won their first cup in 2020-2021 and followed it up with a repeat title last year. North Carolina is the only other school to ever win the Directors’ Cup at the Division I level, doing so in the very first year in 1993-1994.

Ohio State has come close to winning the cup before, finishing second in 2010-2011,  2015-2016, and 2016-2017. Overall, they’ve finished within the top 10, 14 times including last year when they finished fourth. The most top-10 finishes without a national championship belong to Florida, which has finished top-10 in each year the cup has been awarded. As of the latest update, the Gators are currently sitting 25th in the country 133 points behind Wisconsin which is currently in the No.10 spot.

Below, we go over the top 10 athletic departments in the recent updates as well as the two programs sitting just outside the top 10.