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.

Texas clinches consecutive Director’s Cup Championships

For the second straight season Texas stands above other institutions as the model of excellence.

For the second consecutive year, The University of Texas has won the Director’s Cup. The Director’s Cup is awarded to the Athletic Department that performs best across all sports. Continue reading “Texas clinches consecutive Director’s Cup Championships”

Texas had the best year of athletics in the nation for 2020-21, here is where each team finished

Texas’ athletic program was the best of the best for the 2020-21 season.

Under athletic director Chris Del Conte, Texas’ athletics department as a whole has seen exuberating success. As of recently, they’ve shown why Texas is one of the top institutions both athletically and academically.

In 2018-19, the Longhorns finished fourth in the Learfield IMG College Director’s Cup standings, which is a competition that is based off how all collegiate sports teams finish their season.

That was their highest finish in the national all-sports rankings since 2005-06, but Del Conte and the program have hit a new high. For the first time ever, the Longhorns have won the Director’s Cup. In doing so, they have also become the first school outside of Stanford to win it since 1994.

How dominant was Texas sports throughout the 2020-21 season? The Longhorns recorded three NCAA Championships, the most by Texas since the 1989-90 season. On top of that, they took home 13 Big 12 conference titles.

If you were to add in Texas’ football program from the 2020 season to the list above, who although underwhelmed from an expectations standpoint, it’d be another top 25 finish at No. 19 overall.

With the baseball season ending just days ago, we now know where each respective Texas program finished amongst their peers for the 2020-21 season. Let’s take a look at where each program finished the season and played a large part in Texas winning the Director’s Cup.