Good evening, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) fans. And here we are 😉 With both college football and men’s college basketball done for the year, we’re watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs – but we miss college football – we miss college basketball lol.
Many of you might not have heard of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. It is an award that honors institutions maintaining broad-based athletics programs success in many sports (including male and female sports). The Directors’ Cup, founded by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics and USA Today, began in 1993-1994 for NCAA Division I athletics. In 1995-96, it was expanded to include Division II, III and the NAIA. Each institution is awarded points in a pre-determined number of sports for men and women. The overall champion is the institution that records the highest number of points in their division’s Directors’ Cup standings. For NCAA Division I, there are 20 sports included (ten men’s and ten women’s).
Once again this year, you see the Big 10 flexing it’s muscle in the Directors’ Cup Standings. After the Final Winter Update, four of the top 10 schools in the standings (three in the top 4), include Michigan (#2), Wisconsin (#3), Penn State (#4), and Ohio State (#9). Just outside the top 10 is Minnesota at #11. Stanford, however, seems to be on track to win its 25th straight Directors’ Cup – and that is pretty amazing (the Cardinal have more Olympic sports than most, if not all schools).
The ACC has three institutions in the top ten, including Notre Dame (#5), Virginia (#6), and Duke (#8). The impressive look here is seeing NC State at #14 – Debbie Yow has done very well leading NC State’s athletic programs. Florida State and North Carolina at #15 and #19, respectively. The Hokies continue their multi-year impressive run in the Directors’ Cup hanging around the standings at #23 (Whit Babcock provides steady leadership of the Virginia Tech Athletics Department). Rounding out the top 40 of the standings are the Louisville and Wake Forest at #23 and #35, respectively.
While it doesn’t appear that any ACC team will catch Stanford, the ACC has done very well – and member institutions should be proud of the conference’s performance in the Cup.
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