April 2022 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Update: #ACC Doing Quite Well

Good afternoon, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans.  Hope you are doing well.  Please enjoy this time with your family and friends this holiday weekend.

As I’ve said previously:

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 sports).

There are 5 ACC teams in the top 25 of the most recent (April 2022) Directors’ Cup standings.  Note:  I know that Notre Dame has their half-foot in the door relationship with the ACC, but for purposes of this post, I include the Irish in my top 25 analysis (because Learfield Sports does, too).  That’s pretty darn good.  Notre Dame, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Louisville, and Duke are ranked 2, 7, 8, 19, 20, and 22.  If you go a little further in the list, you’ll see that Virginia and Florida State are ranked 29 and 30, respectively.

A few thoughts here:

• Here’s thinking Notre Dame will finish at the top of the ACC in the Directors’ Cup race.
• The ACC agriculture schools (yes, I’m old school) are doing well.
• My sense is that if standings hold here – North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, and Louisville could potentially finish with their highest Director’s Cup finish ever.  This is particularly impressive for North Carolina State and Virginia Tech – because both institutions does not have as many Olympic sports as other schools.  This might be the best overall sports season in Virginia Tech’s history if one looks at it across the board.

But, as you can see, money matters (e.g., how big your budget is) in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup:

• There are three Big 10 schools in the top 6:  Michigan (1); Ohio State (3); and Wisconsin (6).
• There are seven SEC schools in the top 25 – six in the top 26.
• Texas – with perhaps the largest athletic budget in the country – clocks in at #2.

All in all, though, this is a pretty impressive job on the part of ACC schools – because there’s a resource disparity between the SEC and Big 10 schools – and the ACC.   Member institutions should be proud of their performance.

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