Texas wins Directors’ Cup as nation’s top athletics program

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas athletics officials, like those at many universities, regularly declare their desire to compete in all sports, rather than in selected sports that might be seen as higher priorities.

UT delivered on that pledge this year, winning the Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced.

The Directors’ Cup is the first ever for Texas, which finished second in 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2004-05, and third in 2005-06.

The Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today. A revised scoring system was implemented for the 2017-18 season, in which points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships. Div. I schools can score points in a maximum of 19 sports, four of which must be baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball and women's volleyball.

Texas won the Cup with 1,252 total points. The Longhorns scored in all four mandatory sports — women's volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball and baseball — and 13 out of the 15 additional sports. Stanford placed second with 1195.75 points, followed by Michigan in third (1126.50) and North Carolina in fourth (1126.25). UT’s victory snapped a run of 25 consecutive Cups (no Cup was awarded in 2019-20 due to COVID-19) won by Stanford. North Carolina won the first Cup in 1993-94.

Texas won the national championship in men’s swimming and diving, women’s tennis and rowing, finished as the runner-up in volleyball and placed third in women's swimming and diving, tied for third in men's tennis and baseball and tied for fifth in women’s basketball and women’s golf.

UT tied for sixth in men's outdoor track and field, tied for seventh in women’s outdoor track and field, finished eighth in women's indoor track and field tied for ninth in softball.

Texas has finished in the top 10 in 21 of the 28-year history of the Director’s Cup.