Michigan Fourth Nationally in Directors' Cup
1/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
Jan. 14, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan leads all Big Ten schools and stands in fourth place overall in the Division I Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings following the fall season.
The final sport to be unofficially tabulated was football, where Michigan's 11th place finish in the final USA Today/Coaches poll solidified the top marks among Big Ten institutions. The Wolverines finished the fall season with a total of 318.5 points, behind front-running Stanford (Pac-12), Syracuse (ACC) and North Carolina (ACC) and ahead of UCLA (Pac-12).
This fall, Michigan earned top-10 finishes in field hockey (fifth), women's cross country (sixth) and men's cross country (ninth) while also recording top-20 finishes in football (11th) and women's volleyball (17th).
Rounding out the top ten schools were Virginia (ACC) in sixth place, Minnesota (Big Ten), Washington (Pac-12), Notre Dame (ACC) and Penn State (Big Ten).
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports -- 10 women's and 10 men's.
To date, all nine fall NCAA championships have been completed with the following institutions capturing titles: women's cross country -- New Mexico; men's cross country -- Syracuse; field hockey -- Syracuse; women's soccer -- Penn State; men's soccer -- Stanford; men's water polo -- UCLA; women's volleyball -- Nebraska; FCS football -- North Dakota State; FBS football -- Alabama.
The first Division I winter standings will be released Thursday, March 24.
Midseason standings are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the spring season. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website at www.directorscup.org.
Communications Contact: Kurt Svoboda
