UVA Football had another losing season, Tony Bennett quit, Brian O’Connor bolted, but the sports that most people pay no attention to had good years, leading to a 12th-place finish for UVA Athletics in the 2024-2025 Learfield Directors’ Cup.
“This year brought significant change and challenges, yet we continued to excel in both competition and the classroom,” the AD, Carla Williams, who was busy trying to find successors for Bennett and O’Connor, said.
Football got out to a 4-1 start, then lost six of its last seven. Basketball, under interim coach Ron Sanchez, never did get going, finishing 15-17.
Baseball, on the heels of back-to-back appearances in the College World Series, was preseason #2 nationally, started 12-11, failed to get an NCAA Tournament invite, and then O’Connor left for double what Williams gave him in a contract extension that he signed just a year ago.
A national championship in women’s swimming, the fifth in a row for that program, was among the highlights, though UVA Swimming is in the middle of a controversy, with Todd DeSorbo’s right-hand man, associate head coach Gary Taylor, on a two-year probation after admitting to emotional misconduct of athletes dating back to 2015.
No such controversy with men’s golf, which finished as the national runner-up in 2025.
Other notable national finishes:
- men’s indoor track and field tied for sixth
- women’s golf finished eighth
- field hockey and men’s tennis each advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals
- rowing placed 10th
- women’s cross country finished 14th at the NCAA Championships
- men’s soccer, women’s tennis and women’s lacrosse advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 16
- men’s cross country finished 21st at the NCAA Championships
- women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, women’s indoor track and field made NCAA postseason appearances
- wrestling advanced four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year
The 12th-place showing marked UVA’s sixth consecutive Top 15 finish (and 18th overall) in the 32-year existence of the program.
UVA Athletics finished fifth in the Directors’ Cup in 2023-2024.
Virginia placed in the top 25 for the 18th consecutive time and is one of 10 schools to rank in the Top 30 of the final Directors’ Cup standings in every year of the competition.
“Our student-athletes, coaches, and staff consistently performed at the highest level, representing themselves and the University of Virginia with honor, integrity, and unwavering dedication. Their hard work is the foundation of our sustained excellence, and we are truly grateful for the privilege of representing this remarkable institution,” Williams said.
Other ACC schools in the Top 30 included Stanford (second), North Carolina (fourth), Duke (10th), NC State (20th), Cal (24th) and Florida State (28th).
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Chris Graham
