UVA finished fourth in the final 2013-14 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup competition for Division I schools. The final results were announced Friday (June 27) by the National Association of Directors of Athletics (NACDA). The fourth-place finish is the second highest in program history and marks the eighth consecutive year the Cavaliers’ program has placed in the top 20.
Virginia is one of 14 schools to rank in the top 30 of the final Directors’ Cup standings in each year of the program’s existence.
Points in the Director’s Cup standings are awarded by a school’s finish in each sport in which it competes in NCAA postseason play. Each school may count its highest finishes in 10 men’s sports and 10 women’s sports.
“Our strong spring capped another successful year for UVa athletics as 21 of our teams participated in NCAA postseason play,” Virginia athletics director Craig Littlepage said. “I’d like to thank our student-athletes, coaches and staff for all of their hard work this season. The University administration and our fans also gave us an incredible amount of support and they share in our success. We look forward to working with everyone associated with Virginia athletics to position all of our sports programs to compete in postseason play and help the department reach it’s 10-year goals of winning 12 NCAA championships and 70 ACC titles.”
Highlights from the year included the baseball team’s runner-up finish at the College World Series and national semifinal appearances by the women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and men’s tennis programs. The rowing team finished fifth at the NCAA championships for the second consecutive season and the women’s tennis team made its first NCAA quarterfinal appearance. In addition, the men’s basketball program advanced to its first NCAA Sweet 16 since 1995.
UVa captured five Atlantic Coast Conference championships for the second straight year and its 63 conference titles since the spring of 2002 are the most of any ACC school during that time. In 2013-14, UVa won ACC championships in men’s basketball, rowing (14th in 15 years), women’s swimming and diving (seventh consecutive), men’s tennis (eighth consecutive and 10th in the last 11 years) and women’s tennis (first in program history).
Individually, sophomore Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) claimed the first NCAA singles championship in women’s tennis program history and women’s soccer midfielder Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) earned the Hermann Trophy as national player of the year.
Steve Swanson (women’s soccer) was named National Coach of the Year and ACC Coach of the Year. Tony Bennett (men’s basketball), Augie Busch (women’s swimming and diving), Brian O’Connor (baseball) and Kevin Sauer (rowing) also earned ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2013-14.
Additional highlights of Virginia’s 2013-14 athletics year included:
• Men’s cross country finished 13th at the NCAA Championships
• Women’s cross country finished ninth at the NCAA Championships
• Four-time All-American Elly Buckley led the field hockey team to the NCAA Tournament and No. 7 rank in the final NFHCA poll
• All-American men’s golfer Denny McCarthy finished sixth at NCAA Championships, second best finish in UVa history
• Women’s golf finished 14th at the NCAA Championships
• Men’s lacrosse reached the NCAA Tournament for the 36th time in program history and the 20th time under head coach Dom Starsia
• All-Americans Liz Colgan, Morgan Stephens, Courtney Swan and Liza Blue led the women’s lacrosse team to its 14th NCAA semifinal berth and 19th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance
• Men’s soccer reached the NCAA College Cup for the 11th time and extended the nation’s longest current streak of 33 consecutive NCAA Tournament bids
• Women’s Soccer had a perfect regular season (19-0-0) and reached the NCAA College Cup for the first time since 1991
• Men’s swimming and diving placed 26th at the NCAA Championships
• Women’s swimming and diving finished 11th at the NCAA Championships, the highest finish since 2010
• Men’s tennis broke the ACC all-sport consecutive conference win record, with an active streak of 122 matches (regular season and postseason), breaking the previous record of 116 wins by Duke women’s tennis from 1989-2000.
• Women’s tennis captured its first ACC regular season and tournament championships en route to a school-best 24-6 record
• Wrestling took 23rd place with 18.5 points at the NCAA Championships.
• Virginia’s Jon Fausey (wrestling), Molly Menchel (women’s soccer), Kate Norbo (women’s soccer) and Thomas Porter (men’s cross country/track & field) earned Weaver-James-Corrigan postgraduate scholarships from the ACC.
Stanford finished first in the NCAA Division I Directors’ Cup standings for the 20th consecutive year with 1482.00 points and Florida was second with 1216.50 points.
UVa was one of five ACC programs to finish in the top 20 of the Directors’ Cup standings. Other ACC schools in the top 20 of the Directors’ Cup standings were Notre Dame (3rd, 1128.25), Duke (9th, 1051.00), Florida State (12th, 994.25) and North Carolina (14th, 976.00).
There are five Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup awards, one to honor the institution with the best overall athletics program in each of the NCAA’s Divisions I and I-AAA, II and III, and the NAIA. The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today.
2013-14 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Final Top 25 Point Standings
1. Stanford 1482.00
2. Florida 1216.50
3. Notre Dame 1128.25
4. Virginia 1118.50
5. Penn State 1113.00
6. Texas 1093.00
7. UCLA 1078.50
8. USC 1063.75
9. Duke 1051.00
10. Texas A&M 1022.00
11. Kentucky 1016.25
12. Florida State 994.25
13. Michigan 983.25
14. No. Carolina 976.00
15. Oregon 943.00
16. Georgia 938.75
17. Alabama 926.50
18. Wisconsin 912.25
19. Oklahoma 902.75
20. California 878.75
21. Minnesota 875.25
22. Okla. State 867.00
23. Nebraska 845.50
24. LSU 833.75
25. Ohio State 824.00
ACC Schools in Final 2013-14 Directors’ Cup Standings
3. Notre Dame 1128.25
4. Virginia 1118.50
9. Duke 1051.00
12. Florida State 994.25
14. No. Carolina 976.00
32. Maryland 676.00
37. Virginia Tech 587.50
41. NC State 537.75
53. Syracuse 422.50
60. Clemson 355.50
64. Miami (Fla.) 335.50
65. Boston College 329.00
70. Wake Forest 318.50
85. Pittsburgh 232.75
89. Georgia Tech 209.75
Schools Ranked in the Top-30 of All 19 Directors’ Cup Point Standings (1994-2014)
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Florida
Georgia
Michigan
North Carolina
Ohio State
Penn State
Stanford
Texas
UCLA
USC
Virginia
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