The Texas Longhorns have won their 4th Directors Cup in five seasons, narrowly beating out USC and Stanford in one of the most competitive battles in the history of the award. The top three teams were separated by only 4.5 points at the end of the season.
The award, originated in 1993, evaluates athletic department successes across the NCAA sporting spectrum to see which schools lead the way in diverse athletic programs.
Stanford owns 26 of the 31 awards given all-time. The only other two Division I schools to win are Texas, which has now won four of the last five, and North Carolina, which won the first edition in the 1993-1994 season.
The win for the Longhorns was secured, ironically, by their long-time rivals Texas A&M. When the Aggies tied USC with 41 points to be named co-champions of the men’s outdoor track & field championships, the Trojans were knocked out of contention for the title. If they had won the track & field championship outright, they would have also won the Directors Cup title.
Top 10 Standings – 2024-2025 Division I Directors Cup Standings
- Texas – 1,255.25
- USC – 1,253.75
- Stanford – 1,251
- North Carolina – 1,195.25
- UCLA – 1,149
- Tennessee – 1,078
- Florida – 1,072
- Ohio State – 1,032.25
- Oklahoma – 1,017.20
- Duke – 1,010
The Virginia Cavaliers, winners of the women’s NCAA title, finished 12th overall.
Teams score points based on the national finishes of their best 19 athletics programs. Five of those must be men’s and women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s soccer, and baseball, while the other 14 can be any NCAA sanctioned championship sport (including swimming & diving, and water polo).
The Longhorns scored big points in swimming this year, with their men securing their record-setting 16th team title and the women finishing 3rd. That accounted for 185 of Texas’ points.
The Longhorns made their big move in the spring season, though, in spite of a disappointing early exit for the baseball team at the hands of UTSA in the Austin regional final as the #2 overall seed in the tournament. USC was also eliminated in the regional final, though for the Trojans that finish was better-than-seed.
The Texas softball team, though, came away with a clutch NCAA title late in the year, upending their former Big 12 rivals from Texas Tech in the Women’s College World Series.
As college athletics evolve post House settlement, with schools allowed to share revenue with athletes, the Directors Cup will become a crucial measure of which schools are maintaining and financially supporting broad athletics departments, and which are siphoning off resources from low-revenue sports like swimming & diving to fund more high-profile sports like football and basketball.
Full List of 2024-2025 NCAA Division I Team National Champions
- Women’s Swimming & Diving: Virginia
- Men’s Swimming & Diving: Texas
- Men’s Water Polo: UCLA
- Women’s Water Polo: Stanford
- Men’s Basketball: Florida
- Women’s Basketball: UConn
- Baseball: LSU
- Men’s Cross Country: BYU
- Women’s Cross Country: BYU
- FCS Football: North Dakota State
- FBS Football: Ohio State
- Note: The FBS football championship is not, technically, an NCAA Championship, but it is used for Directors Cup standings, alongside the FCS football championship, which is an NCAA Championship.
- Men’s Golf: Oklahoma State
- Men’s Gymnastics: Michigan
- Women’s Gymnastics: Oklahoma
- Men’s Ice Hockey: Western Michigan
- Women’s Ice Hockey: Wisconsin
- Men’s Indoor Track & Field: USC
- Women’s Indoor Track & Field: Oregon
- Men’s Wrestling: Penn State
- Men’s Tennis: Wake Forest
- Women’s Tennis: Georgia
- Men’s Outdoor Track & Field: USC & Texas A&M (co‑champions)
- Women’s Outdoor Track & Field: Georgia
- Softball: Texas
- Men’s Soccer: Vermont
- Women’s Soccer: North Carolina
- Men’s Volleyball: Long Beach State
- Women’s Volleyball: Penn State
- Women’s Beach Volleyball: TCU
- Women’s Bowling: Youngstown State
- Field Hockey: Northwestern
- Women’s Rowing: Stanford
- Rifle (Co‑ed): West Virginia
- Skiing (Co‑ed): Utah
- Fencing (Co‑ed): Notre Dame
NCAA Division II, Division III, and NAIA
The Directors Cup for NCAA Division II athletics, which counts up to 15 teams that must include men’s and women’s basketball, men’s baseball, and women’s volleyball, was won by Grand Valley State. The Lakers had a 4th place national finish in men’s swimming and an 8th-place national finish in women’s swimming.
GVSU has won five consecutive Directors Cups, nine out of the last ten, and 16 overall. No other school has won more than six (UC Davis). In fact, only one other Directors Cup has been won by a school still in Division II Athletics – Adams State in 1998-1999.
Nova Southeastern, which won the women’s swimming & diving title, finished 9th, while Drury, which won the men’s title, finished just 57th overall. Men’s swimming & diving scored almost 30% of their total points (100/344).
In NCAA Division III athletics, Johns Hopkins won the Directors Cup for the third-straight season. Division III schools can count up to 18 teams, four of which must be men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s soccer.
Williams, who finished 8th this year in the standings, is the dominant team in Division III history with 22 wins. JHU is the only other school with multiple titles.
Women’s swimming & diving champions MIT finished 6th in this year’s overall standings, while men’s swimming & diving champions Denison were 20th in the final Division III Directors’ Cup standings.
In NAIA, 13 teams can score, four of which must be men’s and women’s basketball, men’s soccer, and women’s volleyball. The University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky won the NAIA Directors’ Cup this year, their second-straight title and second overall title.
That was another school boosted by big swimming & diving points, with both their men’s and women’s programs finishing 4th at the NAIA Championships and picking up 80 points each.
SCAD Savannah, which won both the men’s and women’s NAIA titles in swimming & diving this year, finished 11th in the Directors’ Cup standings.
Ah yes, the award that only 4 athletic directors care for
Couple observations:
-close top 3 schools and all in new conferences!
-it will be hard to beat Texas with all their money in NIL. Even playing field? Until there is a “salary cap”, I think follow the money and it leads to Texas!
Hook ‘em!
Giddy up Horns!!
In the article “low-revenue sports like swimming and diving” could to be stated; “Negative revenue sports like swimming and diving”.
Negative revenues only occur in really odd situations like correcting accounting errors or issuing refunds, neither of which applies to swimming.
What can I say? It’s great to be a Texan today!