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Tennessee grabs third straight top 10 finish in LEARFIELD Directors' Cup

On3 imageby:Brent Hubbs•06/26/25•

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Tennessee AD Danny White
© Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee athletics continues its run of excellence as the “Everything School” has finished in the top-10 in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup for the third straight year. 

Tennessee finished sixth in this years rankings which is the second highest finished since the Directors’ Cup was created in 1993. 

The Big Orange has steadily ascended in the Directors’ Cup standings over the last five years since the competition was canceled in 2019-20. Tennessee finished 26th in 2020-21, 13th in 2021-22, sixth in 2022-23 and last year’s high-water mark of No. 3.

Before UT’s three consecutive top-10 rankings over the previous three years, Tennessee last achieved a top-10 Directors’ Cup finish in 2006-07, when it reached a previous-best No. 7.

“We are thrilled to have achieved success across all 20 of our sports, culminating in this sixth-place finish in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup,” said Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Danny White. “This result not only ties for our second-best finish in school history but also marks the first time we have achieved a Top 10 ranking for three consecutive years. Congratulations to our exceptional student-athletes, coaches and staff for giving their all for Tennessee!”

All 20 sports at Tennessee reached the postseason (NCAAs and a bowl game) for just the second time in school history – with both achievements coming in each of the last two years.

Tennessee is the only Power Five school to have every sport reach the postseason in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. And White has made it clear his investment into all athletic programs will continue to remain high even as the world of college athletics changes next week with the arrival of revenue sharing. 

“Whatever the rules of engagement are, if it’s about investing in our teams and making sure they have every competitive advantage possible that’s what we are going to do,” White said last month. “We have a competitive administration. We have competitive coaches. We are not generating all of this revenues to put it in some coffers to make me feel good. We are generating revenue to reinvest in our programs to win at a high level,” White stated

Tennessee finished behind Texas, Southern California, Stanford, North Carolina, and UCLA

Five sports finished in the top five nationally, led by softball’s national semifinal finish. Overall, 12 UT programs placed in the final top 15 for the 2024-25 academic year.

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