Texas on track for three-peat in Directors’ Cup

Texas has captured the Learfield Directors’ Cup, which recognizes excellence and high finishes across the board in 19 sports on the Division I level, after the past two athletic seasons. For the 2022-23 athletic campaign, the Longhorns are on the road to a potential three-peat according to an Inside Texas subscriber who keeps a keen eye on the Cup’s standings throughout the year.

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Brett Wilkinson, a self-described Google Sheets aficionado and tracker of all things Directors’ Cup, said that while it is too early for full-scale predictions (that will come in the next couple of months) it is possible to get an idea of how the winter and spring will go for Texas based on currently available rankings. 

This Directors’ Cup honors all sports champions, with each institution awarded points in a pre-determined number of sports. The overall champion is the institution which achieves success across the board in both men’s and women’s sports.

Texas finished first in the most recent grading period, scoring 1,449.50 points. Stanford was second at 1,352.25, Michigan third (1,195.25), Ohio State fourth (1,184.50) and Florida in fifth (1,130.75).

Wilkinson said at the current pace, the Longhorns would win for the third time in three seasons.

“For a complete picture, I will make two assumptions,” Wilkinson explained. “First, if you are fast indoors you are also fast outdoors, and I will use the current indoor track and field rankings as the outdoor rankings as well. Second, Texas rowing will be ranked no lower than third (probably first, but let’s be conservative here). 

“If the rankings hold to be true, or at least the pluses and minuses balance out for Texas, the Longhorns are looking to score about 1,420 points this year, about 30 less than last year. Watching for Texas to under or over perform their current rankings will give you a sense of how close to this number they will land.”

Since the inception of the award, Stanford has dominated, reeling off 25 straight victories and leaving the rest of the NCAA to fight for second place. The initial scoring system included points from each school’s top 10 men’s and top 10 women’s sports. 

“For a school like Stanford, which fields 31 NCAA competing teams, this was a huge advantage over smaller programs like Texas who only has 20 programs,” Wilkinson said. “When the Directors’ Cup began in 1993, Texas only had 17 programs and even today, only nine men’s teams. This means that under the old scoring system, Texas was assured of scoring 0 points in 1-3 sports each year.”

In 2018 the scoring system was adjusted to include points from 19 teams regardless of gender with a requirement that four of the teams be men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and volleyball. The combination of these changes to the scoring system, a small step back by Stanford’s athletic department, and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte’s push for success across the board led to Texas taking the crown from Stanford after a quarter of a century run.

Only three programs have ever broken the 1,400-point mark under the new scoring system. Texas did it last year and Stanford achieved this feat in 2018 and 2019. 

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Wilkinson’s curiosity led to his passion

Wilkinson is a 2010 graduate of the University of Texas and a lifelong Longhorn fan. Keeping track of the Directors’ Cup has become his passion over the past three years.

“I have always had a sense that Texas fielded one of the most successful athletic departments in the nation,” Wilkinson said. “But like many Texas fans, I was not familiar with the Directors’ Cup prior to Texas securing their first championship trophy.” 

By the spring of 2022 he was tracking the scores of Stanford as well as a handful of other schools that seemed like threats to win the Cup. And that’s when the real fun began. 

“With all the information at hand, I was able to predict the winner well ahead of time based on rankings and predicted finishes,” Wilkinson said. “Due to all of this, Texas winning their second Director’s Cup Championship came as no surprise to me.” 

This fall, Wilkinson upped the ante and has been tracking the scores of every Division 1 school after each championship. That means he has more than 200 individual spreadsheets to tabulate scores for each Division 1 school. 

“Tracking to this degree has allowed me to share top 10 updates after each championship is completed,” he said. “Come the spring, I will also be able to predict the finish as soon as rankings are out for every sport.”

Longhorns are sitting pretty

The 2022-23 campaign is off to a strong start for Texas. Finishing 18th and 31st this year, the cross country teams started things off by adding 99 points for the Longhorns, 17.5 points more than last year. Women’s soccer earned 50 points (25 points last year) and their first NCAA tournament win in several years by knocking off Texas A&M in the round of 64. 

After a disappointing Elite Eight finish for volleyball last season which earned 73 points, coach Jerritt Elliott and company took home the national championship and the 100 points that go along with it. 

Wrapping up the fall sports, Texas football barely hung in the top 25 of the USA Today Coaches poll, taking home 49 points after a goose egg last year. 

All told, these five programs have scored 111.5 more points this year compared to last fall and 154 more points than in their initial championship year. Their fall standing of eighth place is much higher than in their previous championship years when they ranked 26th and 24th, respectively, at this point of the season. 

Texas is not the only team off to a hot start this fall. North Carolina tops the rankings overall with 382.5 points, 87 more points than they had this time last fall when they went on to place sixth overall. 

“Even with this very hot start, UNC tends to fade back in the spring and I don’t expect more than a top 10 finish from them,” Wilkinson opined. 

Ohio State looks to be another major player this year. It sits in fourth place and is outpacing last year’s showing at this point by nearly 150 points. The Buckeyes again are somewhat limited in the spring and are at risk of losing major points if their men’s basketball team fails to make the NCAA tournament. 

“Lastly, the Stanford Cardinal continue to be the biggest competition for the Directors’ Cup,” Wilkinson said. “A strong fall has it 106.5 points ahead of last year’s pace. It will take a zero in men’s basketball once again, but this has only been a slight speed bump for them in years past. If they keep up this pace and the Longhorns falter, Stanford has a strong chance to win its 26th Directors’ Cup championship.”

The current top 10 standings as well as other breakdowns like Big12 Standings and State of Texas standings can be found at @Direct_Cupdates. This is also where Wilkinson posts updates after each NCAA Championship is completed.