Texas Clinches Director’s Cup for 2nd Year in a Row Amid Run of Success in Spring
The Texas Longhorns have done nothing but win across all of its Division 1 teams in 2022. Texas AD Chris Del Conte will soon take home some prestigious hardware to back it up.
The Director’s Cup is awarded to the nation’s top athletic department at the end of each academic calendar year.
Teams earn points based on where they finish nationally in their respective sport. The sum of points across all NCAA Division 1 teams for a school is their score towards the Director’s Cup.
Texas clinched the Director's Cup with a score of 1440.5. Stanford is in second with a score of 1343.25 and a max score of 1379.25. Michigan is in third with a score of 1245.25.
These scores were provided by @Direct_Cupdates on twitter.
Stanford won the Director’s Cup for 25 straight years before the Longhorns snapped their streak in 2021. A large reason why Stanford was able to sustain success for so long was due to the amount of Division 1 programs it has.
The more Division 1 programs a school has, the more opportunities they have to earn points towards the Director’s Cup. Stanford has 36 Division 1 programs, which is the most in the country.
Texas is coming off a year that saw it finish as the National Champion or National Runner-Up in 10 out of their 18 Division 1 programs.
The National Runner-Ups included Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving, Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field, Women’s Indoor Track and Field, and Softball.
Texas won four National Championships in 2022. Men’s Indoor Track and Field won its first National Championship in program history. Men’s Golf won its first National Championship since 2012. Women’s Tennis and Rowing both repeated as National Champions.
Texas Baseball has yet to be eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. It could add to the Longhorns' success if they win the Greenville Super Regional and make a run in the College World Series.
Del Conte has the Texas athletic department operating at a level Texas fans have never witnessed in the school's history. Del Conte’s goal is to have all 18 of Texas’s Division 1 programs competing at a top-five level. He is on his way to achieving this goal after back-to-back Director’s Cup victories.
The only program that is not seeing the same level of success as the rest is football. Football is the most popular sport at Texas. Most Texas fans would rather see the football program succeed if it meant all else failed.
That is not the way Del Conte sees it. He wants the entire Longhorn brand to be the most powerful brand in collegiate sports and that is only possible when there is sustained success across all of Texas’s sports.
That said, Del Conte will not let the other sports succeed while the football program parishes. He has the entire athletic department headed in the right direction, and he is determined to elevate the football program along with it.
You can follow Michael Gresser on Twitter @gresser_michael
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