Rouse: Big 12 rocks nationally
BIG 12 LANDS 4 TEAMS IN TOP 25 IN ALL-ROUND SPORTS COMPETITION, by Charles Rouse
KANSAS CITY – Four schools from the Big 12 Conference finished in the top 25 in the 2009-10 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup competition. The Stanford Cardinal out of the Pac 10 Conference captured the top spot among NCAA Division I schools for the 16th consecutive year. In a remarkable run of consistently outstanding performance, the Cardinal have finished first in the Sports Directors’ Cup in all but one year (1993-94) since the award has been given.
The Cardinal scored points in a total of 28 fall, winter and spring sports, but are only allowed to include points from a maximum of 20 sports (10 men’s and 10 women’s). Stanford’s total points count for the school year just ended was an impressive 1,508.50. The Florida Gators finished second with 1,310.25 points scored in eight men’s sports and the maximum 10 women’s sports. Texas A&M led Big 12 schools, finishing 6th in the Directors’ Cup competition for this past year.
The Aggies tallied 1,070.75 points for the year, their best sport being track and field, in which both the men’s and women’s teams won the national championship. The Oklahoma Sooners scored 921.25 Directors’ Cup points to take 12th place, the school’s highest finish ever. Sixteen of the Sooners 21 sports teams competed in postseason competition during the past school year, led by a second consecutive Final Four appearance in women’s basketball, a No.2 (women) and No. 3 (men) finish nationally in gymnastics and a one of the eight men’s Division I baseball teams to make this year to the College World Series.
The Texas Longhorns, who generally produce strong performance across the board in their sports program, finished third among the Big 12 schools, with a 15th-place finish this year in the Sports Directors’ Cup. The Longhorns points total was 858.25. The only other Big 12 representative to crack the top 25 was Nebraska, which finished 17th with 830.75 points. Missouri fared the best of the three area Big 12 schools, finishing 49th out of the 381 NCAA Division I schools with 454 total points, Kansas was No. 73, with 236.50 points, and Kansas State came in at No. 123, with 134 points, most of which came from men’s basketball, where the Wildcats made it to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
Here’s how the rest of the Big 12 schools ended up in Sports Directors’ Cup scoring for this year: Baylor (31st, 633 points), Oklahoma State (33rd, 618.75 points) Iowa State (No. 34, 618.50 points), Texas Tech (No, 44, 551.25 points), and Colorado (No. 69, 282 points). Completing the top five finishers behind Stanford and Florida for the 2009-10 Sports Directors’ Cup were Virginia, which scored in 20 of a possible 20 sports, in third (1,253.25 points), UCLA fourth (1,124 points), and Florida State rounding out the top five (1,087.50).
The Sports Directors’ Cup is awarded annually to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country in Divisions I, II and III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The award is sponsored by Learfield Sports, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. Points are awarded on the basis of how well a school does nationally in up to 20 organized sports conducted during the school year.
This is the second year that Learfield Sports, which manages the multimedia and sponsorship rights for more than 50 collegiate institutions, conferences and associations, has sponsored the Sports Directors’ Cup. The parent company of Learfield Sports is Jefferson, Mo.-based Learfield Communications, which began in the sports marketing field in 1975 as the radio rights holder for the University of Missouri, which remains a client still today.
Charles (Chip) F. Rouse III, the Kansas City Sports Examiner, has spent over 40 years working in and with the news media. Rouse, a journalist by training and a graduate of the University of Kansas, has served in the role of newspaper reporter; in addition to radio and television. To view Chip’s sports articles, including this one, on Examiner.com, please click here. He welcomes your comments at crouse@massappealnews.com.