June 29, 2006
Final 2005-06 Directors' Cup Standings in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Led by another spectacular spring season and berths in postseason play by 11 of its 19 teams, Northwestern University's athletic department earned its second-consecutive 29th-place showing in the 2005-06 Sports Academy Directors' Cup -- matching the department's best showing in history set a year ago.
Also for the second-straight year, Northwestern finished sixth among its Big Ten peers in the Cup standings. Prior to last season, NU never had finished above ninth in the conference. This feat is particularly impressive considering NU (along with Illinois) has the fewest teams in the Big Ten with 19.
Developed in 1993-94 as a joint effort between the USA Today and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup is the only all-sports competition that recognizes the institution with the best overall athletics program. Schools can earn points by gaining NCAA postseason berths in as many as 10 men's and 10 women's sports, receiving a maximum of 100 points for a national championship.
For the 2005-06 season, a scoring wrinkle was introduced into the process that differed from previous years. If a divisional sport is sponsored by 25 percent or less of the division's institutions, the maximum number of available points for that sport is cut in half. So -- with women's lacrosse winning its second-consecutive NCAA championship -- Northwestern received 50 Directors' Cup points instead of 100.
Considering that fact, it becomes even more impressive that Northwestern earned 4.75 points more than last year to finish with a total of 537.5. NU qualified one more team for the postseason in 2005-06 than in 2004-05.
Once again, the spring season propelled Northwestern into the top-30 for the second-straight year. In addition to women's lacrosse's 50 points, softball earned 90 points with its second-place finish at the Women's College World Series, while women's tennis brought in 73 points for advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals. Men's golf earned 51 points with its qualification for the NCAA Championships and women's golf added 45 with its showing at the NCAA Regional Championships.
During the fall, volleyball won its first NCAA tournament game in program history to garner 50 points for Northwestern. During the winter, men's swimming (10th), women's fencing (11th), wrestling (13th) and women's swimming (41st) all picked up points for the 'Cats.
Football points are awarded for a team's final finish in the USA Today coaches' poll. The Wildcats earned a trip to the Sun Bowl (for their 7-4 regular-season and 5-3 third-place Big Ten finish) and were ranked No. 25 in the final BCS ranking.
"2005-06 was a great year for our athletic program," Northwestern Director of Athletics Mark Murphy said. "We earned more points than last year and qualified one more team for postseason play. This year we successfully defended both of our national championships from last year (women's lacrosse and Matt Grevers in men's swimming) and added another with Cristelle Grier and Alexis Prousis winning the NCAA women's tennis doubles title. We had a number of All-America and All-Big Ten awards, and many of our coaches and student-athletes earned individual honors as well. We have so much to be proud of as a department."
Ohio State led the Big Ten with a 12th-place finish, with Penn State (15th), Minnesota (16th), Wisconsin (22nd) and Michigan (24th) rounding out the top five in the conference. Arkansas ended up in 28th place overall with 547.625 while Oklahoma State was 30th with 516.5. Stanford won the Directors' Cup title -- its 12th consecutive crown -- with 1,197.375 points.