2017-18 Learfield Directors' Cup --- #10

After finishing out of the Directors' Cup Top 10 (#s 12, 12, 17) over the past three academic years, TAMU finally made it back in at #10 for the academic year 2017-18.
When AD Bill Byrne was here, for five consecutive academic years (2009-10 thru 2013-14), we finished in the Top 10 (#s 6, 8, 9, 5, & 10).
http://www.nacda.com/sports/directorscup/spec-rel/063018aaa.html

SEC Rankings:
3. Florida --- essentially always in the Top 10
8. Georgia
10. Texas A&M
14. Alabama
16. Arkansas
17. Kentucky
18. Auburn
26. South Carolina
27. LSU
33. Missouri
35. Tennessee --- with all of its resources, this is surprising
38. Mississippi
42. Mississippi State
55. Vanderbilt

Ranking of each Aggie sport:
3. Men's Tennis --- we came oh so close; that was heart breaking
3. Women's Swimming & Diving
5. Men's Golf
5. Men's Indoor Track & Field
7. Men's Outdoor Track & Field --- finally fantastic T&F facilities
9. Men's Basketball
9. Softball --- new stadium should increase our recruiting
9. Women's Basketball
10. Women's Indoor Track & Field
14. Men's Swimming & Diving
17. Women's Soccer
17. Women's Tennis
19. Women's Outdoor Track & Field --- finally fantastic T&F facilities
28. Women's Golf --- will improve significantly with Coach Gaston
32. Men's Cross Country
33. Baseball
51. Football --- will certainly see improvement here

Thanks for the breakout by sport. You are right. Men's Tennis came close. Also, Softball came really close to a return trip the WCWS. Nice to see the athletic program back in the top 10.

...so much potential yet untapped at A&M though...

Was Stanford #1 as usual?

Bottom two for A&M:
Baseball 32
Football 53

Yes

"Bottom two" were not Baseball and Football.
Women's Cross Country & Volleyball were our bottom two.
We did not receive any points from either sport.
However, incredibly we received points from 17 of our 19 NCAA sports. That says a lot about the overall quality of our athletic department.

Stanford was #1. They have been #1 every year for many years. And it is rarely close.

Top 10 for 2017-18
1. Stanford
2. UCLA
3. Florida
4. USC
5. sips
6. Michigan
7. Ohio State
8. Georgia
9. Florida State
10. Texas A&M

As long as Stanford can offer a degree from Stanford, they will dominate non-revenue sports. Very few athletes in those sports will ever be able to eke out a living as professional athletes.

Congratulation to A&M Athletics for getting back into the Top 10 of the Learfield Director's Cup !

IMHO, we will improve on #51 for Football in 2018-2019 (though men's basketball will probably take a step back).

MidTnAg said:

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When AD Bill Byrne was here, for five consecutive academic years (2009-10 thru 2013-14), we finished in the Top 10 (#s 6, 8, 9, 5, & 10).

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Ok...but I'd rather win a National Championship in football than women's outdoor track and field (no offense to Coach Henry).

arontc09 said:

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As long as Stanford can offer a degree from Stanford, they will dominate non-revenue sports. Very few athletes in those sports will ever be able to eke out a living as professional athletes.

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They also offer a lot of random sports that other athletic departments don't have - like rowing, sailing, fencing and water polo

The Director's Cup only counts points from a schools Top 20 finishes. Stanford had 26 teams earn points. By comparison, A&M only fields 19 teams of which 17 earned points.
As has been said, Stanford fields teams in a lot of obscure sports where winning and racking up points are easy because there is so much less competition.
A&M being in the Top 10 is pretty good considering that. But, as was pointed out, football and baseball could have done a lot better.

A&M football, baseball , and men's basketball all are perennial underachievers relative to facilities, resources, and general support imo. I know basketball doesn't draw well which I hate but it is what it is. Wer'e on our way in football I believe. Football has basically underachieved for two decades excepting one yr. Baseball and basketball have done better than football but still not consistently where they should be. Adjustments need to be made in both imo.

the Learfield Cup is just classic, classic Byrne.

do awesome in the minor / olympic / non-revenue sports...suffer in the rest

agnerd said:

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MidTnAg said:

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When AD Bill Byrne was here, for five consecutive academic years (2009-10 thru 2013-14), we finished in the Top 10 (#s 6, 8, 9, 5, & 10).

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Ok...but I'd rather win a National Championship in football than women's outdoor track and field (no offense to Coach Henry).

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And get BOTH are really possible at A&M

It may be classic Byrne, but I love the fact that we have a well-rounded athletic department. I remember the days when all we cared about was football and only a tiny little bit about soccer, softball, and baseball. No one...and I mean NO ONE...gave two craps about T&F, swimming, golf, tennis, volleyball, etc. Without question, football needs to improve (I think it will), men's hoops needs to be more consistent (doubtful under Kennedy), and baseball needs to do better in the post-season than they've done lately...but I truly, truly enjoy seeing our track, swimming, golf, and women's hoops teams doing well on a national scale.

SEC lags behind Pac 12 in fall points. Best SEC points in the Fall was Alabma but that was 260 pts less than Stanford and Florida scored 280 pts less than Stanford.

I guess several of following sports: W Lax, M Lax, W Rowing, W Water Polo and Beach Volleyball are in the fall and SEC doesn't compete in those sports.

How did we stack rank versus schools with equal amount of teams

Byrne had the right formula.

1. Build the best facilities. That helps recruiting and can lead to hosting NCAA post-season games.
2. Hire the best coaches. We upgraded coaching in a number of sports. Football didn't pan out as desired, but Fran was a hot hire and Sherman could certainly spot talent.
3. Expect success.

This formula upgraded the program overall and set the tone for championships. One poster said I'd rather have a football title than track. but before Byrne we had neither. Multiple track titles and women's basketball national titles were sweet. The rise of the men's basketball program has been fun to watch and that goes back to Byrne, too.

Learfeild is not the be all end all, but it is a measure of a complete program. If you look at the past year, track, baseball, and football were the programs off the pace of where they have been or in the case of football where we would like it to be. I'm proud that we invest in sports across the board.

I know there will be those who think football is the only thing that matters, but to the kids who compete. to the students who attend the games, and to the reputation of the school as a whole, I am glad to see that A&M is a top 10 athletic program.

arontc09 said:

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As long as Stanford can offer a degree from Stanford, they will dominate non-revenue sports. Very few athletes in those sports will ever be able to eke out a living as professional athletes.

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Stanford does not dominate just because it is a high academic institutions because they are other such institutions who do not.

pdaddy said:

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How did we stack rank versus schools with equal amount of teams

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There are 34 different NCAA sports. To keep colleges with more sports having an advantage over colleges with smaller athletic departments, Directors' Cup counts points from only 19 sports.

Four of these sports must be Baseball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, and Women's Volleyball.

#1 Stanford has roughly 28 NCAA athletic sports and remarkably scored in 26 sports in the Director's Cup. Thus, they earned points in 7 sports that were not even counted.

busmasterjones91 said:

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Byrne had the right formula.

1. Build the best facilities. That helps recruiting and can lead to hosting NCAA post-season games.
2. Hire the best coaches. We upgraded coaching in a number of sports. Football didn't pan out as desired, but Fran was a hot hire and Sherman could certainly spot talent.
3. Expect success.

This formula upgraded the program overall and set the tone for championships. One poster said I'd rather have a football title than track. but before Byrne we had neither. Multiple track titles and women's basketball national titles were sweet. The rise of the men's basketball program has been fun to watch and that goes back to Byrne, too.

Learfeild is not the be all end all, but it is a measure of a complete program. If you look at the past year, track, baseball, and football were the programs off the pace of where they have been or in the case of football where we would like it to be. I'm proud that we invest in sports across the board.

I know there will be those who think football is the only thing that matters, but to the kids who compete. to the students who attend the games, and to the reputation of the school as a whole, I am glad to see that A&M is a top 10 athletic program.

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Byrne was a really good AD and who we needed at the time, but Woodward > Byrne

maybe Billy Kennedy isn't a bad coach after all

I believe that you get to count the highest scoring 10 mens' and 10 womens' sports. We have 19 D.C. sports, 10 womens' and 9 mens'. One of my personal annoyances is that equestrian doesn't count, although more schools participate in equestrian than water polo, among others. Go back to the final scores, add say, at least another 80 points, and we'd move up a couple of places.

One school I think we ought to emulate is UF. I believe they also participate in 19 D.C. sports, and they usually finish several places higher than us.

Scoring 1000 points is a reasonable goal. It forces us to average over 50 points per sport which equates to a top 16 finish for every sport. For the NCAA sports with single elimination rounds, we'd have to get to the second round of every sport. That would be disappointing for our track and field teams, and historically virtually impossible for the two cross country teams, for example.

It was a good year. Congratulations to all our Aggie athletes.

From their Web site:
http://www.nacda.com/sports/directorscup/spec-rel/050417aaf.html

For the past 20-plus years, the scoring was based on 20 total sports scored (10 men's, 10 women's)

Beginning with the 2017-18 year, the scoring was changed to count 19 sports, four of which must be Baseball and Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, and Women's Volleyball

Regarding SEC universities, Florida clearly has the best overall athletic programs. I believe they have finished in the Top 5 for the past 10 years. They are definitely the program to try to emulate.

We consistently have the second-best program in the SEC and one of the very best nationwide.
This is something that we should be extremely proud of.