The University of Virginia placed fourth in the 2014 Director’s Cup competition with the third-place finish in 2009-10 as the only one to surpass that success. Within the ACC, Notre Dame (third) was the leader of the pack followed closely by Virginia (fourth), Duke (ninth), Florida State (12th) and North Carolina (14th).
One second-place finish, four Final Fours, one fifth-place finish, and one Elite Eight punctuated UVa’s 2013-14 athletic season. Each Virginia sport, the final placement or standing, and the resulting Director’s Cup points are presented below with the sports indicated in the applicable Director’s Cup season.
Virginia - Director's Cup 2014
| Sport | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Women's XC | 9th | 69.0 |
| Men's XC | 13th | 63.0 |
| Field Hockey | NCAAT First Round Loss | 25.0 |
| Women's Soccer | NCAAT Final Four | 83.0 |
| Men's Soccer | NCAAT Final Four | 83.0 |
| Volleyball | DNQ NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Football | DNQ Bowl | 0.0 |
| Fall Total | 323.0 | |
| Women's Basketball | DNQ NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Men's Basketball | NCAAT Sweet 16 | 64.0 |
| Women's Swim/Dive | 11th | 66.0 |
| Men's Swim/Dive | 26th | 48.0 |
| Women's Track/Field (I) | DNP | 0.0 |
| Men's Track/Field (I) | DNP | 0.0 |
| Wrestling | 23rd | 50.5 |
| Winter Total | 228.5 | |
| Women's Golf | 14th | 61.5 |
| Men's Golf | 38th (tie) | 33.5 |
| Women's Lacrosse | NCAAT Final Four | 83.0 |
| Men's Lacrosse | NCAAT First Round Loss | 25.0 |
| Rowing | 5th | 75.0 |
| Women's Tennis | NCAAT Elite 8 | 73.0 |
| Men's Tennis | NCAAT Final Four | 83.0 |
| Softball | DNQ NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Women's Track/Field (O) | 44th (tie) | 18.0 |
| Men's Track/Field (O) | 54th (tie) | 25.0 |
| Baseball | NCAAT Runner-up | 90.0 |
| Spring Total | 567.0 | |
| Cup Total | 1,118.5 |
For some historical perspective, the total for fall sports is the second highest behind the 337 points generated in the 2009-10 season, while the winter sports total is the seventh all-time highest. The spring sports total is tied with 2008-09 for the third highest behind the 642.5 points produced in 2009-10 and the 622.5 points in 2010-11. The 1,118.5 total points for this season rank second behind the 1,253.25 scored in the 2009-10 season.
The men’s and women’s programs contributed equally to the success this year. Nine of the 13 women’s sports and 10 of the 12 men’s sports scored Director’s Cup points by participating in NCAA Tournaments. The nine scoring women’s sports totaled 553.5 points (61.5 average) and the 10 scoring men’s sports totaled 565 points (56.5 average). To put those results in a slightly different perspective, the women’s average point total is equivalent to a 14th-place finish in the 64-team, non-bracket scoring system and the men’s average point total is equivalent to an 18th-place finish (for reference the Director’s Cup scoring chart can be found at DC Scoring). Or stated more objectively, of the 25 NCAA sanctioned sports in which UVa participates, 14 of these teams finished in the top 16 of their sport.
Some Historical Perspective
The following table gives a complete run-down of UVa’s performance by season for each Director’s Cup competition. The 2013-14 year generally followed the script for recent DC seasons with spring as the most productive season, fall as the second most productive, and winter contributing on a lesser scale.
| DIRECTORS' CUP | ||||||||
| UVA HISTORICAL RESULTS | ||||||||
| FALL | WINTER | SPRING | TOTAL | |||||
| SEASON | POINTS | PLACE | POINTS | PLACE | POINTS | PLACE | POINT | PLACE |
| 1993-1994 | 112.00 | 28 | 230.00 | 20 | 171.00 | (*) | 513.00 | 19 |
| 1994-1995 | 162.50 | 15 | 240.00 | 13 | 61.50 | (*) | 464.00 | 19 |
| 1995-1996 | 216.50 | 7 | 64.00 | 33 | 245.00 | (*) | 525.50 | 19 |
| 1996-1997 | 139.50 | 18 | 176.00 | 22 | 203.50 | (*) | 519.00 | 22 |
| 1997-1998 | 160.00 | 6 | 70.00 | 20 | 190.00 | (*) | 420.00 | 13 |
| 1998-1999 | 130.00 | 9 | 90.00 | 21 | 270.00 | (*) | 490.00 | 8 |
| 1999 - 2000 | 140.00 | 20 | 233.50 | 24 | 325.00 | (*) | 698.50 | 13 |
| 2000-2001 | 120.00 | 26 | 161.00 | 44 | 206.50 | (*) | 487.50 | 30 |
| 2001-2002 | 189.00 | 11 | 223.00 | 20 | 214.50 | (*) | 626.50 | 27 |
| 2002-2003 | 172.00 | 18 | 198.00 | 31 | 320.00 | (*) | 690.00 | 19 |
| 2003-2004 | 128.00 | 32 | 175.00 | 20 | 274.00 | (*) | 577.00 | 30 |
| 2004-2005 | 151.00 | 24 | 166.00 | 34 | 491.50 | (*) | 808.50 | 13 |
| 2005-2006 | 181.00 | 16 | 132.00 | 20 | 298.50 | (*) | 611.50 | 26 |
| 2006-2007 | 303.00 | 7 | 182.50 | 20 | 459.50 | (*) | 945.00 | 13 |
| 2007-2008 | 218.00 | 14 | 198.00 | 26 | 453.00 | (*) | 869.00 | 17 |
| 2008-2009 | 244.00 | 11 | 248.00 | 19 | 567.00 | (*) | 1059.00 | 8 |
| 2009-2010 | 337.00 | 2 | 273.50 | 8 | 642.75 | (*) | 1253.25 | 3 |
| 2010-2011 | 244.00 | 10 | 225.50 | 20 | 622.50 | (*) | 1092.00 | 7 |
| 2011-2012 | 157.00 | 27 | 242.50 | 30 | 510.50 | (*) | 910.00 | 15 |
| 2012-2013 | 235.50 | 19 | 156.00 | 33 | 454.00 | (*) | 845.50 | 20 |
| 2013-2014 | 323.00 | 5 | 228.50 | 15 | 567.00 | (*) | 1118.50 | 4 |
| 2014-2015 | 303.00 | 9 | 268.00 | 10 | 558.50 | (*) | 1129.50 | 6 |
| 2015-2016 | 295.00 | 11 | 288.75 | 11 | 504.75 | (*) | 1088.50 | 8 |
| 2016-2017 | 244.00 | 6 | 230.50 | 25 | 387.50 | (*) | 862.00 | 19 |
| 2017-2018 | 250.50 | 12 | 231.50 | 24 | 348.00 | (*) | 830.00 | 21 |
| 2018-2019 | 226.00 | 14 | 344.00 | 38 | 467.50 | (*) | 1037.50 | 8 |
| 2019-2020 | NO COMPETITION BECAUSE OF COVID-19 | |||||||
| 2020-2021 | 83.00 | 58 | 275.50 | 38 | 611.75 | (*) | 970.25 | 11 |
| 2021-2022 | 117.00 | 53 | 236.50 | 39 | 589.00 | (*) | 942.50 | 11 |
| 2022-2023 | 297.00 | 9 | 185.00 | 12 | 623.50 | (*) | 1105.50 | 4 |
| 5 Year Average | 184.10 | 28.6 | 263.60 | 32.8 | 480.75 | (*) | 928.45 | 14.0 |
| 10 Year Average | 223.40 | 21.4 | 250.18 | 26.3 | 499.85 | (*) | 973.43 | 12.3 |
| 28 Year Average | 199.34 | 17.4 | 206.71 | 24.2 | 393.37 | (*) | 799.41 | 15.3 |
| (*) Total sport placement reported in lieu of individual spring sport placement. | ||||||||
| Note: Averaged results are for the years preceding the 2022-23 competition year (excluding 2019-20). | ||||||||
| All tabulated data based on information from the NACDA website. | ||||||||
Next Year’s Too Early Prediction
Predictions are easy but they can be reasonably accurate when combined with some data from past events. A simple method to predict next year’s score is by evaluating the individual sports on a trending basis and assign a range of points with the best information at hand. Upward, downward, and neutral trending can be used to describe how the points from this year may translate into next season. For instance, men’s track and field is probably upward trending and should produce more points next year than this year. This information in conjunction with highly sophisticated mathematics and one Ouija Board should put one in the ball park. For the upcoming 2014-15 Director’s Cup competition my Ouija Board is predicting a range of 1,020 to 1,220 points (that’s a pretty wide range but at this stage it is just a guess). However, if this prediction holds true then UVa should again be poised for a top 10 finish in the next Director’s Cup competition with potential to once again challenge for a spot in the top three.
Other Director’s Cup Tidbits
- This marks the 16th time in 21 Director’s Cup competitions that UVa has finished in the top 20. Virginia currently has an eight-year streak of top 20 finishes. It is also a pacesetter in the ACC placing first, second, or third within the conference in 17 of the 21 competitions and only once as low as fifth.
- The 1,118.5 points by UVa this year are the seventh highest total ever scored by an ACC team. Further, Virginia holds the all-time ACC record for most points in a Director’s Cup season with the 1,253.25 scored in 2009-10 followed by UNC’s 1,184.25 points in 2008-09 and Duke’s 1,171.5 points in 2010-11.
- The ACC was a distant fourth behind the SEC, B1G, and PAC12 in the Director’s Cup conference standings.
- The dominance of Stanford is bleaker than is apparent by their final score of 1,482 because Stanford exceeded the maximum 20-sport total this year, the Cardinal had to jettison approximately 364 points to arrive at the maximum allowed sports. To put that into perspective, the unused 364 points would have placed 59th overall in the standings … ahead of Clemson, Miami, Boston College, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, and Georgia Tech.
- Stanford and Florida have maintained a level of consistency over the history of the Cup that no other school can match. Stanford’s lowest finish is second and UF’s lowest finish is seventh. For comparison, all other schools with at least one top 20 finish have had at least one season of finishing 16th or worse.
- The University of Kentucky made its’ first appearance in the top 20, debuting with an 11th-place finish this season. Notre Dame’s third-place finish is its best Director’s Cup final placement having finished no higher than sixth previously.
- Stanford (three women, four men, one coed), Florida (2, 0, 0), Notre Dame (1, 0, 0), Duke (1, 0, 0), and UNC (0, 1, 0) were the only schools that had an excess of scoring sports and thus had to forego excess points against their final total.
- Penn State (one women, one men, one coed), Oregon (1, 2, 0) and UConn (2, 1, 0) led the National Championship parade with three each. UCLA (2, 0, 0), USC (0, 2, 0), and Duke (1, 1, 0) were just behind with two each. None of these schools finished ahead of UVa in the final DC standings.
And that concludes another Director’s Cup competition. Time to put the pencil, paper, and abacus in storage and await the start of the next Director’s Cup season this fall.
