“There’s the wind-up and the pitch. Strike three! Strike three! UVa has won the National Championship!” In baseball … and men’s tennis … and men’s soccer. Those successes in addition to the contributions of a host of other sports propelled the University of Virginia to a sixth place finish in this years’ Director’s Cup competition.
Three first place finishes, one second place finish, two fifth place finishes, and numerous other top 25 performances paved the way for UVA’s successful 2014-15 campaign. But to reach this level of success every contribution, no matter how large or small, counts. So here’s the breakdown of each UVa sport and the resulting Director’s Cup points according to the final placement or standing.
Virginia - Director's Cup 2015
| Sport | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Women's XC | 15th | 60.0 |
| Men's XC | 21st | 53.0 |
| Field Hockey | DNQ for NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Women's Soccer | NCAAT Runner-Up | 90.0 |
| Men's Soccer | National Champions | 100.0 |
| Volleyball | DNQ NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Football | DNQ Bowl | 0.0 |
| Fall Total | 303.0 | |
| Women's Basketball | DNQ NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Men's Basketball | NCAAT Round of 32 | 50.0 |
| Women's Swim/Dive | 5th | 75.0 |
| Men's Swim/Dive | 33rd | 39.0 |
| Women's Track/Field (I) | DNP | 0.0 |
| Men's Track/Field (I) | 23rd | 49.0 |
| Wrestling | 19th | 55.0 |
| Winter Total | 268.0 | |
| Women's Golf | 20th (tie) | 53.5 |
| Men's Golf | 18th | 56.0 |
| Women's Lacrosse | NCAAT Sweet 16 | 53.0 |
| Men's Lacrosse | NCAAT First Round Loss | 25.0* |
| Rowing | 5th | 75.0 |
| Women's Tennis | NCAAT Sweet 16 | 64.0 |
| Men's Tennis | National Champions | 100.0 |
| Softball | DNQ NCAAT | 0.0 |
| Women's Track/Field (O) | DNP | 0.0 |
| Men's Track/Field (O) | 17th (tie) | 57.0 |
| Baseball | National Champions | 100.0 |
| Spring Total | 558.5 | |
| Cup Total | 1,129.5 | |
| Note: (*) Excluded from point total because the men's program scored in 11 sports. | ||
Total point contributions from the men’s and women’s sports programs were not as evenly distributed as in past Director’s Cup competitions. Seven of the 13 Women’s sports scored 470.0 points and 10 of the 12 Men’s sports scored 659.0 points. The disparity would have been a little greater if the 25.0 points scored by the men’s lacrosse team had not been excluded from consideration (only 10 sports can be counted on each side).
However, the seven scoring women’s sports averaged 67.1 points per sport while the 10 men’s sports that counted toward the Cup averaged 65.9 points per sport. These average results compare quite favorably when the Director’s Cup is shifted to that scoring metric. The women’s average point total converts to a 10th place finish in the 64 team, non-bracket scoring system and the men’s average point total equals an 11th place finish. A more objective metric shows that of the 25 NCAA sanctioned sports in which UVa participates, 16 of these teams finished in the top 25 of their sport.
Some Historical Perspective
The following table gives a complete run-down of Virginia’s performance by season for each Director’s Cup competition. Looking at previous performances, the 303.0 fall sports points tied for the fourth highest point total in school history, the 268.0 winter total was second only to the 273.5 points from the 2009-10 season, and the spring total is the fifth highest point total on record. Combined, the three seasons produced 1,129.5 Director’s Cup points and that now ranks second in school history compared to the 1,253.25 points scored in the 2009-10 season. This is the second year in a row that UVa established a new record for the second highest point total.
| 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. | ||||||||
For the second year in a row the overall point total, the fall point total, and the winter point total exceeded their five-year and 10-year averages. The 2014-15 season also demonstrated a similar pattern as recent Cup seasons with the spring as the most productive season, fall as the second most productive, and winter as the third largest contributor. Of note, and certainly an encouraging trend, the winter sports continued to see an upward tick in the point production and this had a positive effect on the overall placement.
Lastly, it appears that the point total trend has established a new point total benchmark that is becoming a little more stable relative to past year-to-year shifts. Comparing today’s 10-year trends to those of one and two years ago indicates that the expected point total is increasing by a decreasing amount on an annual basis, or phrased differently, the UVa athletic program has matured to a level that the point totals may not increase substantially each year but the expected point totals now fall in a range consistent with a top 10 finish and this level of success appears to now be expected by many sports fans. By all accounts the overall Virginia sports program has developed to a level that anything short of a top 10 Director’s Cup finish, a top 10 Capital One Cup finish for both genders, and at least one National Championship each year might be viewed as an under achievement by the casual UVa sports fan.
Next Year’s Too Early Prediction
Just for grins, I’m going to go out on a limb and throw out a prediction for the upcoming 2015-16 Director’s Cup season. This year I’ll use a similar technique to forecast as last year – this includes sophisticated computer modeling, statistical correlations, probability of continued trends, and a dart board. Also, consideration for program maturity, coaching continuity, recruiting, attrition, and pure speculation will be included in the prediction model. Now it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect a similar number of National Championships this upcoming season but opportunities abound for other sports to contribute anew or increase last year’s totals.
With all of this factored in, the guess for the next Director’s Cup season is a total between 1,075 and 1,210 points and a predicted finish between second and sixth. It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see the point total approach or even exceed the upper end of this range. Similarly, it appears somewhat unlikely that the final tally would come up short of the lower end of the spectrum. If this prediction holds true, however, we should see UVa once again make a strong case for a top 10 finish and if things fall into place a spot in the top three is certainly within reach.
Other Director’s Cup Tidbits
- UVa scored more points than last year but finished lower in the standings. Such are the vagaries of college sports; one or two schools peaked in a few sports where they usually have more ordinary results and the scoring spectrum shifted upward slightly. For instance 1,129.5 points would have been enough to place between second and fifth in seven of the previous 10 competitions but only yielded sixth this season.
- This marks the 17th time in 22 Director’s Cup competitions that Virginia has finished in the top 20. UVa currently has a nine-year streak of top 20 finishes. UVa also has placed the bar quite high in the ACC placing first, second, or third within the conference in 18 of the 22 competitions and only once as low as fifth.
- The 1,129.5 points by Virginia this year is the seventh highest point total ever scored by an ACC team. Further, UVa holds the all-time ACC record for most points in a Director’s Cup season with the 1,253.25 scored in 2009-10. UVa also holds four of the top 10 spots in overall point totals for all Cup competitions.
- UVa has captured six National Championships and four second place finishes over the past five Director’s Cup seasons (2010-11 through 2014-15). These performances accounted for a total of 960 points, or 18.8%, of the total 5,095.5 points scored over those five seasons.
- As a conference, the ACC placed five teams in the top 25 with North Carolina (fifth) leading the way followed by Virginia (sixth), Notre Dame (10th), Florida State (11th), and Duke (20th). The only other conference with more top 25 finishes was the SEC with seven (fourth, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, and 25th).
- Stanford, Florida, UCLA, UNC, and Texas are the only schools to have a top 20 finish in every Director’s Cup competition. What is even more impressive is that neither Florida (11 women, nine men) nor Texas (10, eight) field the maximum allowed 10 Director’s Cup sports for both genders.
- The ACC was an abysmal fifth behind the SEC, B1G, BIG12, and PAC12 in the Director’s Cup conference standings. However, if you consider the disparity in the number of schools in each conference it might be worth comparing the performance of an equivalent number of schools from each conference. The PAC12 with 10 schools (go figure) becomes the benchmark so looking at the top ten schools from each conference places the ACC in a virtual tie for third with the B1G and the BIG12 but still significantly behind the SEC and the PAC12.
- Stanford continues to roll and it is going to be hard to overcome that juggernaut. But it should be noted that the Stanford women’s program is the engine pulling that train. This Director’s Cup season the Stanford women scored 1,014.25 points from 14 sports for a per sport average of 72.4 points. The Stanford men scored 621.0 points from 10 sports for a per sport average of 62.1 points. The lone Stanford coed scoring sport generated 60.0 points. To beat Stanford a school would need a powerhouse men’s program coupled with a competitive women’s program. It just doesn’t seem feasible to out point the Stanford women’s teams.
- Stanford and UF 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.
- Stanford (4 women, 0 men, 1 coed), Florida (1, 0, 0), UNC (2, 1, 1) and UVa (0, 1, 0) were the only schools that had a surplus of scoring sports and thus had to forego excess points against their final total.
- Virginia (0 women, 3 men, 0 coed), Ohio State (1, 2, 0) and Oregon (1, 2, 0) were the pacesetters in the National Championship race with three titles each. Stanford (2, 0, 0), UF (2, 0, 0), Colorado (0, 1, 1) and UConn (2, 0, 0) were just behind with two each.
