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AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

University of Arizona’s all-sport ranking sinks to lowest level

by on Jun. 25, 2010, under Sports
 Year  Finish
2010 30
2009 24
2008 27
2007 24
2006 11
2005 18
2004 12
2003 16
2002 9
2001 5
2000 8
1999 9
1998 6
1997 6
1996 7
1995 4
1994 6

The Arizona Wildcats are set to have their worst showing ever in the Directors’ Cup, an all-sport ranking that has been in existence since the 1993-94 school year.

Arizona used to live in the top 10, but it has become a fringe top 25 athletic department in recent seasons. With only points from baseball still to be counted, the Wildcats are 30th in the nation … and that is where they will finish.

UA will score 25 points for reaching the NCAA tournament in baseball, but that won’t move the Wildcats up in the overall standings, and neither can any school catch them. Arizona’s previous worst finish in the Directors’ Cup was 27th in 2008.

For most of the duration of the Directors’ Cup, Arizona’s athletic director was Jim Livengood, who left in December for UNLV knowing that his expiring contract was not going to be renewed. Greg Byrne took over in May.

It falls to Byrne to get Arizona back in the Top 10.

The Directors’ Cup standings includes the top finishes in the NCAA postseason for a department’s top 10 men’s and top 10 women’s programs. One hundred points are awarded for an NCAA title, with a minimum of five points given to an NCAA appearance, depending on the size of the bracket. For football, points are awarded based on the final USA Today Top 25 poll and bowl game results. Arizona, for example, received 25 points for its Holiday Bowl loss.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Peter

    What an ongoing farce.   This award should be abolished.  It rewards a single school which has nearly unlimited Athletic funds to field every sport.
    Stanford (due to their incredibly large endowment) fields a Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s Field Hockey, Squash, Men’s Fencing, Women’s Fencing, Men’s Sailing, Women’s Sailing, Men’s Gymnastics, Women’s Rowing, Men’s Rowing, Syncronized Swimming, Men’s Volleyball, Wrestling, Men’s Soccer, Men’s Water Polo, Women’s Water Polo, Rifle, … that is the reason why they are awarded the Director’s Cup year after year after year….
    In sports in which we compete head-to-head the schools are on fairly equal ground.   Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, T&F, Swimming…
    Stanford’s Women’s Basketball is a national  juggernaut and is about the only sport that Arizona can’t compete against the Cardinal.
    Kudos to Stanford for being able to compete in those sports and kudos to their athletes for their efforts as well.  But, until the Director’s cup starts to weigh the sports (fans attending/revenue vs. expenses by athletes) the Stanford Athletic Department buys that Award based on how it is measured.
    BFD

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