Learfield Sports Director Cup, July 6

UO release – The Oregon athletic department continues to mix with elite company in its success across the spectrum of collegiate athletics, as measured by the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. For the recently completed 2017-18 academic year, Oregon ranked 24th in the Directors’ Cup standings, which were released Monday. Fueled by success in softball, men’s and women’s cross country and track and field, and women’s basketball, the Ducks accumulated 786.75 points in 2017-18. The top-25 finish was Oregon’s seventh in a row, and ninth in 10 years. The Ducks are one of 17 departments nationally with seven straight top-25 finishes. “We’re proud to see our focus on broad-based excellence once again reflected in the Directors’ Cup standings,” UO director of athletics Rob Mullens said. “Our student-athletes, coaches and staff have put together a phenomenal run of success, unprecedented in the department’s history.” The Directors’ Cup allows for 19 teams participating in NCAA competition to be counted toward each school’s annual point total, the exact number sponsored by the UO athletic department. Oregon was the only program that sponsors 19 or fewer sports in the top 25 for 2017-18, and finished with the top score among departments of that size for the ninth year in a row. Stanford, which sponsors 33 NCAA teams, was first in the standings, for the 24th year in a row. UCLA and Southern California joined the Cardinal in the top five, and Cal and Oregon gave the Pac-12 five teams in the top 25.