UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Athletics continues to maintain its Top 10 position in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, earning the No. 7 spot in the third set of spring rankings.
The Nittany Lions finished No. 2 in the final winter Directors’ Cup standings, posting their sixth consecutive Top 3 ranking in the final winter compilation. Penn State was No. 4 in the final fall 2014 standings, earning its highest fall finish since being ranked fourth in 2009-10.
Penn State is poised to post its third consecutive and 11th top 10 overall finish in the 22 years of the Directors’ Cup. The Nittany Lions have earned more than 1,000 Directors’ Cup points for the third consecutive year.
Twenty Penn State teams competed in their respective NCAA Championships in 2014-15, in addition to the football team winning the New Era Pinstripe Bowl and 30 teams participated in post-season competition. Nine Nittany Lion squads finished in the top 10 in their respective NCAA Championships this year, with four teams placing in the top four.
Penn State has earned 1,060.75 Directors’ Cup points to rank No. 7. Stanford leads the Directors’ Cup with 1,448 points and is followed by UCLA (1,186), USC (1,159), North Carolina (1,152), Florida (1,105.5), Ohio State (1,087) and Penn State (1,060.75). Virginia, Texas and Notre Dame round out the top 10.
The ACC (three), Pac-12 (three), Big Ten (two), Big 12 (one) and SEC (one) claimed the top 10 spots in the latest Directors’ Cup standings.
Penn State won the 2014 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship and earned Big Ten titles in men’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer in 2014-15. The Nittany Lions have won 74 national championships and 92 Big Ten titles all-time, including five NCAA titles and 19 Big Ten crowns since September 2012. Penn State student-athletes have an 89 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate.
Three Nittany Lions won individual NCAA Championships this season: Senior wrestler Matt Brown won the 174-pound national championship, freshman Thad Lawson captured the individual title on the floor exercise and freshman fencer Andrew Mackiewicz won the men’s sabre national title.
Last weekend, first-year head coach John Gondak directed the Nittany Lion men’s track and field team to its highest finish in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships since 1966. Penn State was tied with Illinois for 10th place in the meet to rank as the highest finishing Big Ten teams. The men’s track and field squad delivered 66.75 Directors’ Cup points.
Penn State is one of only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the final top 25 in all 21 Directors' Cup final standings, joined by: Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Southern California, Stanford, Texas and UCLA.
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings were developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports -- 10 women's and 10 men's.
For Penn State Athletics social media links, go to www.GoPSUsports.com/ot/socialmedia.html.