Connect with us

NC State Baseball

NC State One of Only 16 Schools with Six Straight Top-25 Directors’ Cup Finishes

Matthew Bradham

Published

1 hour ago

on

NC State recently wrapped up the 2025-26 athletic year by finishing 22nd in the final Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.

While another Top-25 finish is impressive on its own, an even bigger accomplishment is revealed when looking at the bigger picture.

The Wolfpack is one of just 16 athletic departments in the country to finish in the Top 25 in each of the past six years.

Six Years of Consistency

Since Boo Corrigan became NC State’s athletic director in 2019, the Wolfpack has consistently been one of the nation’s strongest all-around athletic departments.

NC State’s Directors’ Cup Finishes

2020-21: 23rd
2021-22: 17th
2022-23: 19th
2023-24: 21st
2024-25: 20th
2025-26: 22nd

That six-year stretch gives NC State an average finish of 20.33, placing the Wolfpack among the nation’s most consistently successful athletic programs.

Only 16 Schools Have Done It

Only 16 schools have finished inside the Top 25 every year over the past six athletic seasons.

Rank School 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Avg. Finish
1 Texas 1 1 2 1 1 1 1.17
2 Stanford 2 2 1 2 3 2 2.00
3 Florida 5 5 5 4 7 6 5.33
4 North Carolina 4 6 8 7 4 4 5.50
5 Michigan 3 3 11 8 13 9 7.83
6 Virginia 11 11 4 5 12 5 8.00
7 Ohio State 9 4 3 15 8 10 8.17
8 USC 6 12 10 14 2 7 8.50
9 UCLA 13 15 14 10 5 3 10.00
10 Arkansas 8 7 13 18 11 14 11.83
11 Georgia 10 19 7 16 14 8 12.33
12 Alabama 7 22 12 9 22 13 14.17
13 LSU 15 16 9 13 17 18 14.67
14 Duke 21 21 16 17 10 11 16.00
15 Texas A&M 19 25 24 6 15 12 16.83
16 NC State 23 17 19 21 20 22 20.33

What is the Directors’ Cup?

The Learfield Directors’ Cup was established during the 1993-94 athletic year to recognize the nation’s most successful overall athletic departments.

Rather than rewarding success in a single sport, the standings measure performance across a school’s entire athletic program by awarding points based on NCAA postseason finishes.

It’s one of the best indicators of the overall health and competitiveness of an athletic department.

Related Topics:


Trending