Pac-10 again builds biggest pile of titles
The College World Series marked the end of the college athletics season, and I thought it would be fun – as well as time-consuming as we look for some ways to pass the time before football kicks off – to look at how the “Big Six” conferences fared across the board in athletics.
There are a couple of ways to compare, and I admit that none is particularly scientific. Still, like I said, it’s fun. So, here we go.
THE DIRECTORS’ CUP METHOD
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics – in short, a sort of athletic directors union – annually presents the Directors’ Cup to honor what the group calls “the best overall collegiate athletics program in the country.”
To no one’s surprise, Stanford is the 2007-08 winner. We say it’s no surprise because Stanford has won the trophy 14 consecutive years. UCLA was second for the third year in a row.
Four Pac-10 schools were in the top seven, five in the top 13 and eight in the top 27 (each league school except Washington State, which was 73rd, and Oregon State, which was 89th).
The SEC had seven of the top 25, led by Florida at No. 6 (the 24th consecutive top-10 finish for the Gators). The SEC had three in the top 10 and five in the top 20.
The Big Ten had six of the top 29, with Michigan the highest at No. 3. The league had three of the top 11 and four of the top 18.
The Big 12 had one in the top 10 (Texas, at No. 5), two in the top 12 (Texas A&M was 12th) and three in the top 23 (Oklahoma was 23rd).
rivals.com
6/30/08
