Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Irish 3rd In NACDA Directors' Cup

Jan. 10, 2003

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame stands third in the final set of fall sports standings released in the 2002-03 Division I NACDA Directors’ Cup all-sports competition sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (formerly known as Sears Directors’ Cup).

This marks the highest ranking for Notre Dame since the Irish were third in the ’96-’97 final fall standings (Notre Dame ended up 14th overall that year).

Fall NCAA competition earned the Irish 319 points based on their third-place finish in women’s cross country (85 points, highest total ever in that sport for the Irish), their 22nd-place finish in men’s cross country (30 points), their third-round appearance in women’s soccer (64 points), their second-round appearances in men’s soccer and volleyball (50 points each) and their 17th-place finish in football in the final USA Today/ESPN poll (40 points). Notre Dame was the only school in the country to make postseason appearances in all six of those sports during the fall 2002 season.

Stanford (443 points) leads the competition thanks to its NCAA championship in men’s cross country and its second-place finishes in volleyball, women’s cross country and men’s soccer. Second is Penn State, followed by Notre Dame, Michigan and Wake Forest.

The current standings include results from NCAA fall competition in volleyball, field hockey, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and football.

The next update to include winter sports will be issued March 20.

In previous years in which the Directors’ Cup competition has been held, Notre Dame has finished 11th in 1993-94, 30th in 1994-95, 11th in 1995-96, 14th in 1996-97, tied for 31st in 1997-98, 25th in 1998-99, 21st in 1999-2000, 11th in 2000-01 and 13th in 2001-02.

Here are the current standings:

1.Stanford 443, 2.Penn State 364, 3.Notre Dame 319, 4.Michigan 297, 5.Wake Forest 277, 6.Maryland 244, 7.Michigan State 240, 8.UCLA 237, 9.USC 230, 10.North Carolina 229, 11.Villanova 228, 12.Wisconsin 226, 13.Ohio State 223, 14.Texas 201, 15.(tie) California and William & Mary 189.