Syracuse in 3rd place in initial Director’s Cup Standings

Last week saw the release of the first Learfield Director’s Cup standings and the Syracuse Orange found themselves in third place. Syracuse has accumulated 164 points in cross-country and field hockey and trail only the Michigan Wolverines and Stanford Cardinal.

Syracuse earned 63 points for the 13th place finish by men’s cross-country, 53 points for the field hockey team’s 9th place finish, and 48 points for the women cross-country team’s 26th place finish.

Points are awarded by the team’s final placing in the NCAA and schools are allowed to count a maximum of 19 sports which is down one from previous years. Schools must count baseball, basketball and women’s volleyball. Obviously Syracuse is at a disadvantage here since the Orange don’t field a NCAA baseball team.

The next rankings will update for water polo and soccer so Syracuse will not gain any additional points. The same will be true for the football and women’s volleyball upstate so the Orange will not be able to maintain this lofty ranking. We’ll have to wait for the March 22nd release and see if Syracuse can grab points from track & field and women’s ice hockey.

The Orange finished 44th in last year’s Director’s Cup and will need a strong Winter/Spring to match that in 2017-18.