06/10/2025
The Cortland men's and women's intercollegiate athletic program finished in 23rd place in the 2024-25 LEARFIELD Directors' Cup competition among the approximately 425 eligible NCAA Division III programs competing nationally for the prestigious honor. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), LEARFIELD and USA Today present the award to recognize overall excellence among collegiate athletic programs.
The Red Dragons finished with a score of 632 points. Emory (Ga.) won its first Directors' Cup with 1,198.75 points, followed by Johns Hopkins (Md.) with 1,147, Tufts (Mass.) with 1,069, Washington-St. Louis with 1,044.75 and Middlebury (Vt.) with 971.75.
Cortland was the top scorer among State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) schools and the third-highest scoring school from New York State, behind eighth-place NYU and 18th-place Geneseo. Cortland's finish is its best since 2016-17, and the Red Dragons have now earned 25 top-30 finishes since the competition began in the 1995-96 school year.
Cortland had 13 teams earn points, led by the men's indoor track and field team, which finished fifth nationally, and men's lacrosse team, which tied for fifth nationally. Points are awarded based on NCAA postseason finishes and the size of each postseason field. The national champion in each sport earns 100 points. The Red Dragon scorers were:
Men's Indoor Track and Field - 5th place (75 pts.)
Men's Lacrosse - tied for 5th place (73 pts.)
Football - tied for 9th place (64 pts.)
Men's Outdoor Track and Field - tied for 13th place (61.5 pts.)
Field Hockey - tied for 9th place (53 pts.)
Women's Basketball - tied for 17th place (50 pts.)
Baseball - tied for 17th place (50 pts.)
Softball - tied for 17th place (50 pts.)
Wrestling - tied for 31st place (42.5 pts.)
Women's Golf - 34th place (38 pts.)
Men's Soccer - tied for 33rd place (25 pts.)
Women's Volleyball - tied for 33rd place (25 pts.)
Men's Basketball - tied for 33rd place (25 pts.)
(NOTE: Women's gymnastics finished fourth nationally at the NCGA Division III Championships, but that finish is not counted in the Directors' Cup standings since it is not an NCAA championship.)
There are four Directors' Cup Awards, one to honor overall champions in each of the NCAA's Divisions (I, II and III) and the NAIA. It is the first-ever cross-sectional all-sports national recognition award for both men and women. NACDA is the professional and educational association for more than 22,000 individuals and more than 2,200 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Members include athletic directors, associate and assistant athletic directors, conference commissioners and affiliate individuals or corporations.