Gators Currently Fifth In NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Standings

Helped most by the national title won by the mens' indoor track and field team, the Gators jumped from ninth place to fifth place in the latest Learfield Sports Director's Cup standings (formerly Sears Directors' Cup). Florida's point total was also boosted through solid finishes by both basketball squads, both swim teams and the women's indoor track and field team.

The Gators are ahead of where they typically sit at this point, but there is so much work still left to do.

As usual, Stanford leads the competition by a huge margin, with 876.75 points, which would have been a top twenty finish in last year's final standings despite this season's entire spring slate yet to be tallied. THE Ohio State University follows in second with 707 points, with Penn State third at 655.50 points.

The hated Florida State Seminoles currently sit in fourth place with 626.50, a mere 14.5 points ahead of the Gators. But I expect that to change very quickly, as final winter update is due out on April 26, after this weekend's gymnastics championships. As you know, Florida is ranked No. 1 in gymnastics and is attempting to win its first ever national title in the sport. Gymnastics should catapult the Gators ahead of FSU, but is unlikely to move them higher than fourth because the men of both Penn State and Ohio State dazzled their way to the NCAA men's gymnastics finals - also this weekend. By the way, Stanford is the defending men's gymnastics champion, which partly exposes why they win this thing every year (Stanford has won 17 straight cups after UNC won the inaugural cup)

Teams are awarded 100 points for winning a national title and other teams participating in bracket style championships (such as softball or basketball) are awarded points based upon number of teams in the championship bracket coupled with their performance in the tournament. Non-bracket sports (such as golf or track) are awarded points based on bracket-converted team finishes derived from individual performances. Only football's points are based on final poll rankings (the USA Today poll is used). The scoring is fairly complicated, and is less-than-clearly explained here. There are a maximum of 20 sports counted per school using the top ten men's and top ten women's sports at the school. The scoring system does not favor any particular sport, unlike the scoring system for the newer Capital One Cup which provides disproportionate weight to major sports.

Florida is the only SEC team currently in the cup's top 20. Kentucky is the next highest ranked SEC school at No. 21 with 405 points.