3d ago other sports Edit

FSU athletics finishes 12th in all-sports Director's Cup standings

Bob Ferrante • TheOsceola

Editor

With strong finishes in spring sports — No. 2 in men's golf and tied-No. 3 in baseball — Florida State vaulted to a 12th-place finish in the Learfield Director's Cup standings to wrap up the 2023-24 athletics season.

FSU also fared well with totals in the fall, racking up points with the soccer team's national title and football taking a top-10 rankings.

It's FSU's highest finish since 2018-19. The Seminoles scored 998.88 points. The full standings can be viewed here.

"This was a great year for Florida State athletics,” Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford said in a statement. “We have a commitment to comprehensive excellence and supporting our student-athletes at the highest level, and that is reflected in the results. Our women’s soccer team claimed another national championship to highlight seven top-10 national finishes throughout our department and 18 programs that competed in the postseason.

"I’m so proud of all the hard work from our student-athletes, coaches and staff, and I’m thankful for the support and alignment from President McCullough and the Board of Trustees led by Chairman Peter Collins. We are continuing to build a bright future for Florida State.”

FSU’s baseball team earned third-place points for its run to the Men’s College World Series semifinal, beach volleyball placed fifth after playing into the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament, and football contributed a sixth-place national finish following a campaign that featured an undefeated regular season and an ACC title.

Softball and men’s tennis each scored ninth-place points by advancing to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament, while women’s golf earned an 11th-place finish and women’s tennis scored in 17th place after winning its first-round NCAA Tournament match.

The men’s track and field team placed 15th at the NCAA Indoor Championships and 19th at the outdoor national championship meet. Men’s swimming earned a 21st-place finish at the NCAA Championships, and men’s cross country placed 27th at the national meet. Women’s basketball and volleyball both scored in 33rd place after being selected for their respective NCAA Tournaments. Women’s swimming and women’s indoor track and field placed 38th at the NCAA Championship meets, and women’s outdoor track and field added points with a 54th-place finish nationally.

FSU claimed five conference championships, with soccer and football both steamrolling to ACC titles behind an undefeated record. Volleyball won its first ACC title since 2012, beach volleyball won its seventh CCSA championship in the last eight years, and men’s tennis earned its first ACC crown by becoming the first team in ACC Tournament history to win four matches in four days and the first to defeat the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the same tournament.

Overall, 19 sports per school are counted in the final LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup standings, four of which must be women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, men’s basketball and baseball. The next 15 highest-scoring sports, regardless of gender, are used in the standings.The LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in the NCAA Championships.