The Men’s College World Series ended on Wednesday night, bringing the 2007-08
sports season to a conclusion. Today, the final standings of the Directors’ Cup
competition were released, and Virginia Tech continues to move up the charts
year after year.
The Hokies finished 37th this year in the Directors’ Cup, their highest
standing in school history. Their 569 points is also the best in school history.
Here is a look at how Tech has done in the Directors’ Cup since it began in
1993-94.
Directors’ Cup Final Standings for Virginia Tech |
||
Year | Points | Rank |
1993-94 |
141.5 | 90 |
1994-95 |
81.5 | 129 |
1995-96 |
147.5 | 91 |
1996-97 |
152 | 92 |
1997-98 |
70 | 96 |
1998-99 |
90 | 86 |
1999-00 |
260.5 | 63 |
2000-01 |
278.5 | 63 |
2001-02 |
168 | 105 |
2002-03 |
157 | 112 |
2003-04 |
218 | 79 |
2004-05 |
331.5 | 58 |
2005-06 |
430.75 | 45 |
2006-07 |
434 | 48 |
2007-08 |
569 | 37 |
The Hokies have moved up steadily in the rankings since joining the ACC for the
2004-05 season. Although their ranking slipped from 2005-06 to 2006-07, their
overall points went up, showing growth in the athletics program.
Tech has improved quite a bit since joining the league, improving by over 200
points. There was almost a 100 point boost between 2004-05 and 2005-06, Tech’s
first and second years in the conference. There was a 135 point boost between
2006-07 and 2007-08.
How are the Hokies stacking up against the rest of the ACC? Let’s take a
look.
The ACC in the Directors’ Cup |
||
Team | Points | Rank |
UNC |
978.5 | 14 |
FSU |
971.5 | 15 |
UVA |
869 | 17 |
Duke |
821 | 19 |
Virginia Tech |
569 | 37 |
Clemson |
457.25 | 43 |
Wake Forest |
445.75 | 45 |
Miami |
445.5 | 46 |
Maryland |
394.5 | 52 |
Georgia Tech |
368 | 55 |
NC State |
365.5 | 56 |
Boston College |
292.5 | 69 |
This year there appear to be four different levels of schools in the ACC. The
top level consisted of UNC, FSU, UVA and Duke. All four of those schools could
have easily finished first in the conference. Trailing those schools by a large
margin was Virginia Tech. The Hokies are the only team in the second group,
because they are ahead of Clemson, Wake Forest and Miami by quite a few points.
At the bottom are four teams – Maryland, Georgia Tech, NC State and Boston
College. Those schools don’t have very successful sports programs, on the whole.
It was a banner year for Tech athletics. Many things contributed to the high
finish. The football team won the ACC and finished in the Top 10, and the men’s
soccer team reached the College Cup. The women’s track & field team earned
points for their indoor and outdoor performances.
Tech’s spring sports did very well. Softball finished fifth nationally after
making it to the College World Series. Men’s golf, men’s tennis and men’s track & field also earned points.
The Hokies were very close to finishing even higher. They were one of the
last few teams left out of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, where an
invitation would have earned a minimum of 25 points. The women’s track &
field team also could have finished much higher than their 31st place finish in
the outdoor national championships. Top runners Queen Harrison and Kristi
Castlin missed the event with injuries.
Will the Hokies keep improving, or will they fall back to the middle of the
pack? It will be tough to match this year’s performance, as it’s unlikely that
softball or men’s soccer will make such a deep run in the postseason again soon.
However, you never know when another program might pick up the slack.
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