As first predicted here at Tomahawk Nation thirteen days ago by TN member and commenter extraordinaire tricknole, Florida State finished ninth in the final Directors Cup Standings released today.

In addition, Florida State's Men's sports teams finished 12th, and the Lady Noles sports teams finished 25th in the inaugural Capitol One Cup standings.

For the second straight year the Florida State athletic program has finished in the top 10 of the final Division I Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings. The Seminoles finished No. 5 in 2009-10 and this year after being the only Division I school in the nation to send all of its sports to NCAA postseason play, Florida State finished ninth in the final standings.

This is the sixth consecutive time that the Florida State athletic department has placed in the top 15 of the standings. Prior to 2006-07 the Seminoles hadn't finished higher than 22nd dating back to the 1998-99 academic school year. Florida State was boosted into the top 10 not only due to all its athletic programs participating in NCAA postseason play but also due to a Sweet 16 run by the men's basketball team, a Super Regional appearance by the baseball team, runner-up national championship finishes by men's track and field, men's cross country and women's cross country and a national quarterfinal run by the women's soccer team.

"Finishing in the top 10 of the Director's Cup standings is a complete effort by this entire department, our coaches and especially our student-athletes," said Florida State Director of Athletics Randy Spetman. "To finish in the top 10 for a second straight year and inside the top 15 every year I have been at Florida State is a testament to the hard work put in by all our athletic department employees. We are very proud to be amongst this select group of athletic programs."

Florida State was one of four ACC schools to finish in the top 10. The ACC was the only conference to place more than two schools inside the top 10 and only two other conferences had multiple member institutions inside the top 10 placing two schools in a piece. Duke (5th), North Carolina (6th) and Virginia (7th) joined Florida State in the top 10 of the standings, which rank 279 institution's athletic departments.

Florida State finished the 2010-11 academic year with three national runner-up team finishes, four ACC Championships, three ACCC Coach of the Year honors, more than 60 All-America honors, three CoSIDA first team Academic All-Americans, four ACC Scholar Athletes of the Year and 69 All-ACC Academic team selections.

"To see the number of athletes that have had this success in the classroom makes the top 10 finish based on athletics even more meaningful to our department," said Spetman. "To have four ACC Scholar Athletes of the Year, three CoSIDA first team Academic All-Americans, a James Tatum Award winner in Christian Ponder, a first team academic All-American like Kim Williams and nearly 70 student-athletes be recognized on All-ACC Academic teams is a true highlight for this past academic year."

Courtesy of FSU SID

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, which is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), recognizes the schools with the best overall sports performances in an academic year. Points are awarded based on finishes and participation in each of the participating institutions top 20 NCAA Division I sports.

The Directors' Cup is a program that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program, and for achieving success in the many sports that the NCAA offers a championship for in men's and women's sports competitions.  The Cup first began in 1993-94 for only Division I programs by the NACDA and USA Today jointly, but was expanded in 1995-96 to include Division II, III and the NAIA.

Each institution is awarded points in a pre-determined number of sports. In Division I, each institutions top 10 men’s and top 10 women’s sports are eligible for points. Points for the Directors' Cup are based on order of finish in various NCAA sponsored championships, or in the case of Division I Football, the USA Today poll.

Here is yearly breakdown of the final Directors' Cup rankings for Florida State since its inception.

Incredibly, Stanford has won for the 17th straight year, which is quite a accomplishment even though they accumulate many of their points in many non-major sports categories, but nevertheless, it is still an impressive streak. Stanford has won every year except the first year, 1993-94, which was won by North Carolina. As winners, they will once again receive a Crystal Waterford Trophy.

The Capital One Cup is awarded annually to each of the top men's and women's Division I college athletics programs in the country. Points toward the Capital One Cup are earned and tracked throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Division I Championships and final official coaches’ polls. One winning men’s and one winning women's program will be crowned after the completion of the final NCAA spring championships. Each winning athletic program will receive the Capital One Cup and $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. Winners will be presented at the annual ESPY awards.

Sports are grouped based on fan interest, school participation and other factors. Schools earn points for a top ten finish in NCAA Championships and final official coaches' polls. Men's sports and women's sports are totaled separately, and the top men’s and women’s finishers will receive separate awards.

School		Points
1.	Florida	93
2.	Virginia	82
3.	Auburn	70
3.	Texas A&M	70
5.	Stanford	69
6.	Cal	61
7.	Connecticut	60
7.	Eastern Washington	60
7.	South Carolina	60
10.	Ohio State	52
11.	North Carolina	49
12.	Florida State	48
13.	Duke	42
14.	Oklahoma State	41
15.	Akron	40
16.	Oregon	37
16.	Texas	37
18.	Butler	36
18.	Delaware	36
18.	TCU	36
21.	Maryland	34
22.	Kentucky	33
22.	LSU	33
22.	Michigan	33
25.	Arizona	30
25.	Vanderbilt	30
25.	Villanova	30
28.	USC	28
29.	Appalachian State	24
29.	Kansas	24
29.	Louisville	24
32.	Cornell	22
33.	Oklahoma	21
34.	Augusta State	20
34.	Denver	20
34.	Georgia	20
34.	Minnesota Duluth	20
34.	Penn State	20
34.	Wisconsin	20
40.	Wofford	18
41.	Brigham Young	16
42.	Georgia Southern	15
42.	Virginia Commonwealth	15
44.	Boise State	14
44.	Iowa	14
44.	New Hampshire	14
44.	Notre Dame	14
44.	UCLA	14
49.	William & Mary	13
50.	Syracuse	12
50.	Virginia Tech	12
52.	North Dakota	10
53.	Indiana	9
53.	Minnesota	9
55.	Arizona State	8
55.	Johns Hopkins	8
55.	Tennessee	8
58.	American	6
58.	Boston College	6
58.	Georgia Tech	6
58.	Illinois	6
58.	North Dakota State	6
58.	SMU	6
64.	Baylor	5
64.	Yale	5
66.	Bucknell	4
66.	Texas Tech	4
68.	Arkansas	3
68.	Iona	3
68.	Lehigh	3
68.	Miami (OH)	3
68.	Stephen F. Austin	3
73.	Brown	2
73.	Northern Arizona	2
75.	Merrimack College	1

School		Points
1.	Stanford	121
2.	Texas A&M	112
3.	Cal	106
4.	Florida	86
5.	Notre Dame	76
6.	USC	72
7.	Arizona State	60
7.	Penn State	60
9.	North Carolina	53
10.	Texas	52
11.	Baylor	48
12.	Maryland	46
13.	Oregon	44
14.	LSU	40
14.	Northwestern	40
16.	Duke	38
17.	Connecticut	34
18.	Alabama	33
18.	Georgia	33
18.	Oklahoma	33
21.	Arizona	28
22.	Virginia	27
23.	UCLA	26
24.	Ohio State	25
25.	Florida State	22
26.	Oklahoma State	21
27.	Boston College	20
27.	Brown	20
27.	Villanova	20
30.	Tennessee	19
31.	Princeton	18
31.	Washington	18
33.	Missouri	15
34.	Arkansas	14
35.	Nebraska	12
35.	Purdue	12
37.	Loyola - Maryland	10
37.	Texas Tech	10
39.	Gonzaga	9
40.	Albany	8
40.	Clemson	8
40.	Georgetown	8
43.	Minnesota	7
44.	Auburn	6
44.	Illinois	6
44.	New Mexico	6
44.	Portland	6
44.	Syracuse	6
44.	Wisconsin - Green Bay	6
50.	Colorado	5
51.	Miami	4
51.	Michigan State	4
51.	Penn	4
51.	Stony Brook	4
55.	DePaul	3
55.	Iowa State	3
55.	Old Dominion	3
58.	Providence	2
58.	Southern Mississippi	2
58.	UMass	2
58.	Wisconsin	2
62.	American	1
62.	Michigan	1
62.	Vanderbilt	1

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