STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford won the 2017-18 Division I Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, extending its streak to 24 consecutive seasons of capturing the award presented to the most successful intercollegiate athletic department in the nation.
Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir accepted the latest trophy during the annual National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA) conference in Washington, D.C.
Stanford compiled 1,442.00 points, with UCLA (1,326.00), Florida (1,216.00), USC (1,147.00) and Texas (1,143.25) rounding out to the top five.
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today. With the updated scoring system this year, all scores were counted for men's and women's basketball, baseball and women's volleyball. Additionally, only up to 15 other of the highest scores were included in the final score. Points were awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA championships.
Stanford claimed five national championships for the second consecutive academic year, increasing its overall number to 142. Of its championship total, the Cardinal's 117 NCAA titles are the most all-time. Stanford has won at least one such crown in each of the past 42 seasons, the longest streak in the nation dating back to the 1976-77 campaign.
Stanford began its championship haul in December, becoming the first school to capture both women's and men's soccer titles in the same season. The women won their second national title, 3-2 over UCLA, behind a historic offense that scored a single-season, school-record 91 goals, 30 more than the next closest team.
One weekend later the men cemented their dynasty when they became just the second program to win three straight NCAA titles with a 1-0 double-overtime victory against Indiana. The Cardinal did not allow a goal throughout the entire tournament for the second straight year and upped its NCAA-record postseason shutout streak to 12 - a stretch of 1,214 minutes and 20 seconds.
In March, the Cardinal's women's swimming and diving squad had 16 different All-Americans combine for 56 All-America honors, five American records, eight individual national championships and five relay titles to win its second consecutive NCAA championship with the highest point total in 13 years (593).
Two months later, 15th-seeded women's tennis rallied past top-seeded Vanderbilt in the final, 4-3, to secure its 20th national championship. Stanford closed the season on a 20-match win streak and equaled its own record from 2016 as the lowest-seeded team to win a title.
Bolstered by victories in both the lightweight eight and four, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) awarded the team points trophy to Stanford last week, giving the Cardinal its fourth consecutive women's lightweight rowing team championship.