The Tar Heels haven’t won the cup since the 1993-94
In 1993, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics decided that, like all things, they needed something that would let them all know who had the best year. It was a competition meant to reward all the sports, not just the big two or three, but which athletic department from top to bottom had the best year.
Because what’s the point of playing if you can’t determine who’s the best?
The first year, the Directors’ Cup ended up going to UNC—it was sponsored by Sears, that’s how long ago it was—thanks to the performance of sports that included a trip the Gator Bowl, an ACC title and trip to the tournament by the men’s team, and national championships by the women’s basketball and soccer teams.
It turned out that year would be the last one that any program besides one named Stanford would win it for a long time. From 1995 all the way to 2019, the Cardinal would dominate the Cup thanks to their strength in just about every non-revenue sport. The occasional success of the football and men’s basketball team would help, but generally Stanford was in a position to compete—and compete well—in numerous sports that others just couldn’t. To that extent, the Cup had been kind of a joke for the past few years and it’s almost been a run for second place.
It’s worth noting that the Tar Heels “won” that race for second place four times, but the last time they finished that high was after the 2008-09 season.
After the Covid pandemic ended seasons early in 2020, things started to change. Three of the past four years, the Cup has gone back to Austin with the University of Texas, with Stanford taking it in the 2022-23 season. Now it appears that the Tar Heels may have reason to hope the Cup will finally be coming back to Chapel Hill.
On Thursday, UNC announced with the completion of all the winter sports, Carolina is now in first place in the standings. They are 80 points ahead of second-place Stanford, with Wisconsin, Ohio State, and USC rounding out the top five.
Carolina had a strong first two thirds of the year, with the women’s soccer team taking home a title, field hockey finishing in third, both basketball teams making the NCAA Tournament, as well as solid performances in swimming and diving, fencing, track, and volleyball, among others. They’re also set up well in the spring season, arguably one of the strongest sections of the year, as both lacrosse teams are off to strong starts and look to play hard in their NCAA Tournaments, baseball is in the top 25, softball is .500 in the ACC and improving, and of course both tennis teams have become elite programs.
We’ll see if the spring season continues to go well for Carolina, and if they can take the Cup for the first time since the inaugural award. It would help solidify the feeling most fans have that, from top to bottom, UNC has one of the best athletic departments around.
