Tar Heels fourth in final Learfield Directors’ Cup standings

Sparked by NCAA championships in women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse, UNC-Chapel Hill finished fourth in the final 2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, equaling the Tar Heels’ best national finish in the last 16 seasons. 

It is Carolina’s sixth-consecutive top-10 finish, and the ninth time in the last 10 seasons the Tar Heels placed in the top 10. 

The Directors’ Cup measures NCAA postseason success in 19 sports (schools must count baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer and volleyball). 

Carolina amassed 1,195.25 points, the second-most by an ACC institution. It is the 26th time in 31 years of the competition the Tar Heels had the most (20 times) or second-most points in the ACC.  

University of Texas at Austin won the 2024-25 Directors’ Cup with 1,255.25 points, the Longhorns’ fourth title in the last five years. University of Southern California was second, trailing Texas by just 1.5 points. Stanford University, in its first season as a member of the ACC, was third at 1251.00.  

Texas, Stanford and Carolina, which was the inaugural champion in 1993-94, remain the only schools to win the Directors’ Cup. 

Carolina women’s soccer won its 22nd NCAA championship (and 23rd national title) in December, and women’s lacrosse concluded an unbeaten and untied season with its fourth NCAA title in May. Those national championships both provided 100 Cup points for the Tar Heels. 

They were among nine top-10 performances in NCAA play this season by Carolina teams. Field hockey and women’s tennis were both third, men’s cross country finished sixth, men’s indoor track and field was eighth and baseball, women’s basketball and men’s lacrosse all placed ninth. 

Eight other Tar Heel teams had top-25 NCAA finishes including women’s cross country (11th), fencing (13th), gymnastics, women’s swimming and diving, men’s outdoor track and field and volleyball (all 17th) and men’s swimming and diving and women’s indoor track and field (both 23rd). 

Wrestling and men’s basketball were the other two teams that provided points. Six other sports advanced to NCAA postseason competition but weren’t among the 19 teams allowed to score points in the Cup totals. 

In an academic year in which Carolina led the ACC with four team championships, 26 of Carolina’s 28 programs competed in NCAA postseason play. 

Carolina’s fourth-place finish is the 26th time the Tar Heels placed in the top 10. Only Stanford and University of Florida (with 31 apiece) have more.  

The Tar Heels have accounted for 26 of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 54 all-time finishes in the top 10.  

Read more about the Directors’ Cup rankings.  

2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings 

1. Texas, 1255.25 points
2. USC, 1253.75
3. Stanford, 1251
4. Carolina, 1195.25
5. UCLA, 1149
6. Tennessee, 1078
7. Florida, 1072
8. Ohio State, 1032.25
9. Oklahoma, 1017.2
10. Duke, 1010