Sharks Athletics Finishes 26th in Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup Standings

 

Riding a huge winter tide that saw a national top-four women’s swimming finish and NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearances in both men’s and women’s basketball, the Nova Southeastern University athletic department posted its highest finish in the NCAA Division II Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings since the 2015-16 season. Accumulating 475 points throughout the 2018-19 season, the Sharks finish 26th out of 300 Division II institutions, 268 of which appeared in the final rankings.

“The Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup is certainly one of the most prestigious traditions to measure athletic success in our business,” NSU Director of Athletics Michael Mominey said. “Of course, we have several other means by which we measure our accomplishments, but this national and very public athletic metric is very important to us, as it is to many other athletic departments around the country. Our coaches, staff and student-athletes continue to achieve greatness on and off the field of play. We have sustained a high level of this success because of our great people who have created this culture of success, as we continue to focus on building champions. We do this by providing a first-class student-centered experience to education through athletics.”

With their appearance at 26th, the Sharks exceeded each of the previous two years and have maintained their position in the upper tier of the Directors’ Cup standings after only sitting outside of the top 100 during the first four years following NSU’s NCAA transition – In 2018-19, the Sharks produced their 13th consecutive top-100 finish and sixth of 26th or higher.

NSU garnered 280 of its points in the winter, 170 in the spring and 25 in the fall – scoring in all three seasons for the seventh consecutive year.

The Sharks made their biggest move of the year from fall to winter, jumping from a 132nd-place tie to 18th on the strength of women’s swimming (90 points), men’s basketball (73 points), women’s basketball (73 points) and men’s swimming (54 points). Women’s swimming finished fourth at the NCAA Championships, basketball ended the season as one of only two programs with both squads in the NCAA Elite Eight and men’s swimming earned the Sunshine State Conference Championship and a 12th-place final ranking. In the fall, women’s soccer got the Sharks started with 25 points on an NCAA Championships appearance. Coming down the home stretch in the spring, women’s golf (54 points) produced a team Super Regional appearance, women’s tennis (50 points) was conference runner-up and hosted a Regional, baseball (50 points) tied for the SSC’s best record and reached the South Region final and men’s golf (15 points) ranked third in the SSC along with a team Regional appearance.

Grand Valley State won the Learfied IMG College Director’s Cup for the fourth time in the past five seasons with 1004 points to best UC San Diego (826 points), which will begin transitioning to Division I in 2020.

Recently renamed alongside the sponsor, the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 14 sports — seven women’s and seven men’s.

About Learfield IMG College: Learfield IMG College unlocks the value of college sports for brands, fans and universities through the representation of collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas. As a fully integrated sports marketing and solutions platform, Learfield IMG College provides access to licensing and multimedia sponsorship management, including publishing, radio, digital and social media; fan engagement, ticket sales and professional concessions expertise; branding; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue technology systems. The company has long had the privilege of being an advocate for intercollegiate athletics, and since 2008, has served as title sponsor of the acclaimed Directors’ Cup.

 

 

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