Related Articles: Sports & Recreation, All

Stanford Wins Again

Stanford has won the Learfield Director’s Cup every year since 1994.

by Staff on Jul 14, 2010
 Email  Print Share

THE LEARFIELD Director’s Cup award, which was inaugurated in 1993–94, selects the top collegiate athletic program. Since then, Stanford University has won the award for 16 straight years.

Lea Maurer, head coach of the women’s swimming team and 1992 Olympic Gold Medal winner, says Stanford succeeds year-in and year-out because of a culture of achievement that permeates the university.

“Stanford has a community around it in which people are constantly striving for excellence in every endeavor,” she says. In the 2009–10 season, Stanford took home national championships in men’s volleyball, women’s tennis and women’s lightweight crew. It was the 34th straight year that at least one team at Stanford has taken home a national championship.

The award is a partnership between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, USA Today and the collegiate sports marketing company Learfield Sports. It was previously the Sears Cup. Six other Cardinal teams placed second nationally last year. Even more impressive, twenty of 35 Stanford intercollegiate programs finished top 10 in national rankings.

Headlines may be dominated by men’s football and basketball, but it is the lesser known endeavors that earn Stanford repeated Learfield Cups. Since 1980 Stanford won more championships than any other NCAA school, USC included.Men’s sports rank third all-time with 60 championships, while women rank No. 1 with 38.

“It’s a culture that has been developed over many decades,” Maurer says. “A lot of people that have done it and done it well come back. Success breeds success.”

The Cardinal enjoy incredible donor support, raking in $640 million in 2009. Stanford also has a $12.6 billion endowment fund. High-paid coaches and top-notch facilities will always attract the best and brightest to Stanford’s athletic program.

Stanford’s athletes almost always leave with a degree. The school boasts the highest graduation rate among athletes in the PAC-10 at 95 percent, according to the NCAA.

Maurer said that the entire athletic department not only wants to maintain its success, but to build on it: “Everyone is hungry for more.”

Stanford sports teams are taking the summer off. Cardinal football’s season home-opener against Sacramento State takes place Saturday, Sept. 4, at 3:30pm at Stanford Stadium.



by Staff on Jul 14, 2010
 Email  Print Share