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While it was obvious to its fans that Rutgers Athletics made significant progress thus past academic year on the field and court, it’s also nice to see stats to back that notion up. Rutgers has finished 60th in the final Learfield Director’s Cup standings that were released on Friday. That is a 22 spot jump from where RU finished during the 2018-19 campaign. There were no final standings for the 2019-2020 year due to COVID-19.
The Scarlet Knights also finished ahead of Michigan State and Purdue, marking the first time that Rutgers finished ahead of conference foes since joining the Big Ten for the 2014-2015 campaign.
Rutgers also produced its best conference winning percentage since joining the Big Ten. During a year in which almost every sport played a conference only schedule, the Scarlet Knights had eight teams nationally ranked and six earn bids to the NCAA Tournament. Men’s basketball and lacrosse, as well as women’s soccer and lacrosse advanced in the NCAA’s, while women’s rowing finished 7th overall.
RU also had four teams send individuals to the NCAA Championships for their respective sport. However, only team performance counts towards points in the Director’s Cup.
It was the program’s second-best finish all-time, falling six spots short of the 54th place finish during the 2006-2007 campaign. That year saw Rutgers finish ranked 15th nationally and earn its first ever bowl game victory in football, while the women’s basketball team went all the way to the NCAA title game.
This year’s Director Cup standings did not include the Ivy League, which sat out competition this past year. They had two schools finish in the Top 60 in 2018-2019 with Princeton (30th) and Harvard (57th).
To view the complete Director’s Cup standings for this past year, click here.
To listen to our recent podcast episode detailing the year that was for Rutgers Athletics, click here. To read about the best moments, click here.
It’s clear that Rutgers Athletics is pointed firmly in the right direction and appear poised for even more progress beginning this upcoming fall. The opportunity to produce the school’s best ever finish in the Director’s Cup next year should be the goal across the entire department.