Cal Poly was ranked 80th of 279 schools in the 43rd annual United States Sports Academy Directors’ Cup rankings released June 26 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the United States Sports Academy and USA Today.
Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 20 sports – 10 men’s and 10 women’s. Stanford won, with UCLA, Michigan, Arizona State and Texas rounding out the top five.
Cal Poly finished ahead of arguably more nationally recognized powers such as: Utah (82), Memphis (83), Pittsburgh (85), Syracuse (87), Oregon State (91), South Florida (99), Nevada (103), Mississippi State (109), Villanova (112), UNLV (115), Xavier (124), Rutgers (126), Cincinnati (164) and Marquette (197).
“If you’re in athletics, you’re a competitor, so it’s always good to see where you stand compared to other schools,” said Alison Cone, Cal Poly athletics director.
Cal Poly finished ahead of all other schools from the Big West Conference, in which it competes in 17 of its 20 sports.
UC Irvine was ranked 90th, followed by: UC Santa Barbara (94), UC Davis (95), Long Beach State (96), Cal State Fullerton (111) and Cal State Northridge (165).
UC Riverside and Pacific were not listed.
Cone said Cal Poly outperformed its Big West counterparts because the university offers sports outside of the Big West – with wrestling in the Pac-10 Conference, football in the Great West Conference and women’s indoor track and field in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. That kind of diversification factors into the rankings.
“If we have a wrestler who finishes in the top nationally, we do better,” Cone explained.
Precisely that happened last season, as Cal Poly senior Chad Mendes finished second in the country at 141 pounds.
Although Cone said Cal Poly has placed in the top 100 regularly, she still sees room for improvement, particularly in offering increased scholarship allotment, a more sufficient number of coaches and continued recruitment of “the right players.”
The goal, she said, is to finish at least in the top 50.
“Most of the top-ranked schools are (Bowl Championship Series) schools,” Cone said. “Cal Poly jumping in there occasionally is nice.”