Kentucky Places 27th in Directors’ Cup Standings
LEXINGTON, Ky. – With competition complete for the 2025-26 school year, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has released the annual Directors’ Cup standings, again indicating that Kentucky continues as one of the nation’s most consistent overall athletics programs.
Kentucky finished 27th out of 365 NCAA Division I schools for 2025-26. Under the guidance of former athletics director Mitch Barnhart, the Wildcats have placed among the nation’s top 10 percent of Division I institutions for each of the last 14 years.
Kentucky is one of only 18 schools that have placed in the top 10 percent of Division I standings for each of the last 14 years, beginning with 2011-12. (Note: no standings during the 2019-20 pandemic year.)
In the Directors’ Cup scoring system, each team that advances to NCAA postseason competition earns points for its school; the higher the finish in the national championship, the more points earned.
Sixteen of Kentucky’s 23 varsity teams advanced to the NCAA championship in their sports during 2025-26, with one sport (STUNT) not yet having NCAA championship competition. The Wildcats were led by the volleyball team, which finished second in the NCAA Tournament, and the rifle team that placed fourth nationally.
Listed alphabetically with current conference affiliation, the schools that have placed in the top 10 percent of Division I standings for the last 14 years includes:
Arkansas (SEC)
Duke (ACC)
Florida (SEC)
Georgia (SEC)
Kentucky (SEC)
LSU (SEC)
Michigan (Big Ten)
North Carolina (ACC)
Notre Dame (ACC)
Ohio State (Big Ten)
Oklahoma (SEC)
Southern California (Big Ten)
Stanford (ACC)
Texas (SEC)
Texas A&M (SEC)
UCLA (Big Ten)
Virginia (ACC)
Washington (Big Ten)
