Georgia scores historic top 10 finish in Learfield Directors’ Cup

ATHENS — Georgia athletics hoisted three national championship trophies and scored its third top 10 finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup in the past five years.

The Bulldogs finished eighth in the nation with a school-record 1,081.25 points, which ranked third among SEC teams.

UGA’s three national titles included coach Caryl Smith Gilbert’s women’s track teams winning the indoor and outdoor championships and coach Drake Bernstein’s women’s tennis team winning the ITA national indoor championship to go with a third-place finish at the NCAA outdoor championships.

“We are extremely proud of our student-athletes, coaches and staff,” said UGA athletic director Josh Brooks, who in his sixth year at the helm has hired all but three of the Bulldogs’ head coaches.

Georgia also finished third in the nation in equestrian, but that sport does not count toward the Directors’ Cup standings. If it did, UGA would have a fifth-place finish.

Nine of UGA’s 20 NCAA-sponsored sports teams scored in the Directors’ Cup Top 10 in their respective standings/rankings:

• Women’s outdoor track: first
• Women’s indoor track: first
• Men’s outdoor track: second
• Baseball: third
• Women’s tennis: third
• Women’s gymnastics: fifth
• Football: fifth
• Softball: ninth
• Men’s tennis: ninth

“From national championships and SEC championships to school and conference records and another strong academic campaign, this will be a year to remember for Georgia athletics,” Brooks said.

Indeed, the optics were strong with the top revenue sports faring well.

Georgia was the only athletic program in the nation over the 2025-26 sports calendar — last fall through the recent spring season — to record 12 wins in football, 40-plus wins in baseball, and 20 or more wins in men’s and women’s basketball this year.

Georgia also joined Alabama as the only two programs in the nation to field a College Football Playoff field team, a College World Series team, and men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament basketball teams.

The Bulldogs baseball and men’s basketball programs recorded a school-record number of regular-season wins, while coach Kirby Smart’s football program became only the fourth in league history to win the SEC championship game in back-to-back seasons.

UGA is the first school in 15 years (LSU in 2011) to win the SEC in both football and baseball in the same season.

Georgia football has reached the CFP quarterfinals the past two seasons, with its 65-7 record over the past five seasons ranking atop college football.

The Bulldogs’ baseball team, led by third-year coach Wes Johnson, made its first trip to the CWS since the 2008 season after winning the regular-season and SEC tournament championship.

The Georgia men’s basketball team, meanwhile, set a school-record with 22 regular-season wins en route to making its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

2025-26 Directors’ Cup top 10

• 1. Texas: 1,322
• 2. Stanford: 1,263.50
• 3. UCLA: 1,199.25
• 4. North Carolina: 1,166.75
• 5. Virginia: 1,148.75
• 6. Florida: 1,104.50
• 7. Southern California: 1,095.50
• 8. Georgia: 1,081.25
• 9. Michigan: 1,076.75
• 10. Ohio State: 1,071.25

Georgia’s all-Time Directors’ Cup finishes

Year/ ranking/ points

1993-94/ No. 21/ 495.5

1994-95/ No. 14/ 561

1995-96/ No. 11/ 587

1996-97/ No. 28/ 445

1997-98/ No. 7/ n/a

1998-99/ No. 2/ 720

1999-2000/ No. 12/ 728.5

2000-01/ No. 3/ 890.5

2001-02/ No. 8/ 865

2002-03/ No. 15/ 784.75

2003-04/ No. 5/ 1,005.25

2004-05/ No. 7/ 970

2005-06/ No. 9/ 850.75

2006-07/ No. 12/ 971

2007-08/ No. 10/ 1,040

2008-09/ No. 18/ 866.5

2009-10/ No. 20/ 822.8

2010-11/ No. 20/ 829

2011-12/ No. 18/ 833.25

2012-13/ No. 10/ 1,006.75

2013-14/ No. 16/ 938.75

2014-15/ No. 14/ 931

2015-16/ No. 15/ 949.5

2016-17/ No. 15/ 913.75

2017-18/ No. 8/ 1,046.35

2018-19/ No. 21/ 808

2019-20/ no rankings

2020-21/ No. 10/ 971.5