Vaulting up the ranks from a No. 54 Directors' Cup finish in the 2004-2005 year, Tufts is gunning for a top-10 finish in '06, and while the spring point totals are still being decided, this year is a virtual lock for Tufts' best-ever ranking.
The outstanding performances in national championships by the cross country, women's soccer, volleyball, men's basketball, men's swimming, women's tennis, softball, and women's crew teams and numerous individuals stand out by themselves. And together, they place 2005-06 among the most successful years in Jumbo athletic history.
Although there is no definitive statistic to quantify such a claim, the Directors' Cup may be the closest thing. Currently, Tufts is ranked fifth in the Cup standings through the fall and winter sports seasons, after a fourth-place ranking following the fall season. The final standings were not available at press time, but judging by the postseason appearances of the softball team, women's tennis team, and several track and field athletes, a top-10 finish seems realistic.
The Directors' Cup was founded in 1993 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors' of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today to rank Div. I and Div. II schools for their overall athletic performance. The Cup was extended to cover Div. III, in which almost all Tufts teams compete, in time for the 1995-96 season.
For Div. III, Directors' Cup points are awarded for postseason appearances in team sports - field hockey, football, soccer, women's volleyball, basketball, ice hockey, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and tennis - and individual sports - cross country, swimming, indoor and outdoor track and field, wrestling, golf, and women's rowing.
While the Directors' Cup is as close to a clear measuring stick as exists for Div. III athletic prowess, it is not perfect.
The standings are weighted
heavily toward individual-qualifying sports -
especially cross country, swimming, and track - as schools with traditionally good programs can qualify more individuals, or even send their entire squad if they qualify as a team, and earn huge numbers of points. Tufts' success in all of these sports in 2005-06, especially the unprecedented showing by the men's swimming team, contributed heavily towards its high standing.
The Cup also does not recognize achievements of crew, squash, fencing, and sailing, all of which are traditionally nationally-ranked programs at Tufts. The Tufts sailing program had its strongest season in recent years, with the coed team spending most of the season ranked No. 2 in the nation and the women consistently in the top 10.
"Sailing, a non-NCAA sport, doesn't count at all - a real disadvantage to Tufts," said Director of Athletics Bill Gehling in an e-mail to the Daily.
Due to the Directors' Cup's flaws, Gehling, while happy with the school's accomplishments, does not consider a high finish to be a primary goal.
"The Directors' Cup success this year is certainly something we are proud of, especially because our success has come about because of many programs doing well," Gehling said. "However, there are real shortcomings with the system, so I am reluctant to put too much emphasis on it."
Gehling pointed to the competitiveness of the NESCAC as another factor that might hurt Tufts in the standings. Although both Jumbo lacrosse teams were nationally ranked, neither earned Directors' Cup points because they failed to make it to Nationals.
With between three and six NESCAC lacrosse teams ranked in the top 10 nationally, the conference tournament serves as a kind of gatekeeper, keeping many deserving teams out of the national tournament.
The men's lacrosse team, for instance, fell to Middlebury, an NCAA title game participant in six of the past seven years, in triple overtime in the NESCAC semifinals. Despite Tufts' strong showing in the tournament and top-20 national ranking, the at-large bid in the conference was awarded to Wesleyan, which was even better than Tufts. The Cardinals were 10th in the country and the league's runner up. They had beaten Tufts in a nail-biter this spring as well.
"Both of our lacrosse teams had excellent seasons yet will not earn any points," Geling said. "The men's team took Middlebury - always a National Championship contender - to triple overtime [in the NESCAC Tournament] but didn't get a bid. They get zero points, the same as the last place team in the conference and less than a team who wins the [automatic qualification for Nationals] in a weaker conference."
While these factors diminish the accuracy of the Directors' Cup in reflecting many of Tufts' strengths, they make Tufts' success in the Directors' Cup even more impressive. The Jumbos' previous best result in the Cup was a 24th-place finish in 2000-01, which they followed with 58th in 2001-2002, 28th in 2002-03, 31st in 2003-04, and 54th last year.
And while several spring sports teams that spent time during the regular season in the top-25 nationally - baseball, men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse - failed to earn bids to the national tournament, Tufts is all but guaranteed a higher finish this year.
Following a runner-up finish at the NESCAC Tournament, the softball team earned an at-large bid to NCAA Regionals, where it advanced to the semifinals of the eight-team pool. The women's tennis team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament as well, and despite a first-round loss to conference rival Bowdoin, the appearance will contribute points to Tufts' cause.
Still, Gehling and the rest of the athletic staff refuse to use numbers to quantify the school's level of achievement on the playing field, instead emphasizing the complete student-athlete experience that characterizes the Div. III and NESCAC philosophy.
"In the end, we are most concerned with the quality of the entire experience that our student-athletes are having," Gehling said. "When our coaches and athletes do things the right way and have success as well, that's icing on the cake."
The final Directors' Cup standings for 2005-06 are scheduled to be released by the NACDA on June 22 on its website, www.nacda.com.
