Athletic director Josh Brooks led Georgia to its 23rd consecutive top 25 finish in the 2021-2022 LEARFIELD Director’s Cup, the Bulldogs coming in at No. 19.
The Georgia finish ranks sixth among current SEC schools behind:
• No. 5 Florida
• No. 7 Arkansas
• No. 9 Kentucky
• No. 13 Tennessee
• No. 16 LSU
Texas, which will join the SEC in 2025, finished first.
UGA scored 865 points from competing in 15 different NCAA Championships to finish ranked No. 19.
The Cup is an all-sports competition won by the university with the most successful year in NCAA athletics. Points are awarded to individual teams throughout the athletic year based on how well they finish in NCAA Championships.
For instance, a gymnastics national championship team would produce more points for its university than a basketball team that lost in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Points are tallied throughout the season to compile a complete list of rankings for all 295 eligible schools.
The Bulldogs finished 10th in the 2020-2021 Cup with 971.5 points in Brooks’ first year as athletic director. The AD made a couple of key head coaching hires last year that helped keep Georgia in the top 25 in Brooks’ second year.
Brooks made his first career hire when he brought on former USC coach Caryl Smith Gilbert to coach the indoor and outdoor men’s and women’s track teams in 2021. All four of Gilbert’s teams finished well enough to contribute a combined 201 Director’s Cup points this year.
Brooks also promoted Tony Baldwin, who led the softball team to a 43-18 season and 50 points of their own.
Brooks faced thrice the intensity in his second year of hiring coaches, as six more coaches were named to lead programs in the 2022-2023 athletic year. The athletic director hired:
• Katie Abrahamson-Henderson (Women’s Basketball)
• Mike White (Men’s Basketball)
• Stefanie Williams Moreno (Women’s Swimming & Diving)
• Neil Versfeld (Men’s Swimming and Diving)
• Patrick Henner (Cross Country)
• Keidan McAlpine (Soccer)
Georgia is replacing head coaches for teams that produced a total of 180.5 points in the Cup this year. Brooks’ Bulldogs would have fallen out of the top 25 without those teams, so immediate success from his newest hires appears very important to the continuation of the school’s streak.
Georgia is one of nine schools to finish in the top 25 in every year of the 21st century. UGA is one of only two SEC institutions – joined by Florida – to accomplish the feat. The SEC’s nine top 25 schools were the most by any conference.
Football, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Men’s Indoor Track & Field, Women’s Golf, and Men’s Track & Field all had top 10 finishes, each contributing at least 70 points to Georgia’s final total.
15 different teams contributed to Georgia’s top 25 ranking. Their finishing places and corresponding points are listed by season below.
Fall Sports
Football
Place: 1 Points: 100
Winter Sports
Women’s Basketball
Place: 17 Points: 50
Women’s Swimming/Diving
Place: 15 Points: 60
Men’s Swimming/Diving
Place: 8 Points: 70.5
Women’s Indoor Track and Field
Place: 46 Points: 28
Men’s Indoor Track and Field
Place: 8 Points: 70.5
Women’s Gymnastics
Place: 25 Points: 45.5
Spring Sports
Women’s Golf
Place: 5 Points: 72.75
Men’s Golf
Place: 12 Points: 63.75
Softball
Place: 17 Points: 50
Women’s Tennis
Place: 9 Points: 64
Men’s Tennis
Place: 17 Points: 50
Women’s Track and Field
Place: 45 Points: 27.5
Men’s Track and Field
Place: 5 Points: 75
Baseball
Place: 33 Points: 37.5
Georgia’s equestrian team finished fifth at the National Collegiate Equestrian Association Championship, but the sport is not NCAA-sponsored, so no points were awarded for the team’s accomplishment.
