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Florida Gators sit atop SEC in Directors’ Cup Rankings

By Will Thomas

TAMPA, FL - MARCH 19: Albert, the mascot for the Florida Gators, performs against the UCLA Bruins during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at St. Pete Times Forum on March 19, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. Florida won 73-65. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - MARCH 19: Albert, the mascot for the Florida Gators, performs against the UCLA Bruins during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at St. Pete Times Forum on March 19, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. Florida won 73-65. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images) /
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As the 2021-2022 athletic year wrapped up, the Learfield Directors’ Cup released their top 25 rankings of all NCAA D-I schools for the year. The SEC, aka the most dominant conference in college sports, finished with 9 schools that placed in the top 25. The great news is that the Florida Gators ranked the best out of all SEC schools, as they finished 5th in the country.

This was UF’s 13th consecutive finish in the top 5 of these national rankings, proving that the Gators are indeed an everything school. They are also the only school in Division I to finish in the top ten of these rankings in each of the last 38 years, and one of two programs to win a national championship in each of the last 13 years.

The Gators ended up behind Texas, who was 1st, Stanford came in at 2nd, and Michigan and Ohio St who came in 3rd and 4th respectively.

It’s no wonder that the Gators ranked this high. UF took home three national championships, all of which came from the track and field teams (men’s outdoor, women’s indoor, women’s outdoor). The Gators also had 17 athletes claim 19 individual titles, breaking the previous record of 16 championships that were claimed in 1982.

Aside from the championships, UF had 11 programs finish in the top 10 at the end of their respective seasons.

As said before, these repeated finishes in the top 5 of the Directors’ Cup rankings prove that the Florida Gators are the everything school that they claim to be. Despite the bigger market sports like football and basketball struggling, UF is still an elite athletic institution.

With football and basketball both on the rise with new coaching staffs, the Gators should continue to be a perennial top 5 finish in the Directors’ Cup, and will soon enough be sitting on top of the rankings.

Keep up with the Florida Gators here.

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