The University of Missouri concluded its 2005-2006 athletic season ranked 48th in the nation in the final United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup (formerly the NACDA Directors' Cup) standings, with 379.625 total points.  The finish is just shy of last year's 41st-place showing, but it does represent MU's fourth-best overall placing in the standings, since they originated in 1993.

 

In fact, Mizzou's top four finishes in the Directors' Cup Standings have all come in the last four years under the guidance of Director of Athletics Mike Alden.  Those include an MU-record 37th-place finish in the standings in 2002-03, a 41st-place finish in 2004-05, and a 46th-place finish in 2003-04, with this year's finish rounding out MU's top four efforts.

 

The showing marks a continued overall improvement for Tiger Athletics from a comprehensive competitive standpoint under Alden.  In the last six years of the standings, Mizzou's average finish has been 45th overall.  In the first five years of the standings (1993-94 through 1997-98), MU's average yearly finish was 98th.

 

Another measure of Mizzou's athletic success under Alden's leadership shows that MU teams have turned in 36 top-25 team finishes at NCAA Championship events overall since he arrived (an average of 4.5 per season).  In MU's five years prior to Alden, the yearly average was 2.2 top-25 finishes, with the most top-25 national placings in a single year being three.

 

Overall, the 2005-06 athletic year was one of great achievement for Mizzou.  Highlights included only the second bowl victory for MU football since 1981, as the Tigers posted the largest come-from-behind win in school history, overcoming a 21-point deficit to defeat South Carolina in the 2005 Independence Bowl.  Other noteworthy achievements included Ben Askren winning the first-ever national championship for MU wrestling, volleyball reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever, and baseball winning its first NCAA Tournament regional championship ever, on its way to a Sweet 16 showing in the 2006 tournament.

 

In all, 15 of 20 Mizzou teams had NCAA post-season representation in 2005-06, with four achieving top-25 finishes, including volleyball (5th), baseball (9th), gymnastics (13th) and wrestling (15th).

The United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. The United States Sports Academy, based in Daphne, Alabama, is in its second year sponsoring the program. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports - 10 women's and 10 men's. Each national champion receives 100 points.

Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's web site at www.nacda.com.