UT lands in all-sports top 10 for first time

UT ranked eighth nationally in the all-sports Director's Cup standings, the first top-10 finish in school history.

"It's an indication of the kind of coaches that have been hired,'' Hamilton said Wednesday, "and that's a tribute to coach (Doug) Dickey (retired men's AD) and (women's AD) Joan Cronan.

"The success we have in football allows us to throw off the revenue to fund all these other sports. Also, we're fortunate to have very successful donor program with strong season-ticket sales.''

Stanford captured the Directors' Cup title for the 11th consecutive year. Texas used the baseball College World Series title to vault to second place.

UCLA and Michigan were close behind the Longhorns. Duke recorded a school-best fifth-place finish, followed by an SEC run of Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.

Cronan's Lady Vols delivered four top-five finishes: first in indoor track and field; third in basketball; third in softball; fourth in outdoor track and field.

"This has been a terrific season for us,'' Cronan said in a UT release. "All 11 of our sports were represented in NCAA postseason competition.''

Baseball provided the UT men's top score, finishing seventh. Tennis was ninth, golf 11th and football 15th.

Tennessee achieved points in all but three of its sports: men's basketball, men's cross country and women's rowing.

"I think if we had performed in basketball, it might have bumped us up a notch,'' Hamilton said.

That failure to perform led to a coaching change with Bruce Pearl replacing Buzz Peterson in March.

"We've talked about cross country,'' Hamilton said. "Right now we're limited in terms of scholarships. (Track coach) Bill (Webb) has the philosophy to use scholarships more in the speed and field events.

"I'm not saying we need to win the national championship in cross country, but we need to be top 25 and that's something we can do without a lot of work.''

Across the board, there are 36 opportunities to score points, including sports such as rifle, bowling and lacrosse. UT scored in 18, compared to Stanford's 23.

Georgia edged UT for seventh place essentially because of its national championship -- worth 100 points -- in women's gymnastics, a sport in which the Lady Vols don't compete.

The Bulldogs also won national titles in men's golf and women's swimming.

Florida, the SEC all-sports champion, had four national runner-up finishes, including baseball.

"I'm very pleased,'' said Hamilton of UT's finish, "but we're not done yet.

"With our new facilities coming on line, that provides another opportunity to advance the ball.''

The Directors' Cup is presented by the U.S. Sports Academy, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. It was previously known as the Sears Cup.

No Hire Yet: Hamilton, who is vacationing out of state, said it might be another week before UT names a tennis coach. The selection of acting coach Chris Mahony is only a formality.