CLEVELAND – For the second year in a row Gallaudet University is ranked in the final Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings, presented by National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA), as the final 2011-12 Division III standings were released. The Bison earned 25 points to finish tied for 272nd out of 318 schools that received points from making a NCAA tournament or championship appearance.

This past season the Bison women’s volleyball team made the NCAA tournament field to earn 25 points for Gallaudet. The highest GU has ever placed in the Directors’ Cup standings is 155th in 1998-99 but that year only 231 schools were ranked and the Bison accumulated 30 points. The program record for points is 64, which was earned in 2006-07. The point structure has changed over the years due to the expansion of NCAA tournament brackets.

The Bison have only made the final standings eight times in the 17-year history of the NCAA Division III Directors’ Cup standings. Middlebury (Vt.) College finished first this year with 1,040.75 points to dethrone Williams (Mass.) College, who had won 13 straight titles and 15 of the previous 16. Washington (Mo.) University-St. Louis was second with 980.25 points followed by Williams with 964.50 points. Four New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools finished ranked in the top seven places.

Gallaudet is tied for third highest ranked team from the North Eastern Athletic Conference as Penn St.-Harrisburg finished 234th with 51 points followed by Keuka College, two spots back, at 236th with 50 points. Gallaudet was tied with Morrisville St. College with 25 points. This was Gallaudet’s second season as a member of the NEAC.

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 18 sports -- nine women’s and nine men’s.

Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA’s website at www.directorscup.org.

About Learfield Sports
The 2011-12 athletics season marks its fourth year as title partner of the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. A preeminent leader in the collegiate sports marketplace for nearly four decades, Learfield Sports manages the multimedia rights for more than 50 collegiate properties. An operating unit of Learfield Communications, the company also operates regional and statewide radio networks, provides exclusive sports programming to more than 1,000 radio stations nationwide and creates nearly 7,000 radio game broadcasts and coaches’ shows each year. These ever-expanding, collegiate relationships also feature comprehensive corporate sponsorship platforms, official university publications, Internet, digital media, hospitality and game-day events. To learn more about Learfield Sports, which is an operating unit of Learfield Communications, Inc., visit www.learfieldsports.com.

Gallaudet University in Directors’ Cup Standings

1996-97: 164th (57 points)
1998-99: 155th (30 points)
1999-00: 238th (20 points)
2003-04: 229th (45 points)
2005-06: *        (50 points)
2006-07: 212th (64 points)
2010-11: 228th (60.67 points)
2011-12: 272nd (25 points)

* NACDA’s final results in 2004-05, 2005-06 only ranked the Top 100 programs

Also see:

• 2011-12 NCAA Division III Directors' Cup standings (PDF)