Clemson's best athletics finish in the Directors' Cup was the best recorded since 2005, with a men's soccer national title leading the way. (Photo: Jamie Rhodes / USATODAY)

Brandon Rink - Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer - Wednesday, June 26 2024

Clemson athletics enjoyed one of its highest finishes in the Directors' Cup this sports season, with a 20-spot improvement year to year.

Clemson finished 31st in the final standings for the all-sports ranking nationwide, up from No. 51 last year and No. 65 the year before.

It is the highest ranking for the program in NACDA records available going back to 2005.

Clemson was also 31st after the winter standings, scoring points in men's basketball (5th; 73 points), gymnastics (33rd; 37), women's indoor track and field (38th; 34) and men's indoor track and field (41st; 32.5). The program tallied 98.50 points last year versus 176.5 points this year in winter competitions.

Of course, men's soccer led the fall competitions with a national title and No. 1 final spot, and women's soccer ranked third in overall points there (83).

In the spring competitions, women's golf (5th) and baseball (9th) led in scoring, with points also coming from men's golf (22nd), softball (33rd) and men's track and field (37th).

The Directors' Cup allows teams to count up to 19 sports (with some required to be included, with women's volleyball, baseball and basketball) toward the ranking, which aids bulky athletic departments such as the 1-2 this year in Texas (1,377 points) and Stanford (1,312.75) with more teams to select the best scores from. Virginia paced the ACC at No. 5, followed by UNC (7), Notre Dame (11), Florida State (12), Duke (17) and NC State (21).

In addition to Stanford, another upcoming ACC member in Cal made the Top 20 (20).

More from the ACC notes:

For the third straight year, the ACC won seven or more national titles with seven in 2023-24, the second-most among all conferences. The seven titles follow a league record of nine NCAA titles from last year in 2022-23.

Overall, the 23 national titles in league-sponsored sports over the past three years are the most of all conferences.

In the league’s 71-year history, ACC institutions have captured 189 team national championships and 428 individual NCAA titles, including 22 during the most recent academic year (16 women’s, six men’s).

2023-24 Directors' Cup final standings