From OnlineAthens.com
June 23rd, 2016 09:42 PM
Another strong spring sports showing will help give Georgia a second straight top 15 finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup.
Led by third-place finishes nationally in men’s tennis and women’s track and field and fifth place for the softball team that reached the College World Series, the Bulldogs are poised to land at No. 15 when the final standings that measure performance in all sports are released next week.
That’s not far off where Georgia has been the previous two years: No. 14 in 2015 and No. 16 in 2014, but it’s not where the Bulldogs want to be. Georgia finished in the top 10 four times in a five year stretch from 2004-08, but didn’t finish higher than 18 the next four years.
“Something I’ve tried to do is maintain the philosophy that every sport is important at Georgia,” athletic director Greg McGarity said. “I’m certainly not going to change that philosophy moving forward. I want to embrace it and make sure whoever takes my place when it’s time to move on feels like every program is supported financially from a resource standpoint and so I’ve really felt like from a sports program standpoint that (the Directors’ Cup) really is the only measurement we have for athletics. We sponsor 21 sports, 15 head coaches and we want every coach to feel like they are just as important as their peers on campus.”
Georgia currently sits No. 12 in the latest official standings, but should finish three spots down in the rankings measured by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Washington, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M will move past the Bulldogs based on their showing in the NCAA baseball tournament. Stanford won its 22nd Directors’ Cup.
Georgia scored points in 15 of its 20 sports (equestrian isn’t counted) with baseball, volleyball, soccer, women’s cross country and men’s basketball the teams that came up empty.
“Our goal is to have every team competing in the national championship, whatever that may be,” McGarity said. “It’s very difficult to be in the top 20. To be in the top 10, you have to have certain exceptional things happen. We need to get off to a better start in the fall.”
Georgia had a steep climb after the fall when it stood in 81st place.
It picked it up in the winter with a national championship for women’s swimming, a third place showing in women’s indoor track, fifth in men’s swimming and sixth in gymnastics.
McGarity made head coaching hires in baseball with Scott Stricklin (who completed his third season), volleyball with Lizzy Stemke (completed her fifth season) and soccer with Billy Lesesne (finished his first) that were among the five sports that didn’t score points.
“You want to see improvement and sometimes it’s not in the final results, it can be in other areas of the program,” McGarity said. “If I didn’t feel like this current coaching staff wasn’t capable of getting the job done, there probably would be changes made but I feel confident that sports are in different time periods of their program and some are just tougher to establish as far as the competition. You’ve got to have a feeling in your heart that it’s moving in the right direction and the results will eventually come if you’ve got the right people in place and I’m very confident that will take place.”
The men’s basketball team had its third-straight 20-win season and reached the SEC tournament semifinals, but points are only garnered for those in the 68-team NCAA tournament.
Meanwhile, football picked up points for finishing No. 24 in the coaches’ poll after a 10-3 season that saw 15-year coach Mark Richt get fired.
Two teams that garner points last year--women’s golf under fourth-year coach Josh Brewer and women’s basketball under first-year coach Joni Taylor--were in the NCAA field this year.
Georgia will be the No. 3 team in the SEC in the Directors’ Cup behind Florida and Texas A&M. That’s the same order in the SEC all-sports trophy.
...READ MORE HERE...
June 23rd, 2016 09:42 PM
Another strong spring sports showing will help give Georgia a second straight top 15 finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup.
Led by third-place finishes nationally in men’s tennis and women’s track and field and fifth place for the softball team that reached the College World Series, the Bulldogs are poised to land at No. 15 when the final standings that measure performance in all sports are released next week.
That’s not far off where Georgia has been the previous two years: No. 14 in 2015 and No. 16 in 2014, but it’s not where the Bulldogs want to be. Georgia finished in the top 10 four times in a five year stretch from 2004-08, but didn’t finish higher than 18 the next four years.
“Something I’ve tried to do is maintain the philosophy that every sport is important at Georgia,” athletic director Greg McGarity said. “I’m certainly not going to change that philosophy moving forward. I want to embrace it and make sure whoever takes my place when it’s time to move on feels like every program is supported financially from a resource standpoint and so I’ve really felt like from a sports program standpoint that (the Directors’ Cup) really is the only measurement we have for athletics. We sponsor 21 sports, 15 head coaches and we want every coach to feel like they are just as important as their peers on campus.”
Georgia currently sits No. 12 in the latest official standings, but should finish three spots down in the rankings measured by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Washington, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M will move past the Bulldogs based on their showing in the NCAA baseball tournament. Stanford won its 22nd Directors’ Cup.
Georgia scored points in 15 of its 20 sports (equestrian isn’t counted) with baseball, volleyball, soccer, women’s cross country and men’s basketball the teams that came up empty.
“Our goal is to have every team competing in the national championship, whatever that may be,” McGarity said. “It’s very difficult to be in the top 20. To be in the top 10, you have to have certain exceptional things happen. We need to get off to a better start in the fall.”
Georgia had a steep climb after the fall when it stood in 81st place.
It picked it up in the winter with a national championship for women’s swimming, a third place showing in women’s indoor track, fifth in men’s swimming and sixth in gymnastics.
McGarity made head coaching hires in baseball with Scott Stricklin (who completed his third season), volleyball with Lizzy Stemke (completed her fifth season) and soccer with Billy Lesesne (finished his first) that were among the five sports that didn’t score points.
“You want to see improvement and sometimes it’s not in the final results, it can be in other areas of the program,” McGarity said. “If I didn’t feel like this current coaching staff wasn’t capable of getting the job done, there probably would be changes made but I feel confident that sports are in different time periods of their program and some are just tougher to establish as far as the competition. You’ve got to have a feeling in your heart that it’s moving in the right direction and the results will eventually come if you’ve got the right people in place and I’m very confident that will take place.”
The men’s basketball team had its third-straight 20-win season and reached the SEC tournament semifinals, but points are only garnered for those in the 68-team NCAA tournament.
Meanwhile, football picked up points for finishing No. 24 in the coaches’ poll after a 10-3 season that saw 15-year coach Mark Richt get fired.
Two teams that garner points last year--women’s golf under fourth-year coach Josh Brewer and women’s basketball under first-year coach Joni Taylor--were in the NCAA field this year.
Georgia will be the No. 3 team in the SEC in the Directors’ Cup behind Florida and Texas A&M. That’s the same order in the SEC all-sports trophy.
...READ MORE HERE...
