Six conference championship trophies and nine teams competing in the postseason boost Bulls to third-ever top 70 finish.
TAMPA, JULY 20, 2021 – Building on winning six conference championship trophies and sending nine teams into postseason play, USF Athletics posted its highest finish in six years when the final 2020-21 Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings were released.
Having collected the program’s most conference championship trophies in 23 years, USF vaulted to No. 69 in the final Directors’ Cup Standings, jumping 27 spots from the Bulls’ previous finish (96th) and marking South Florida’s highest finish since placing 66th in 2015-16 and just the Bulls’ third top 70 finish ever (also 59th in 2000-01).
USF posted its third-highest finish ever in the Directors’ Cup and the Bulls’ 286.5 points marked the program’s most since posting 350 in 2015-16. It was just the Bulls’ third time breaking 280 points in the Cup standings.
“The Learfield Directors’ Cup is a great indicator of a program’s strength across the board and I was very pleased, but not surprised, by our finish this year,” said Vice President of Athletics Michael Kelly. “You can feel the energy and success building across our program and it is contagious across our teams. We are committed and enthusiastic about building champions across all our sports and there are exciting times to come.”
USF stood second among American Athletic Conference teams, with the league’s top five being: UCF (57, 385.5), USF (69, 286.5), Houston (76, 249.0), Memphis (91, 175.0) and Tulsa (94, 169.0). The Bulls finished higher than six Power 5 conference programs.
USF collected six new American Athletic Conference team championship trophies by four programs. It marked USF’s most since 1998 when six teams collected seven conference championship trophies in Conference USA. The Bulls’ haul ranked second in The American by one and was two more than any of the other nine conference programs collected in 2020-21.
USF saw the baseball, men’s golf, women’s basketball and women’s soccer teams win conference titles – with the basketball and soccer programs claiming both regular season and tournament titles. The Bulls also claimed four individual conference championships with Albin Bergstrom (men’s golf), Shaniya Benjamin (Track, long jump and 4X400), Jae’ Nisa Heckstall (400-meter hurdles and 4X400), and the women’s 4X400 relay team (Gabrielle DesRosier, Benjamin, Patricija Roshofa and Heckstall) winning titles.
Women’s basketball was one of nine programs to reach national postseason play, joining baseball, men’s golf, women’s soccer, softball, men’s tennis, men’s track and field, women’s track and field and sailing. Three teams finished ranked in the top 25 nationally, including baseball, women’s basketball and women’s soccer.
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men’s and women’s teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls’ athletic program began in 1965 and completed its 55th season in 2020-21. Nearly 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 25 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, including six trophies in 2020-21, and own 129 conference titles in department history. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the sixth straight year in 2020-21 and have posted a program-record 13 straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has had nearly 450 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.
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