Director's Cup standings

[wadszip]

I'm going to put this in the football forum since it's the most heavily trafficked. This is a copy and paste from a post on the MAC CSN board:

 

After Kent had a decades-long stranglehold on being the MAC's top ranked team in the Director's Cup challenge, Akron has now finished atop the MAC the past two years, finishing No. 71 in the final rankings this year, and being the only MAC school in the top 100.

Going over the historical results (2005-06 not included since it only showed the top 100 and no MAC school finished within the top 100 ... and only Kent results from 2004-05 since again only top 100 are shown and Kent was the only MAC school).

Here are this year's rankings, and some historical rankings:

Final 2015-16 rankings:
1. Akron-71
2. Kent-113
3. WMU-139
4. EMU-140
5. CMU-146
6. Ohio-167
7. Bufalo-186
8. Miami-187
9. BG-201
10. NIU-245
11. Toledo-247
12. Ball State-268

All-time average rankings (1993-94 was the first year):
1. Kent-86.5
2. CMU-116.8
3. EMU-136.5
4. Akron-158.6
5. Miami-158.9
6. Ohio-165.6
7. WMU-194
8. NIU-195.6
9. BSU-196.4
10. Toledo-201.3
11. Bowling Green-202.2
12. Buffalo-218

Last 10 years (+- compared to previous results):
1. Kent-88.1 (+1.6)
2. Akron-120.2 (-38.4)
3. CMU-126.9 (+10.1)
4. Miami-156.4 (-2.5)
5. Ohio-161 (-4.6)
6. EMU-176.8 (+40.3)
7. WMU-201.9 (+7.9)
8. NIU-207 (+11.4)
9. Buffalo-207.4 (-11)
10. Bowling Green-218.2 (+16)
11. Toledo-227.9 (+26.6)
12. Ball State-245.3 (+48.9)

In the East, Kent remained pretty much unchanged while Akron, Buffalo, Ohio and Miami all improved. In the West, every school lost ground.

Last Four years:
1. Akron-78 (-42.2)
2. Kent-87.5 (-0.6)
3. CMU-132.6 (+5.7)
4. EMU-135.8 (-41)
5. Ohio-159.3 (-1.7)
6. Miami-168.5 (+12.1)
7. Buffalo-179.8 (-27.6)
8. Bowling Green-182.5 (-35.7)
9. WMU-199.5 (-2.4)
10. NIU-227.5 (+20.5)
11. Toledo-252.5 (+24.6)
12. Ball State-259.3 (+14)

In the East, again Kent is relatively unchanged, and Akron, Ohio, Buffalo and BG all improved ... only Miami fell back. In the West, EMU after a tough spot in the mid-2000s, has returned to its historical average, and WMU improved slightly; CMU, NIU, Toledo and BSU again have fallen back some more.

here are some bullet observations:

1. Kent State has absolutely dominated these rankings. Has won the MAC rankings at least 16 times in the 23 years; has finished runner-up at least five times and likely has never finished lower than third.

2. Akron's two straight top finishes very well could be the longest non-Kent streak, depending on the unknown 2005-06 results, since CMU edged out Kent in 2006-07 in what was a down year. CMU won being ranked 145.

3. Not a huge surprise, but the two Cleveland teams have dominated these rankings recently. In the past 10 years, they have accounted for 14 of the MAC's 16 top 100 finishes (87.5%) ... Kent (8), Akron (6) and Central Michigan (2).

4. Overall, MAC schools have finished in the top 100 35 times (with the Cleveland teams accounting for 68.5%): Kent 18, Akron 6 (all in the past 8 years), CMU 6, Ball State 2, Miami 2, Eastern Michigan 1.

5. In the past 10 years MAC schools have finished in the top 75 seven times ... Kent (4), Akron (3).

6. Overall, MAC schools have finished in the top 75 13 times... Kent (8), Akron (3 ... the past three years), Ball State (1), Central Michigan (1).

7. The best overall finish was Kent (57) in 2000-01. Kent also, not surprisingly, has the No. 2 (62 in 2013-14) and No. 3 (65 in 1999-00) finishes; Ball State has the best non-Kent finish (67) in 1994-95.

8. Akron's most recent four-year average appears to the first time a four-year graduating class has ever finished higher, by average, than a Kent class.

Finally, here is the best finish by school:
1. Kent-57 (2000-01)
2. Ball State-67 (1994-95)
3. Akron-71 (2015-16)
4. Central Michigan-74 (1998-99)
5. Eastern Michigan-86 (2002-03)
6. Miami-95 (1998-99)
7. Ohio-103 (1994-95, 2011-12)
8. Buffalo-105 (2014-15)
9. Bowling Green-127 (1997-98)
10. Toledo-128 (2001-02, 2011-12)
10. Western Michigan-128 (2003-04)
12. Northern Illinois-132 (2011-12)

Overall, while the scoring criteria and the number of schools competing in the Director's Cup has changed over the years, I think it gives a pretty good picture of which schools are doing what in terms of overall athletic departments. With that, it's pretty clear that Kent (historically and currently) and Akron (currently) are running laps around the rest of the league. And in an East-West breakdown, it looks as if the East schools are improving athletics at a clearly better pace than the West schools, which seem to be dropping back.

[wadszip]

BTW, the only reason Akron's 10-year average is that low is due to the Director's Cup not giving a single point to Akron in 2006-07. ... Since 288 teams scored that year, I gave Akron (and Ball State and Western Michigan, who also didn't score) a 289 ranking.

 

However, the scoring must have been drastically different then, because Akron's soccer won the MAC regular season and made the Sweet 16 but got a 0. I also believe either the men or women's track team won a MAC title that year and also go a 0. But if Akron can again finish in the top 100 (which it has 6 of the past 8 years, and a 102 finish in that period), the updated 10-year average will be way better next year, and could potentially surpass Kent depending on how they fare.

 

And Akron's overall average is hampered by this starting in 1993-94 when Akron was in its infancy in the MAC... The Zips didn't score a point in 4 of the first 5 years.

Edited July 8, 2016 by wadszip

[K92]

I heard Northern would like to trade in their football success for a higher DC ranking.