Tar Heels repeat 4th-place finish in Learfield Directors’ Cup
Carolina ranked second among ACC schools and have seven consecutive top-10 finishes.
Two national runner-up teams and seven others in the top 10 led Carolina to a second straight fourth-place finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics released the the 2025-26 standings June 25.
The ranking measures NCAA postseason success in 19 sports. Schools must count baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer and volleyball as five of their 19 sports.
This is Carolina’s seventh consecutive top-10 finish, 10th in the past 11 seasons and 27th in the 32-year history of the competition. Only Stanford and Florida (with 32 apiece) have more.
The Tar Heels have accounted for 27 of the ACC’s 57 top-10 finishes.
Carolina amassed 1,166.75 points this year, the second most in the ACC. This marks the 27th time in 32 years the Tar Heels totaled the most or second-most points in the ACC.
Texas finished first with 1,322 points, the Longhorns’ fifth title in the last six years.
Texas, Stanford and Carolina, which was the inaugural champion in 1993-94, remain the only schools to win the cup.
This year’s top 10 was composed of Texas, Stanford, UCLA, Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Southern California, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State.
Baseball and women’s lacrosse led the Tar Heels this season, as both programs played in NCAA championship games and were awarded 90 points for second-place finishes.
Field hockey was a national semifinalist (tied for third), men’s lacrosse and women’ s tennis were quarterfinalists (tied for fifth), men’s fencing placed seventh and women’s basketball, men’s golf and women’s soccer each tied for ninth place in the NCAA Championships.
Twenty-five of Carolina’s 28 teams appeared in NCAA postseason play with four finishing in the top five, nine in the top 10 and 17 in the top 25.
