Texas has clinched the 2025-26 Division I NACDA Learfield Directors’ Cup, awarded yearly to the nation’s top collegiate athletic department, as announced by UT Sunday. 

The win, secured following the results of the NCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, is the Longhorns’ third consecutive. Since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the Directors’ Cup from being awarded in the 2019-20 school year, Texas has won five of the last six.

“Winning The Directors Cup is the Crown Jewel for an athletic department, as it encompasses success of all of our sports,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte wrote on X. “So proud of the students, coaches & staff. However, we couldn’t accomplish this feat let alone five times without Longhorn Nation!”

The Directors’ Cup, developed by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today, evaluates athletic departments through a point system that factors in 19 sport programs. Five are required — men’s basketball and baseball, women’s basketball, volleyball and women’s soccer — while the remaining 14, regardless of gender, are the athletic department’s highest-scoring programs based on NCAA championship finishes. 

Texas’ national titles in rowing, men’s swim and dive and softball helped propel Texas to another Directors’ Cup victory. A second-place finish by men’s tennis, as well as third-place finishes by women’s basketball, women’s swim and dive, and beach volleyball, served as other crucial results. 

Baseball’s ongoing competition in the College World Series could increase the Longhorns’ point total, though the cup is already set to remain in Austin. 

“Congratulations to (Del Conte) and all our student-athletes, coaches, and athletics staff on yet another Directors’ Cup!” University President Jim Davis wrote on X. “Whether in the classroom, the lab, or the playing field, Longhorns always aim for excellence.”