With the 2022-23 college sports year almost at its conclusion, it’s worth taking a look at the final Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, which reflect the top overall performances in the various divisions.
Not surprisingly, Stanford leads the way because of its variety of men’s and women’s sports, including such spring events as women’s polo, beach volleyball and women’s rowing.
At season’s end, Virginia was seventh overall with a total of 1,032 points, which was first among ACC schools. North Carolina was eighth overall, and there were four other schools in the top 20 — No. 16 Duke, No. 17 Florida State, No. 18 Notre Dame and No. 19 North Carolina State.
Wake Forest was 46th but that did not take into account its College World Series performance, and its placement is certain to improve.
Virginia Tech was farther down the list at No. 52 but finished the year ahead of Clemson, which was 53rd. The Hokies also were ahead of Georgia Tech and Boston College.
Somehow, Pittsbugh was 48th despite failing to receive points in a spring sport.
West Virginia was 60th.
Radford was tied for 257th out of the 294 schools that were listed, but finished ahead of Temple, Appalachian State and such in-state programs as Norfolk State and Longwood.
NCAA champions
ACC programs with national championships this year were Notre Dame in men’s lacrosse and fencing, Syracuse in men’s soccer, North Carolina in field hockey, Virginia in women’s swimming and men’s tennis, and Wake Forest in women’s golf, with former UVa coach Kim Lewellen leading the way.
Coaching
The resignation of West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins following his arrest for driving under the influence has created considerable discussion over the Mountaineers’ need to replace him.
One of the first names to come to mind is Huggins’ longtime assistant, Ron Everhart, a former Virginia Tech player who grew up in Fairmont, W.Va., before playing at DeMatha in Hyattsville, Md., prior to his days as a college player at Virginia Tech.
Everhart, a speaker at the Roanoke Valley Sports Club in recent years, has been a Division I head coach at Duquesne, Northeastern and McNeese State. Others mentioned for the WVU job include former Michigan coach John Beilein, retired at age 70, but now living in Morgantown.
Kerr Kriisa, a point guard for Arizona, has linked to West Virginia in the transfer portal.
Explanation
While some would guess that Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett has set up UNC-Charlotte coach and former UVa assistant Ron Sanchez to be his successor, that’s not necessarily the case.
“Ron was always at the top of my list, but I thought it was probably a long shot,” Bennett said in an interview with Jeff White of UVa’s sports information office.
“I had some really solid guys I was thinking about, but I kept saying, ‘Look, if I had my dream hire, would Ron consider leaving a head-coaching job?’ “
There was an opening at UVa when assistant Kyle Getter took a job under new Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
The portal
North Carolina has added 6-7 Harrison Ingram, a sophomore from Stanford, where he averaged 10.5 points over 65 games. He was a five-star recruit coming out of St. Mark’s School in Dallas.
Recruiting
Clemson has received a football commitment from Gideon Davidson, a running back from Liberty Christian who is rated the No. 2 prospect in Virginia by rivals.com. According to Rivals, he also had offers from Colorado, Louisville, Iowa State and Liberty.
Ari Watford, a 6-5, 234-pound defensive end from Maury High School in Norfolk, is No. 1 on that list. His teammate, running back Leon Clark, is the 11th-rated prospect.