Kent State finished as the Mid-American Conference (MAC) leader in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings for the 13th time in 14 years, and 16th time in the 20-year history of the award. The Golden Flashes finished in 80th place with 253.83 points. The next highest MAC finish was Central Michigan in 88th place with 214.33 points.
Behind strong finishes from a number of sports, Kent State was also second among Ohio’s 13 Division I schools and 16th among non-BCS schools. Stanford finished in top spot for the 19th consecutive year.
The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Overall, points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports—10 women’s and 10 men’s.
During the 2012-2013 academic year, the Golden Flashes won MAC championships in baseball, field hockey, football (East), men’s golf, women’s golf, gymnastics, softball (East), women’s indoor track and field, and women’s outdoor track and field. Kent State also had conference runner-up finishes in soccer (East), men’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, and wrestling. Last month, Kent State won its fifth straight Reese Trophy for men’s all-sports excellence in the MAC.
The spring of 2013 was also Kent State’s best semester in recorded history in the classroom. Of its nearly 400 student-athletes, 61 percent had a spring grade point average of 3.0 or higher, helping the department to a 3.11 GPA.