Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Overall program strength of new ACC teams

Well, we know about Miami in football and beesball, VaTech in football and BC in hoops and football. But do these teams stack up overall when you look across ALL their programs. Well, not quite - as this article points out.

The Hurricanes have few peers in football or baseball, but in terms of overall athletic excellence, the three newcomers appear to lag behind the ACC's current members. In the Directors' Cup standings released June 13, Miami was No. 60, Boston College No. 68 and Virginia Tech No. 77. Well ahead of them were North Carolina (No. 6), Duke (No. 17), Maryland (No. 23), Virginia (No. 27), Florida State (No. 28), Georgia Tech (No. 34), N.C. State (No. 38), Clemson (No. 41) and Wake Forest (No. 42).


Speaking of GT and the Directors Cup, we had our highest finish ever, at #31. In fact check this out: *
School-record 31st-place finish in the NACDA Director's Cup standings; previous best was 45th place in 1994

* Fifteen of 17 sports advanced to postseason play in 2003-04

* Georgia Tech is one of just three schools in the nation that won a football bowl game and at least one game in the men's basketball and baseball NCAA Tournaments in 2003-04, and Tech is the only school that won a bowl game, an NCAA basketball regional and an NCAA baseball regional

* Men's basketball, volleyball, women's swimming and women's track teams recorded their best seasons ever

* Men's basketball team captured the nation with its stunning run to the NCAA Championship game for the first time

* Volleyball team won a school-record 34 matches and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight

* Sophomore Chaunte Howard won two track NCAA titles, winning the indoor and outdoor high jump, and the women's track program recorded a best-ever 15th-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships

* Golf team recorded its fourth top-five NCAA finish in the last five years

* Football team set a school-record by earning its seventh consecutive bowl game

* Five ACC Player of the Year winners: Kele Eveland (volleyball), Chaunte Howard (indoor track, outdoor track), Brendon Mahoney (indoor track, outdoor track)

* Four ACC Rookie of the Year winners: Reggie Ball (football), Ashlee Kidd (indoor track & outdoor track) and Roberto Castro (golf)

* Three Academic All-Americas (Kele Eveland, volleyball; Erin Voeltz, softball; Brendon Mahoney, track & field) and nine Academic All-District honorees (Kele Eveland, Lauren Sauer, Hal Higgins, Marvin Lewis, Steven Blackwood, Erin Voeltz, Nick Thompson, Brendon Mahoney, Shanta Smith)

* Three Atlantic Coast Conference Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholars (Kele Eveland, Hal Higgins, Marvin Lewis), and one NCAA Postgraduate Scholar (Kele Eveland)

* A school-record and league-high eight student-athletes named to the ACC All-Academic football team

* Georgia Tech won the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference Sportsmanship School of the Year Award

* Christened two outstanding athletic facilities with the new-and-improved Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field and the fully-enclosed Georgia Tech Aquatic Center