The Director's Cup...How do you view it?

Football and basketball board posters shrug off the Director's Cup's importance, claiming that only revenue sports count. I'm curious about people's opinions on this board.

Does finishing in the top 25 in the nation every year for the past 10 years count for anything?

Does finishing in the top 3-5 in the Big Ten every year count for anything?

To me, a high finish indicates overall health of the athletic program. Sure, I'd love to see more wins out of the big three, and their recent failures are maddening because they're the ones I watch on BTN and ESPN, etc... but the track team's recent success, swimming/diving, wrestling, volleyball...These are all sports that garner national and conference respect for the University of Minnesota in their respective sports. I love that we're excellent in other sports, and those student athletes and coaches deserve a lot more credit than they receive for being fierce competitors, awesome students, and wonderful ambassadors of the University of Minnesota.

No, I'm not really Joel Maturi or his mother. Just a proud alum living far from my alma mater.

Go Gophers!

I'm hoping for some more football victories, but the Director's Cup is quite good. Some people seem to think that the non-revenue sports are "stealing" from football or basketball, and that if we just cut them, that this would translate into more football wins. I remember some time ago, one poster saying he was depressed because the women's basketball team was doing better than the men's BB team. That really mystified me, would be really be happier if the women's team was doing badly? Then there are some who have no interest in the University at all, and are only interested in sports. They should follow professional sports instead if they aren't interested in the academic mission.

I may never watch a Gophers golf match (or any golf match that isn't mini-golf), but I still want Minnesota Gophers Gold to do well.

I am all in favor of having strong sports programs outside of football, bball and hockey.. who wouldn't be? The issue is that the sports outside of these "big three" produce only a small amount (if any) of revenue for the university. It is extremely important for fb, bb, and hockey to be successful, so that they are able to help fund other sports (the ones that are largely reflected in the director's cup). Yes it is nice that the U of M is competitive in many non-revenue sports, but success in the big three will help non-rev sports (and Maturi's beloved Director's cup rankings) more than anything.

I follow all Gopher sports. I have football season tickets and my wife and I have season tickets for volleyball and women's basketball. I see some track meets every so often also. When I fully retire I would like to see more sports. I agree that strong football and men's basketball programs would help all sports. That's why Ohio State can support so many sports. I'm hoping Kill can do for football what Mike Hebert did for volleyball. We were not a strong program when he took over 15 years ago.

I think the Director's Cup would be something to be more proud of if it were a nice 'cherry on top' of success in the Big 3. Using it as anything more than that is ridiculous. It is a lot like our Border Battle with wisky, we are going to win the battle this year even though we lost the wars.

Hold it by the base, lift it up while turning it around. That works pretty well for viewing most anything.

I think in the end most people could care less about the directors cup. The major sports is what people care most about (football, basketball, Hockey). Most sports fans would rather win in those major sports compared to winning the Directors Cup. I don't think it's a bad idea but the average sports fan could care less about the cup.

I don't like hearing Maturi talk about Director's Cup standings when men's hockey, men's basketball, and football all had poor years. The money grabbing from the athletic department in those sports is obscene. However, it is nice to see us doing well in other sports. I'm very happy they are representing the university.

ruralgopher said:

I think the Director's Cup would be something to be more proud of if it were a nice 'cherry on top' of success in the Big 3. Using it as anything more than that is ridiculous. It is a lot like our Border Battle with wisky, we are going to win the battle this year even though we lost the wars.

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+1. It's fine as an additional reward. Instead it's currently used as a shield by the AD to deflect blame for the state of the sports that matter.