When the final U.S. Sports Academy Director's Cup standings were determined at the end of the College World Series, ASU found itself in a familiar position.
The Sun Devils placed 13th-close to their average finish-in the Division I competition, while fellow Pac-10 schools Stanford and UCLA finished first and second respectively. In total, six Pac-10 teams placed in the top-15 this year.
The Director's Cup, awarded by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), ranks university athletic departments collectively based on the performance of 21 of its sports. The college can pick which 21 sports it will count if it sponsors more.
Stanford has taken first place as the nation's best collegiate athletic program for the last 12 years.
The Cardinal, aided in recruiting by superb academics and a sizeable athletic budget, have won 12 of the 13 total Director's Cup titles, falling short only in the award's debut year in 1993 when it finished second behind North Carolina.
The Sun Devils ranked in the top-20 for the 10th straight year and have averaged approximately 13th place (12.77) over the last 13 years. ASU finished ahead of several notable athletic departments, including Tennessee (14), Florida State (17) and Michigan (24).
"We're attracting not just athletic talent, but top line students and top line professors," said Don Bocchi, an ASU senior associate athletic director. "This has just become a much, much better place and it has grown in the right direction."
ASU was led largely by its women's squads last year, having gymnastics, softball, women's track and field, women's golf and women's cross country all finish in the top-10 nationally.
The latter three all finished fourth in the country last season. Women's track and field coach Greg Kraft was named the Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year after he guided his team to its first Pac-10 Championship.
"We have an attitude at ASU where an athlete is an athlete and a student athlete is a student athlete. Gender doesn't matter," Bocchi said.
Bocchi said the coaches at ASU have been the key to its success.
Though the women's basketball team ended last season with a disappointing loss to Utah in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, coach Charli Turner Thorne has turned the once struggling program into one of the nation's elite.
Coach Clint Myers was hired last year to replace Linda Wells at the helm of the softball team and initiated a similar transformation. ASU finished the regular season 53-15 and advanced to the Women's College World Series where it placed fifth.
"You come to a school because you believe that its coach can deliver to you what you're looking for," Bocchi said. "I like where we are in terms of leadership in our programs."
But while ASU's athletic program has performed among the nation's best on a consistent basis, Bocchi said it should be even higher, and that the athletic department has a goal to break into the top-10 and stay there.
"Our job is to be the best we can in every sport," he said. "There is no sport that we sponsor that we say, 'Well we're just doing this to do this.' Every sport at Arizona State should be in the post-season."
ASU spends about 37 million dollars annually on athletics, ranking eighth in the Pac-10, according to Bocchi.
"If we can push our budget over the 40 million mark I think it's going to have a tremendous impact on what we can get done, and I think we can do that," he said.
Bocchi said that more financial support is required from alumni and other ASU supporters living in the Phoenix area to help meet his goal of a larger budget.
He said the money could help in recruiting, where some ASU coaches have been limited in the past due to a lack of funds.
"We're not going to move up until we move up with our budget to allow us to get into more living rooms and tell the story of Arizona State," Bocchi said. "It's a nice place to come to school, and [Phoenix] is one of the most vibrant growing areas in America. We have to tell that story."
Extra finances could also be allocated to sponsoring additional sports. ASU currently supports 22 teams, giving it less flexibility on which sports to count towards its Director's Cup rating than schools with larger bases such as Stanford, which supports 30 teams.
"The student experience at ASU should include athletics, and it's a lot more fun when it's successful athletics," Bocchi said. "It's just something that people in America love. We want to provide a product for our students."
Reach the reporter at steven.bohner@asu.edu.
