Earlier this summer, Emory University Athletics captured the 2024-25 Division III Learfield Directors' Cup, becoming the first University Athletic Association conference member to ever win the award. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) gives out the award every year to recognize the top athletic programs across each division in college sports. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in the NCAA Championships across its varsity sports. The NACDA bestowed this year’s honor to Emory on June 10.
With a total of 1,198.75 overall points, the Eagles captured first place while Johns Hopkins University (Md.) and Tufts University (Mass.) followed in second and third, respectively. The Cup counts a maximum of 18 sports for each institution’s score, and requires men’s and women’s basketball and soccer scores to count among the sports included in the final point tally.
With its first win, Emory became just the seventh institution to receive the Cup since it first started being handed out to DIII schools in 1995-96. In that time, Emory has earned 24 top-10 finishes for the Learfield, including second-place finishes in 2003, 2004 and 2013.
Director of Athletics Keiko Price-Carter said that the Cup was the result of the entire department’s efforts, and emphasized the work of the staff behind the scenes.
“We could not [accomplish] what we accomplished by winning the Director’s Cup without the village that it takes,” Price-Carter said. “It’s not just the athletes and the coaches, it is everyone in this department. Behind the scenes, we have staff and units that, quite frankly, don’t want to settle for complacency.”
Men’s tennis head coach John Browning, who joined Emory Athletics in 1999, credited Price-Carter as a key part of the program’s success and said that the department builds off the energy she brings.
“It starts from the top, in terms of building the culture, and [Price-Carter] has done an amazing job,” Browning said. “She’s so good at her job that you want to do well. the whole tenor of the department and the positivity and the culture changed when she joined us.”
After the winter season, Emory stood in third place for the Learfield Directors’ Cup. During the spring, Emory added 586.25 points — the most for any DIII program across any of the three athletic seasons during the 2024-25 athletic year — bumping Emory up to first.
The women’s golf national championship contributed 100 points while third-place finishes from men’s golf and women’s tennis added 85 and 83 points, respectively. The men’s tennis team’s NCAA quarterfinal run, the softball team’s trip to the Super Regionals and performances from men’s and women’s outdoor track and field and baseball also aided in Emory’s top score.
Price-Carter noted that Emory sponsored fewer sports than all previous DIII winners of the Cup, so each team had to play an important role in contributing to the overall score. Emory sponsors a total of 19 sports, while previous winners have sponsored anywhere from 23-32 sports.
“We have less supporting programs, so to know that we won, it just made it that much [more] special,” Price-Carter said. “It really shows how everyone and every program contributed in order for us to win.”
In addition to bringing the teams together through the scoring system, women’s golf head coach Liz Fernandes said that the collaboration between all Emory sports to win the Cup helped remind them that they are part of a broader community outside of their individual teams.
“That’s something that puts the whole perspective on the season,” Fernandes said. “With being such a big part of that, with our win and our individual win, it brings our coaches and student athletes together into one group and shows that … it is a bigger world than just us.”
Moving into this year, Price-Carter said Emory Athletics aims to continue its momentum, while still striving to support athletes in their pursuits outside of sports.
“We want to be competitive, don’t want to be complacent, but to embrace the Division III philosophy, which is to support our students in having a well-balanced experience while also competing for championships,” Price-Carter said.
