There has perhaps never been a better time to be a Mississippi State Bulldog.
MSU learned on Saturday that it has recorded its highest-ever finish in the standings of the Learfield Director’s Cup – an award that honors schools for achieving success over an institution’s entire athletic department including both men’s and women’s sports.
The Bulldogs placed 42nd among all NCAA Division I athletic programs, a mark that surpassed MSU’s previous-best finish of 44th in 2015-16. Mississippi State’s three best-ever Director’s Cup finishes have all come in the last three years, however this year’s result has set a new benchmark.
“It was a memorable year to be a Bulldog,” Mississippi State Director of Athletics John Cohen said in a school release. “I am very proud of our teams, coaches and student-athletes for their collective efforts in setting the highest of standards, not only in their sports, but also in the classroom and community.”
MSU experienced winning across the board over the course of the 2017-18 athletic year. A total of 12 different Mississippi State sports advanced to postseason play. Those included football, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, softball and baseball.
Several of State’s teams played on the biggest of stages. In fact, Mississippi State was the only school in the country to have a football team play in a bowl game, have a men’s or women’s basketball team reach the NCAA Final Four and have a baseball team reach the College World Series.
The polls recognized State’s achievements. Seven different Bulldog teams finished in the top 25 of their sport with four of those finishing inside the top 10. Women’s basketball had the highest postseason ranking (No. 2) followed by baseball (No. 3), men’s tennis (No. 5), men’s outdoor track and field (No. 10), football (No. 19) women’s indoor track and field (No. 20) and softball (No. 23).
Two of State’s teams captured Southeastern Conference championships. Men’s tennis won the conference tournament title while women’s basketball had a perfect 30-0 regular season to capture the SEC’s regular season crown.
Though not factored into the Director’s Cup standings, MSU athletes also set a new standard in the classroom by posting the school’s best-ever cumulative grade point average over the fall and spring semesters (3.08).
Mississippi State hopes to keep all the good things coming as the 2018-19 athletic year gets set to begin in a matter of weeks. There will be changes as new head football coach Joe Moorhead prepares to make his debut and recently-hired head baseball coach Chris Lemonis attempts to repeat MSU’s recent run to Omaha, however the Bulldogs are looking forward to what the future could bring.
Based on the recent past, that future has maybe never been brighter.
“There are very exciting things happening all around our programs right now,” Cohen said last month.
