A year after posting its best finish since joining the Big Ten Conference, Nebraska Athletics did even better.Last year, the Huskers came in at No. 21 in the final Directors' Cup standings. This year, that ranking jumped up to No. 17.Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen's tenure has seen the two best Directors' Cup finishes for the Huskers since joining the Big Ten Conference. | Kenny Larabee, KLINThis ties the 2009-10 year as the best finish for the department since 2000-01. That year saw Nebraska end up 13th and was the final year in a run of seven straight top-15 finishes.Nebraska has made steady improvement over the past five years. The 2021-22 year saw the Huskers with an all-time low finish at 49th, but that was followed by improvements to 29th, 22nd, 21st, and now 17th.The Directors' Cup began in 1993. The all-sports competition takes up to 19 scores from each school, based on how different sports finish in the national standings. The 19 scores are pulled from five required sports—men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, women's soccer, and volleyball—and the next 14 highest scoring sports.Nebraska wrestling finished third at nationals, powered by a pair of finalists in Antrell Taylor (157) and Christopher Minto (174). | Nebraska AthleticsNebraska sponsors 23 total sports, with 16 scoring during the 2024-25 year. NU had nine programs post top-10 finishes to earn at least 55 points each: wrestling, men's gymnastics, softball, volleyball, bowling, rifle, women's outdoor track & field, men's outdoor track & field, and men's basketball.Wrestling led the department with the top finish, taking third at nationals. Men's gymnastics finished fourth.Volleyball, which was undefeated through the regular season in the first year under Dani Busboom Kelly, was knocked out in the regional finals by the eventual national champion. Softball, back at the Women's College World Series for the first time in more than a decade, was also eliminated by the team that would win it all.Nebraska softball returned to Oklahoma City and the WCWS after sweeping Oklahoma State in a Super Regional at Bowlin Stadium. | Nebraska AthleticsBowling and rifle finished fifth, with the outdoor track & field teams both posting top-10 finishes earlier this month.Men's basketball, although with a ninth-place finish, was perhaps the story of the year. Famously, the only power conference program without an NCAA Tournament victory before this season, the Huskers won twice in Oklahoma City to reach the Sweet 16.Soccer was Nebraska's only required sport to earn a zero in the scoring.From 1993-94 to 2000-01, Nebraska never finished worse than 18th in the final standings. Those eight years also saw five top-10 finishes and a peak at No. 4 in 1996-97.The Huskers celebrated their third straight Big Ten title in 2025. | Amarillo Mullen Since that run through 2001-02, Nebraska had only finished in the top 10 twice: 2005-06 and 2009-10. Now, the department has added another such finish.Besides the national success, Nebraska also did well at the conference level in winning a trio of Big Ten championships. Volleyball finished with a third straight title, while softball swept the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. The Huskers also had baseball and men's basketball finish second in their respective regular seasons.Below is a table of all the Husker sports with their final place and the points that came with it. An asterisk indicates a required sport for scoring.SportsPlacePointsWrestling385Men's Gymnastics480Softball578Volleyball*573Bowling565Rifle555Women's Outdoor Track & Field869.75Men's Basketball964Men's Outdoor Track & Field969Women's Indoor Track & Field1263.75Women's Gymnastics2545.5Men's Indoor Track & Field2646.5Women's Swimming2747Baseball*3337.5Women's Basketball*3325Football5425Women's Cross CountryN/A0Men's TennisN/A0Soccer*N/A0Men's Cross CountryN/A0Men's GolfN/A0Women's GolfN/A0Women's TennisN/A0Below are Nebraska's finish in the Directors' Cup standings since 1993-94.YearFinish2025-26162024-25212023-24222022-23292021-22492020-21352019-20No standings due to COVID-192018-19482017-18442016-17372015-16272014-15392013-14232012-13242011-12402010-11332009-10172008-09312007-08312006-07272005-06192004-05212003-04322002-03242001-02222000-01131999-0061998-99121997-9891996-9741995-9681994-9592026 Learfield Directors' Cup Top 25PlaceSchool1Texas2Stanford3UCLA4North Carolina5Virginia6Florida7USC8Georgia9Michigan10Ohio State11Duke12Alabama13Texas A&M14Arkansas15Tennessee16Oklahoma17Nebraska18LSU19Notre Dame20Princeton21Penn State22NC State23Oregon24Wisconsin25AuburnHave a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow