25-26 Director's Cup Thread

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

Perhaps we have our answer about the soccer team after the big Vanderbilt victory as they turn around and drop the rivalry game 1-0 against a very beatable A&M team.

Today is Ange Kelly's birthday by the way!

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

https://texaslonghorns.com/news/2025/9/30/track-field-cross-country-cross-country-preview-chile-pepper-invitational

We will know a lot more about the CC teams after this weekend. First meet with some legit D1 competition and the first meet where the Texas teams will be at full strength. There will be a few season debuts for returning athletes as well as some grad transfers.

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

23 hours ago, DirectorsCupUpdates said:

https://texaslonghorns.com/news/2025/9/30/track-field-cross-country-cross-country-preview-chile-pepper-invitational

We will know a lot more about the CC teams after this weekend. First meet with some legit D1 competition and the first meet where the Texas teams will be at full strength. There will be a few season debuts for returning athletes as well as some grad transfers.

The men have finished in what is essentially a head to head Texas vs Arkansas with a handful of other small division schools mixed in. Texas got smoked by Arkansas, their top 4 runners finishing 1,2,4,5. Texas top 4 runners 7,9,10,11. Biggest problem I see is that Texas runners got beat not only by Arkansas but also runners from Oral Roberts and Northwest Missouri.

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

14 minutes ago, DirectorsCupUpdates said:

The men have finished in what is essentially a head to head Texas vs Arkansas with a handful of other small division schools mixed in. Texas got smoked by Arkansas, their top 4 runners finishing 1,2,4,5. Texas top 4 runners 7,9,10,11. Biggest problem I see is that Texas runners got beat not only by Arkansas but also runners from Oral Roberts and Northwest Missouri.

Pretty encouraging results for the women who win the meet by knocking off Arkansas due to stronger depth. 

In CC, your top 5 runners are scored and while Arkansas' top 3 runners finished 1,4,5, their last two finishers were 38 and 72.

The top runner for Texas was Elizabeth Pickett in 3rd, followed by Isabel Conde De Frankenberg in 9th, Melody Espinoza in 13th, Syndi Wilkins in 17th and Lily Fawcett in 20th. 

Teams scores were 52 for Texas and 103 for Arkansas.

Will be interesting to see the updated USTFCCCA rankings on Tuesday. Texas women should move ahead of Arkansas. Tulane has been the number 1 team in the region and likely remains there. 

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

Good News, Bad News

Good News - Women's CC is now ranked 2nd in the region after beating Arkansas head to head and is expected to earn the 2nd AQ spot for the NCAA Championships. That would guarantee a top 31 finish and 43 points. Not a bad result for CC. Men's CC still expected to finish top 5 in the region which earns 28 points. 

Bad News - Women's Soccer ties up the game vs Florida late but gives up a late goal to drop another SEC match. They are in need of a couple good results to make the SEC tournament and keep their season alive.

[LonghornFan4Ever]

Tough season for women’s soccer…

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

35 minutes ago, LonghornFan4Ever said:

Tough season for women’s soccer…

Yes, a 4-1 loss tonight to South Carolina. This season will be one of the worst in the teams history.

[GoHorns1]

On 9/27/2025 at 1:04 PM, Migas & Fajitas said:

Surprised softball, and football, are not included. W&M T&F and Tennis seem to make sense also. 

Football will never happen too costly for smaller programs 

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

On 10/10/2025 at 6:05 PM, GoHorns1 said:

Football will never happen too costly for smaller programs 

Required sports actually only impact larger programs.

You have to have a lot of sports score points for the required sports to come into play. I broke this down a few posts above, very few schools have their scores impacted by required sports.

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

Nothing positive to report for Women's Soccer. After the surprise victory over ranked Vanderbilt, the team has gone on a 4 game losing streak and is 15th in the conference. They will miss the conference tournament. 

The real question is, does Ange Kelly coach this team again next year. CDC wants to compete in each and every sport and this team is by far the worst on campus and has been consistently so for years. The performance this year is the worst soccer season of all time for Texas and one of the worst athletic seasons by any team on campus in a while.

[Migas & Fajitas]

1 minute ago, DirectorsCupUpdates said:

Nothing positive to report for Women's Soccer. After the surprise victory over ranked Vanderbilt, the team has gone on a 4 game losing streak and is 15th in the conference. They will miss the conference tournament. 

The real question is, does Ange Kelly coach this team again next year. CDC wants to compete in each and every sport and this team is by far the worst on campus and has been consistently so for years. The performance this year is the worst soccer season of all time for Texas and one of the worst athletic seasons by any team on campus in a while.

Do you think the team regressed under AK? or SEC is tougher competition compared to Big 12? or both? or something else? I really thought she was going to progress the program when she was hired. 

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

Some mixed results for the Cross Country teams who competed in by far their most competitive meet of the year.

The women finished 12th overall, behind 5 ranked teams but also 6 unranked teams including Arkansas who they beat head to head 2 weeks ago. They did beat #3 Florida. Overall, I think it is hard to know which teams are running their top runners and what the race strategy is for these teams (ie, are some teams focused on getting a good training day in vs running all out to win a meet)

The Men had a less competitive field than the women and finished 4th, with 2 ranked teams finishing ahead of them. They beat #22 Arkansas who they lost to head to head 2 weeks ago. 

SEC Championships in 2 weeks and regionals 2 weeks after that. I don't think we will know what to expect until it happens.

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

3 minutes ago, Migas & Fajitas said:

Do you think the team regressed under AK? or SEC is tougher competition compared to Big 12? or both? or something else? I really thought she was going to progress the program when she was hired. 

The Big 12 is a really tough soccer conference, I don't think this is a matter of tougher competition. 

Considering how poorly they did in the non-conference, against some bad teams and how they have struggled against the bottom of the SEC this year, this is just a bad soccer team. 

Losing Missimo, Byars and others has hurt but there is never a reason for a team to absolutely fall off a cliff in talent like this one has.

[HookemTexas]

15 hours ago, DirectorsCupUpdates said:

The Big 12 is a really tough soccer conference, I don't think this is a matter of tougher competition. 

Considering how poorly they did in the non-conference, against some bad teams and how they have struggled against the bottom of the SEC this year, this is just a bad soccer team. 

Losing Missimo, Byars and others has hurt but there is never a reason for a team to absolutely fall off a cliff in talent like this one has.

I also thought I read last year that the incoming class was a top 5 class.  While the expectation wouldn't be championship, I agree it shouldn't have fallen off the cliff.

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

On 10/17/2025 at 5:36 PM, DirectorsCupUpdates said:

Some mixed results for the Cross Country teams who competed in by far their most competitive meet of the year.

The women finished 12th overall, behind 5 ranked teams but also 6 unranked teams including Arkansas who they beat head to head 2 weeks ago. They did beat #3 Florida. Overall, I think it is hard to know which teams are running their top runners and what the race strategy is for these teams (ie, are some teams focused on getting a good training day in vs running all out to win a meet)

The Men had a less competitive field than the women and finished 4th, with 2 ranked teams finishing ahead of them. They beat #22 Arkansas who they lost to head to head 2 weeks ago. 

SEC Championships in 2 weeks and regionals 2 weeks after that. I don't think we will know what to expect until it happens.

After some confusing CC results last week, our best guess is to go with the updated rankings. 
 

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams are ranked in the top 5 in the south central regional (27ish points) but both are outside the top 2 (automatic qualifier to NCAAS (43 pts minimum). 
 

next Friday is sec championships. I’ll check the rankings after that meet but ultimately we will have to keep a close watch on the regional to really know how these two teams finish. 

[DirectorsCupUpdates]

A quick peek at some spring sports:

men’s and women’s golf have concluded fall golf and both had some strong showings and will enter the spring ranked in the top 5. The men’s team is particularly strong and will push for a natty. 
 

Both tennis teams have been competing in singles competition. Similar to golf, both likely top 5 teams with the men’s team being very strong and a natty contender. 
 

yesterday swimming and diving faced off against Tennessee. Men’s and women’s teams won handily against the tenn squads ranked 5th and 4th. Texas will be far and away the best SEC team and both of these squads will finish on the podium and push for national championships. 

[HookemTexas]

So outside of soccer and football tbd, Texas' sports are all poised to have a strong showing.

[LonghornFan4Ever]

2 minutes ago, HookemTexas said:

So outside of soccer and football tbd, Texas' sports are all poised to have a strong showing.

Not sure about T&F and XC but other than that I agree.