The William & Mary Athletics Department is putting the finishing touches on a strategic plan designed to reach a new level of excellence by 2025. The plan, scheduled for public release this fall, will maintain the current emphasis on academics and integrity, but adds new aspirations for competitive excellence. In particular, the plan will include a goal to increase national prominence and improve performance measured by the NCAA Division I Directors' Cup standings.

Just as the U.S. News and World Report rankings are a measure of university achievement, the Directors' Cup is the standard for measuring intercollegiate athletics success across the national landscape. Points are awarded for individuals and teams reaching and progressing in NCAA championships competition. Points are not awarded for conference standings or conference championships, because the level of competition varies across conferences.

There are 351 NCAA Division I schools that compete for the Directors' Cup. William & Mary aims to rank in the top 100, which would place it roughly in the top third of Division I athletics programs. William & Mary has reached that level on occasion in the past, but recently it has placed far below that threshold. William & Mary's Athletics Department finished the 2018-19 competition year in a tie for 219th. The Tribe accumulated 53 points, which was a three-year high for the department, and placed sixth overall among CAA programs, an improvement of two positions from last year. Overall, William & Mary placed eighth among all Division I programs in the state of Virginia. W&M's post-season points came primarily from the field hockey team reaching the round of 16 in the NCAA Championships last November.

In the 26-year history of the Directors' Cup, W&M has led the CAA 12 times, and ranked in the top three in the state of Virginia 13 times overall. The Tribe's best showing came during the 1996-97 school year when it finished 42nd nationally with 351 points. That included NCAA quarterfinal appearances from football, men's soccer, women's lacrosse and women's tennis, as well as a round of 32 showing for women's soccer, women's cross country finishing 17th nationally and men's outdoor track & field finishing 34th nationally. Overall, W&M has placed in the top 100 nationally 14 times.

Over the last 10 years, W&M has averaged 153.3 points in the standings for an average of 122nd place, leading the CAA five times in that span. The average for the conference leader over that span has been 93rd place and 204.5 points, while the average for the top FCS program (Princeton every year) has been 38th place and 587.5 points.

Placing consistently in the top 100 of the Directors' Cup will require that William & Mary have the best program in the CAA and leverage that success in post-season competition, a primary objective of the effort to achieve this new standard of competitive excellence.