Getting It Done

While we were on the Williams College campus last Friday we learned the school had won the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup in Division III for the 11th consecutive year, edging NESCAC foes Middlebury and Amherst. Looking around at the mostly modest facilities in Williamstown, Mass., I clearly recalled a Sports Illustrated story that tried to explain how the Ephs do it.

A trip to the SI Vault turned up this story under the headline, "A Little Goes A Long Way; Williams College proves that success in sports doesn't have to cost a fortune." From the story, dated Nov. 27, 2000:

What's so refreshing—and remarkable—about Williams is that its athletic program, the most successful in Division III, wins big and spends small. ...

"If you look at reasons that we have separated from the pack, I would point to the coaching staff," (athletic director Harry) Sheehy says. "We have coaches who clearly could work at the next level."

The full DIII Director's Cup standings are found here.

Speaking of the Director's Cup, the final Division I rankings are due out this Friday and the Ivy League championship in baseball should give Dartmouth a boost. The full standings as of last Friday can be found here. Stanford, which might be called the Williams of Division I (ha!) once again leads the pack. The Ivy standings heading into the final ranking:

39. Princeton
57. Cornell
66. Yale
68. Harvard
85. Penn
93. Dartmouth
106. Brown
131. Columbia

If you are curious about the scoring structure for the Director's Cup, click here. (Note: It will be helpful if you are smarter than I am ;-)

And finally, this is the last "regularly scheduled" blog posting until July 6. We head out tomorrow on our summer vacation to Colorado and while I'll have occasional internet access and will probably toss up a few posts, we'll be in a tent for some of the time. So no promises.