Top SEC Athletic Department

[SECorBust]

Who's the best?
The Tuscaloosa News takes a look at who has the best athletic teams in the SEC


By Christopher Walsh
Sports Writer

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related content

• Gators set the tone for SEC volleyball
• Arkansas rules men's cross country
• Razorback women have no equal

It’s almost hard to believe that 15 school years have already come and gone since the Southeastern Conference expanded to 12 teams by adding Arkansas and South Carolina.

Fifteen football seasons since the first conference championship game, the biggest single-event payday the league splits among its membership.

Fifteen years since the SEC launched college sports into the super-conference age, and subsequently started football down the path toward the creation of the Bowl Championships Series, and away from a true playoff.

Since then, new sports have been added and scores of championships won — 104 of its 167 (51 since 2000), to be exact, on the national level.

But which SEC programs have been the best over that time period?

Which SEC sports have been the most competitive?

Which SEC teams have dominated their sport the most, and which have been the biggest fodder for the rest of the field?

http://tximg.ny.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TL&Date=20070708&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=70708001

Well, those are things that we wanted to know — and now have the answers.

Welcome to The Tuscaloosa News SEC Cup. Over the next two-plus weeks, we’ll statistically break down the conference and rank it like never before, and not year-by-year but sport-by-sport.

Every day through July 23, we’ll showcase a different sport and tell you which team is best, by how much and why.

Then, after all the individual sports have been revealed, on July 24, the day before SEC Media Days kick off in Hoover, we’ll have a comprehensive report, including each school’s total points, and the high score winning our mythical SEC Cup as the modern-era champions.

It will also feature men’s and women’s totals, a breakdown of each school, and a list of both the top 10 teams that dominate their sport, and are the most dominated, in SEC play.

For Alabama, we’ll also rank every sport, from best to worst.

Here’s how we did it: More (http://www.tidesports.com/article/20070708/NEWS/70708001/1016/NEWS)

BTW: Home - TideSports.com - Your complete Crimson Tide news source! (http://www.tidesports.com) is the best source of Alabama info if you are scouting your rival or just want to know what's up with the team. Andrew Bone kicks tail!

[JerryBeeds]

In football since 1990 it's definitely UF. In basketball it's a toss-up between UF and UK.

[woo_pig_sooie]

Arkansas is looking good so far.

We also did pretty well in basketball during the 90's. Florida only passed us because of their latest title.

[Gator2753]

Arkansas is looking good so far.

We also did pretty well in basketball during the 90's. Florida only passed us because of their latest title.

Agreed. When I think of established b-ball schools in the SEC (besides UK) Arkansas & MSU come to mind with their past and present success.

[Dmldawg782]

I think FL has been the staple for sports programs in the SEC. They win the SEC cup almost every year, except for last year when UGA finally took it away.

Most of the schools have one or two programs that they can compete with the best in. For example, SC in baseball, Ark in track, Tenn in womens basketball.

[Smithian]

In football since 1990 it's definitely UF. In basketball it's a toss-up between UF and UK.In BBall, Arkansas has also gone to three Final Fours, won a NC, and lost a NC... You have to put them up there. Before these last two years, you forget noone would question the #2 BBall school in the SEC is Arkansas.

Arkansas track forces us up there in the overall athletic department rankings.

[OleMissPike]

Florida; no one else comes close

[VolMike98]

Florida; no one else comes close

Currently, it is very hard to argue against it.

[azamugg]

Currently, it is very hard to argue against it.

Agreed................UGA is an obvious strong second place

[Dmldawg782]

Agreed................UGA is an obvious strong second place

I agree with that. UGA has a lot of outstanding sports programs that are consistently in the top tier. If we can get the mens basketball team situated which I think we are and the baseball team more consistent then we will fight with UF for the top position. AS of right now, they have it all, though I hate to admit it.

[SECorBust]

Gators reign
Florida dominates the SEC


By Christopher Walsh
Sports Writer

http://tximg.ny.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=TL&Date=20070724&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=70724008&Ref=AR&Profile=1011&MaxW=330&Q=80

They won the national championship in football.

They won back-to-back titles in men’s basketball.

Now the Florida Gators have another honor to their credit, the Tuscaloosa News SEC Cup as the best athletic program of the modern SEC era, and it wasn’t very close.

For the past 17 days, the Tuscaloosa News has ranked each SEC sport according to league standings since 1992-93, when the conference expanded to 12 teams.

As a reminder, each place in the standings was worth a point, with a bonus point awarded for winning the SEC postseason tournament/event or national title.

Each team’s average was used for the combined men’s and women’s scores, with each sport having equal weight. However, total points was the factor in determining the overall champions.

The result was a sweep by the Gators, who have won 12 of their 21 national titles in the last 15 years.

But that wasn’t the most impressive statistic that we discovered.

Instead, it was this: Even though Florida is one of the few schools that competes in every SEC sport, every Gator team, on average, finishes in the top half of the standings.

No other school can come close to claiming that.

In comparison, Alabama, which didn’t place first in any sport, had the majority of its teams score below Florida’s worst team (women’s basketball).

Consider Florida’s national results from last year alone:

n Men’s basketball (No. 1).

n Football (No. 1).

n Gymnastics (No. 3).

n Men’s swimming and diving (No. 4).

n Women’s tennis (No. 5, tied).

n Women’s swimming and diving (No. 7).

n Men’s golf (No. 9, tied).

n Soccer (No. 9, tied).

n Softball (No. 9, tied).

n Men’s tennis (No. 9, tied).

n Volleyball (No. 9, tied).

That list is even more impressive when you factor in that the SEC became the first conference ever to win the Division I titles in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball (Tennessee) in the same year.

“Titles by both men’s basketball and football certainly led the highlights of this season for the Gators,” Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley said in a recent release. “A total of 11 teams among the top 10 showed the strong performances by several of our teams.

“Unquestionably, this was a memorable year. Our coaches and student-athletes are working to add more positive memories for next season.”

As for SEC play, Florida led the league with six team titles in 2006-07: men’s basketball, football, gymnastics, soccer, women’ tennis and volleyball.

If anything, such years are becoming habit-forming for the Gators - who swept the overall, men’s and women’s titles in the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group’s SEC All-Sports rankings, and finished sixth overall in the national 2006-07 Sports Academy Directors’ Cup competition (FYI, Florida and UCLA are the only two programs to rank among the top 10 in each national all-sports ranking during the past 24 years).

Although there are obviously numerous reasons for Florida’s success, a major part of it is simply commitment.

For example, since the end of the last school year, Florida made three telling moves regarding its most prominent figures:

Urban Meyer signed a six-year contract extension that will average $3.25 million a year, making him the third-highest paid coach in college football.

Even though he briefly left for the Orlando Magic, and then quickly changed his mind, Billy Donovan has a new six-year contract worth $3.5 million per year, which tops all coaches in men’s basketball.

Foley agreed to an 11-year deal worth up to $1.2 million annually with bonuses, making him the highest paid athletic director in the country.

“Jeremy’s contract is what you would expect for the best athletic director in the nation,” Florida president Bernie Machen said at the time.

To put it into perspective, those three individuals combined will make twice as much at Alabama football coach Nick Saban, and receive more than $2 million a year than their Crimson Tide counterparts.

But Florida’s commitment doesn’t end there. Foley, who started with the Gators in 1976 as a ticket office intern, runs a $76.6 million department (FYI, Alabama’s was $61.5 in 2005), dramatically more than the $15 million budget in 1979.

Although the department gets no state funding, the Gators have enjoyed $180 million in capital improvements during Foley’s tenure, including two major expansions of the football stadium, a multi-purpose athletic field house and a new academic advising center. Athletics have also contributed more than $37.6 million since 1990 to help fund various academic endeavors at the university.

When asked about Foley during his “departure” press conference, Donovan said: “He’s one of my closest friends in life, who afforded me the opportunity of a lifetime and I will always be gratefully indebted to the University of Florida and Jeremy for giving me the opportunity to coach here. Not that I have worked for a lot of them, but he is the best athletics director in the country and he has built a program here that is among the elite in all of collegiate athletics. I was very grateful that I worked with the best in his field and hopefully he made me better as a coach and as a person.”

Since Foley was promoted to athletics director in 1992 - the same year the SEC expanded - the Gators have claimed 12 national championships and 77 SEC titles.

They’re message to the rest of the conference is a simple one, “Beat that.”

[VolMike98]

can you post the article on Tennessee if you can?

[lacene]

Who's the best?
The Tuscaloosa News takes a look at who has the best athletic teams in the SEC


By Christopher Walsh
Sports Writer

Print this story Email this story


related content

• Gators set the tone for SEC volleyball
• Arkansas rules men's cross country
• Razorback women have no equal

It’s almost hard to believe that 15 school years have already come and gone since the Southeastern Conference expanded to 12 teams by adding Arkansas and South Carolina.

Fifteen football seasons since the first conference championship game, the biggest single-event payday the league splits among its membership.

Fifteen years since the SEC launched college sports into the super-conference age...


See?: It took South Carolina to make the SEC into a "Super Conference".


I've been telling you all along.....

:ph34r:

[PuddingTime]

I like the idea of the original article. IMO overall, Florida has to have the best athletic department...they are competitive in most sports, and what w/their hoops and football titles recently, it's hard to make an argument against it.

I think Arkansas also has a great athletic department....they are consistently competitive in everything.

I'd say my Wildcats are the middle of the pack. Before Barnhart came along, EVERYTHING was invested in basketball, but you can now see how the investments in tennis, volleyball, soccer, hockey, women's basketball, football, and baseball are all paying off w/winning squads consistently. Our softball team....well, they suck lol. The money is there, believe you me, it's just a matter of not putting it all into our basketball team. The only school in conference who comes close to our level of basketball commitment is Arkansas. Don't think the rest of ya'll are anywhere near there, whether you think so or not.

[AuburnJT]

Don't see anything about our 87 consecutive Men's and Women's nat'l swimming titles.

[VolMike98]

I won't say we are the best but I would put us in the top 2-5 teams. Florida number 1 and I think we are on a similar level currently with UGA, Arkansas, Auburn

[True Grit]

I will not be happy with LSU athletics until the baseball and basketball programs start being good again. I think baseball will be there in a few years. I dont know about basketball. I think Brady needs to be fired. I dont see him getting fired after this season for two reasons: basketball is not important enough at LSU and Bertman will wait for the next AD to deal with it. Sure, we went to the Final Four in 2005 but I want a coach that can consistently have good seasons.

[The Ramp]

I will not be happy with LSU athletics until the baseball and basketball programs start being good again. I think baseball will be there in a few years. I dont know about basketball. I think Brady needs to be fired. I dont see him getting fired after this season for two reasons: basketball is not important enough at LSU and Bertman will wait for the next AD to deal with it. Sure, we went to the Final Four in 2005 but I want a coach that can consistently have good seasons.

softball, track & field, women's bball, and gymnastics are in good hands

(not that anyone cares)

[VolMike98]

Agreed................UGA is an obvious strong second place

I would not necessarily say that, for example this year UT finished higher than UGA in the directors cup.

[True Grit]

softball, track & field, women's bball, and gymnastics are in good hands

(not that anyone cares)

Yeah I know. But we are bad in 2 of the 3 big sports, which are much more important.

[The Ramp]

Yeah I know. But we are bad in 2 of the 3 big sports, which are much more important.

we have been competitive in basketball (not that i follow basketball)...just not last year

[WarEagle73]

Yeah I know. But we are bad in 2 of the 3 big sports, which are much more important.

As an auburn fan, I feel your pain. Our situation is very similar to LSU's. We had a couple good years in Basketball. We even made it to either the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 the year Syracuse won the title. They were the ones that knocked us out of the tournament. Wile I'm very pleased with Auburn's performance in football and swimming we have a long way to go in basketball & baseball both. I think they are slowly moving in the right direction but it will take some time before they are really competitive.

[tecmsu06]

I'd have to say Arkansas. Since coming to the SEC and playing catch up, Broyles has updated every single sporting venue at the school. Arkansas probably has the nicest (all around) facilities in the SEC, and Broyles has done everything with a pretty small (relative) budget, which has also drastically increased since moving from the SWC. Say what you want about Broyles, but he has made sure that Arkansas athletics can compete with the rest of the SEC.