University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt Ranked No. 24 in LEARFIELD Directors' Cup Fall Standings
1/23/2025 5:52:00 PM | General
PITTSBURGH – Pitt ranked No. 24 in the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup Fall Standings after strong NCAA Tournament performances by the women's volleyball and men's soccer programs as well as a bowl game appearance by the football team. Pitt garnered 181.00 points during the fall championship season, 10th most among Atlantic Coast Conference athletic departments.
WOMEN"S VOLLEYBALL (83.00 points)
Pitt finished the season with a 33-2 overall record, good for a program best .943 winning percentage. The Panthers went 19-1 in ACC play and won the ACC Championship for the third consecutive season. The Panthers went to their fifth consecutive NCAA Regional Final and fourth straight National Semifinal in 2024, the only team in the nation to do so. Highlights from this season included:
- Defeated Georgia Tech to clinch an outright ACC Championship, the third consecutive season in which Pitt has shared or won an outright title.
- Set an all-time attendance record with 11,800 in the Petersen Events Center in a top five match against Penn State (9/18/24), beating the previous record set of 8,865 in 2023 against Louisville (11/18/23).
- Olivia Babcock was named the program's first AVCA National Player of the Year and the University of Pittsburgh's first Honda Award winner.
- Dan Fisher was named the AVCA Division I National Coach of the Year for the first time in his career and ACC Coach of the Year for the third time.
- Fisher also earned AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time.
- Tied a program record with seven All-ACC and AVCA East Coast Region performers – Rachel Fairbanks, Valeria Vazquez Gomez, Olivia Babcock, Bre Kelley, Ryla Jones, Torrey Stafford and Emmy Klika.
- Babcock was named the ACC Player of the Year and AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year for the first time.
- Four Panthers were named AVCA All-Americans as a nation best three Panthers (Fairbanks, Babcock and Stafford) earned a spot on the First Team, and Kelley was named to the Second Team.
- Fairbanks and Vazquez Gomez signed to play professional volleyball in the United States after the National Semifinal run. Fairbanks joined League One Volleyball with LOVB Atlanta for its inaugural season, and Vazquez Gomez got drafted by the Omaha Supernovas in the Pro Volleyball Federation.
- Pitt earned the No. 1 spot in the AVCA polls for the first time in program history, holding the spot for 13 straight weeks.
- The Panthers earned the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. This marked the third time in four seasons that Pitt has hosted up until the National Semifinal. All four matches were held at the Petersen Events Center for the first time in program history, seeing NCAA Tournament record breaking crowds.
- Babcock recorded 538 kills on the year, a 25-point scoring era individual season record. She registered 33 kills in the National Semifinal, another 25-point scoring era record and the most by a Panther in an NCAA Tournament match.
- Babcock also broke the all-time individual single season record with 71 aces, passing the previous record of 67 set in 1989.
- The Panthers led the nation in team hitting percentage (0.332).
- Won 36 consecutive sets to start the season, a program best.
MEN'S SOCCER (73.00 points)
Pitt had one of its best seasons to date – winning the ACC regular season championship for the first time in program history, while reaching the national quarterfinals for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
- The Panthers earned the No. 2 overall seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament after being the lone team nationally to record six or more Quad 1 wins (6-2) in the regular season.
- Pitt went undefeated against nationally ranked opponents (5-0) in the regular season, while outscoring them by an 11-2 margin.
- The Panthers defeated 25 percent (four) of the top 16 national seeds, including the third and fourth seeds, respectively (Denver and Georgetown).
- A total of eight Panthers garnered All-ACC accolades during the 2024 campaign, as head coach Jay Vidovich and junior defender Casper Svendby notably won ACC Coach of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year, respectively.
- Svendby, along with senior midfielder Guilherme Feitosa and senior forward Luis Sahmkow were named to the All-ACC First Team, while senior forward Casper Grening was tabbed to the All-ACC Second Team.
- Junior keeper Cabral Carter and junior defender Jackson Gilman notched All-ACC Third Team accolades, while freshmen Niklas Soerensen and Lasse Dahl secured ACC All-Freshman honors.
- Svendby joined Valentin Noel and Jasper Loeffelsend as the lone All-Americans in program history, while becoming the 25th All-American coached by Vidovich.
- Svendby was joined by senior striker Sahmkow on the All-South Region First Team, while junior defender Gilman, senior midfielder Feitosa and senior forward Grening garnered second team accolades.
- Feitosa was named a 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic Second Team All-American.
FOOTBALL (25.00 points)
Pitt began the season 7-0 for the first time since 1982 and reached the postseason for the 38th time and seventh time under the direction of Pat Narduzzi. Highlights from this season included:
- The Panthers finished the regular season ranked third nationally in sacks and fourth in tackles for loss.
- Pitt's passing yards per game ranked 15th nationally and third in the ACC in the regular season.
- Nineteen Panthers scored a touchdown in 2024, the third most in the country behind Notre Dame and James Madison. It was also the second-most players in program history.
- Pitt ranked fifth nationally in defensive touchdowns with an ACC-high four and third nationally in pick sixes with an ACC-best four.
- Five Pitt players were named to the 2024 All-ACC Football Team.
- Desmond Reid was a first-team selection at two positions: all-purpose back and return specialist.
- The Panthers' other first-team pick was linebacker Kyle Louis, whose 150 voting points were the highest of any linebacker on the All-ACC team and 18 more than the second-highest vote getter.
- Safety Donovan McMillon was named second team All-ACC, while linebacker Rasheem Biles and placekicker Ben Sauls were third-team honorees.
- Louis became the first sophomore defensive player at Pitt to earn First Team All-America from an NCAA-recognized selector (Sporting News) since the legendary Hugh Green in 1978. Louis was also honored as an All-American by the Associated Press, The Athletic and CBS Sports.
- Reid was recognized as an All-American from four organizations, including the Associated Press, The Athletic, the FWAA and CBS Sports.
- Sauls concluded the regular season with an FBS-best three made field goals of 55-plus yards and broke a single-season school record with five field goals of 50-plus yards. He also put a 58-yarder through the uprights, tying the school record.
- McMillon became the first Pitt player to record consecutive 100-tackle seasons since linebacker Scott McKillop in 2007-08.
- Among all FBS freshmen heading into the bowl season, Eli Holstein ranked third in passing yards per game and total offense per game, as well as fifth in touchdown passes. He also ranked first in passing yards and total offense per game, while finishing third in TD passes, among all Power 4 freshmen in the regular season.
CONFERENCE
The ACC leads all conferences with three schools in the top five, 10 schools in the top 25 and 14 institutions among the top 50 of the current LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings. North Carolina holds the top spot, less than 10 points ahead of fellow ACC member Stanford at No. 2, while Virginia is at No. 5 and Notre Dame at No. 6.
SCORING STRUCTURE UPDATE FOR 2024-25
New this year, an additional countable sport has been added on the Division I side, bringing the total number of countable sports to five (5). On the women's side, soccer joins basketball and volleyball, while the men's side will continue to be baseball and basketball. Overall, 19 total sports are counted for the final standings in June, including the five countable sports, and the next highest 14 (max.) sports scored for each institution, regardless of gender.
The winter Division I LEARFIELD Directors' Cup standings will be updated and published in early April.
The LEARFIELD Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in the NCAA Championships.
Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website at www.directorscup.org. In addition, you can follow on X (Twitter) @ldirectorscup.
