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Yellow Jackets News: Georgia Tech’s finish in Directors’ Cup shows there is still work to be done

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 12: 'Buzz' the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets mascot reacts to a play during their game against the BYU Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium October 12, 2013 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 12: 'Buzz' the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets mascot reacts to a play during their game against the BYU Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium October 12, 2013 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images) /
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Georgia Tech finished dead last among major conference universities in this years’ Learfield Directors Cup handed out by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Over the first year and a half as athletic director, Todd Stansbury has breathed a new sense of life into the Georgia Tech athletic department. The former Georgia Tech linebacker was given a tough task of turning around a Georgia Tech athletic department that was struggling both competitively  and financially but so far has showed great promise.

Signing a deal with Adidas to be Tech’s uniform and gear supplier as well as launching a $125 million,  facility improvements initiative last month are just two of his achievements in his first two years on the job.

That being said, the results of this years’ Learfield Directors’ Cup presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics shows that as a whole, the Georgia Tech athletic department has a long ways to go. Overall, the results for the Yellow Jackets were anything but encouraging as they finished dead last among major conference universities.

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Georgia Tech finished 121st overalll, one of two ACC schools not to be ranked in the top 100. The University of Pittsburgh ranked 111th in this year’s rankings. While the athletic department has taken strides as a whole under Stansbury, it has yet to show competitively as the Directors’ Cup results show.

It should be noted Georgia Tech does have one of the smaller total amount of available sports compared to most schools and that in terms of major conferences and also has one of the smaller athletic department budgets. That being said, the Jackets have seen success in the past in the Directors’ Cup and there’s no reason that the school can’t reach the heights it once did overall but it won’t happen overnight.

As a whole the Georgia Tech athletic department is still far away from getting itself to where it once was. With multiple programs in the middle of rebuilding, the Jackets will likely see struggles continue over the course of the next two school years. But if Stansbury has shown anything over his first year and half on the job, it’s that he’s not worried about short term success but building an athletic department that will help Techs’ athletic programs sustain long term success in the future.

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Unfortunately for some Georgia Tech fans, that future may be further away than it is closer if this years’ Directors Cup shows anything. That being said, Todd Stansbury has showed that he has a strong vision of Georgia Tech athletics in the future and that fans just have to trust in his decisions and that they will pay off in the long run.