Penn State’s No. 23 Finish in Learfield Cup Standings Not So Krafty

Back on May 1, 2022 — just a few days after he was officially hired as Penn State’s athletic director — Dr. Patrick Kraft touted the power, reach, success and mission of Penn State’s 31 varsity sports and the head coaches who lead them.

“We are 31 strong,” Kraft enthused at the time. “Hear me again: We are 31 strong. And we are committed to winning national championships, conference championships. We will continue the tradition of winning.

“We’re going to continue to win,” Kraft promised. “I need to talk with Cael (Sanderson) and see how he’s done it so well so consistently. That’s the GOAT.”

Greatest Of All Time, for sure. This past season, the Nittany Lions’ wrestling team won its 11th national championship under Sanderson’s direction since he was hired in April 2009 by then-AD Tim Curley. The wrestling title gave Penn State 100 Learfield Directors’ Cup points — the most possible by one team in one sport.

Overall, Penn State finished No. 23 in the recently-released Learfield Cup final standings for the 2023-24 sports season. Texas finished No. 1, followed by Stanford, Tennessee, Florida and Virginia. Penn State placed sixth in what will be the realigned Big Ten Conference, counting UCLA (10th) and USC (14th), along with Michigan (8th), Ohio State (15th) and Nebraska (22th).

It is a drop for Penn State from No. 15, where Kraft & Co. were in 2022-23. Which was a major improvement from No. 43, where Penn State finished in 2021-22 — Sandy Barbour’s last season as Penn State’s athletic director.

Still, this week Kraft let his head coaches know — in no uncertain terms — that finishing 23rd is not acceptable.

Sure, a $700 million re-do of Beaver Stadium may be a public bigger fish to fry. But one of the major ways that an intercollegiate program is recognized nationally is how it fares in the Learfield standings. Not just at No. 1 Texas, which made the 2023 College Football Playoff and also made big headlines this week when it stole Texas A&M’s baseball coach 24 hours after he coached in the final game of the College World Series. But also at Penn State, with a budget of over $200 million, with more than 300 employees and 850 athletes, and with a deep, broad and proud history in many sports.

The Learfield Cup has long been a measure of a college sports program’s overall success. Final national finishes are computed for a maximum of 19 sports, and four sports must be included: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball. For Penn State, only women’s volleyball scored points this past year, with 64. Ohfer the other three hurts. A lot. In the standings, the next 15 sports (maximum) are scored for each institution, regardless of gender, and are included in the standings.

Speaking of heartache, if you are Learfield, the Penn State finish is a bitter send-off. The marketing company that sponsors the annual award had been Penn State’s former longtime partner in the selling of sponsorships and multimedia rights. On July 1, Playfly succeeds Learfield as Penn State’s new partner in that domain.

And speaking of 31 teams: By comparison, Alabama fields 21 varsity teams, standard for the SEC (meaning mo’ money for football). Ohio State, with 36 teams, leads the Big Ten, while Harvard has a Division I nation-leading 42 intercollegiate teams.

LEARFIELD CUP 2023-2024 FINAL STANDINGS

PENN STATE POINT-SCORERS

Overall, Penn State had 406.75 counting points, based on the 19-team scoring rule. Of that total, 236 points (58%) came from teams under the tutelage of John Gondak, who oversees the men’s and women’s cross country and track programs. Sanderson’s dominating wrestling team accounted for 24.5% of Penn State’s points. Here are the Penn State teams that earned Learfield Cup points in 2023-24:

Wrestling, 100 points. Fencing, 75. Women’s soccer, 73. Women’s gymnastics, 66.75. Women’s volleyball, 64. Football, 63. Men’s indoor track & field, 52.5. Women’s lacrosse, 45. Women’s cross-country, 43. Women’s indoor track & field, 42. Women’s outdoor track & field, 40. Men’s swimming, 38. Softball, 37.5. Men’s gymnastics, 32.5. Men’s cross country, 28. Men’s outdoor track & field, 27.5. Women’s ice hockey, 25. Men’s volleyball, 25. Men’s lacrosse, 25.

LEARFIELD CUP STANDINGS, YEAR-BY-YEAR

Here is where Penn State has ranked annually in Learfield Directors’ Cup standings beginning in 2002-03, as far back as records are available, with the athletics director for those seasons (year of spring season and standings release date noted):

PATRICK KRAFT: 2023 – 15th; 2024 – 23rd.

SANDY BARBOUR: 2015 – 8th; 2016 – 20th; 2017 – 8th; 2018 – 12th; 2019 – 13th; 2020 – Covid; 2021 – 39th; 2022 – 43rd.

DAVE JOYNER: 2012 – 12th; 2013 – 6th; 2014 – 5th.

TIM CURLEY: 2003 – 5th; 2004 – 13th; 2005 – 20th; 2006 – 15th; 2007 – 21st; 2008 – 9th; 2009 – 19th; 2010 – 11th; 2012 – 12th.

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