The Nebraska Cornhuskers appear to be under some very strong leadership in Athletic Director Troy Dannen. The athletic department just closed out a strong 2024-2025 academic year by placing 21st in the Division I Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.
The Cornhuskers finished the year with 830.50 total points, their best finish since 2010 and just the fourth time in the last 20 years they eclipsed the 800-point mark.
Nebrasaka posts best Directors’ Cup finish since 2010 under AD Troy Dannen
It is also worth pointing out that as unpopular as he is around these parts, Trev Alberts’ efforts in this direction also paid some serious dividends. After an all-time low finish of 49th in 2021-22, the Nebraska Cornhuskers has steadily been on the rise with final placings of 29th and 22nd before this year's 21st.
The finish also showed off that the Cornhuskers are working to keep pace in a very good conference. Nebraska was one of seven Big Ten schools to finish in the top 25, joining USC (2nd), UCLA (5th), Ohio State (8th), Michigan (13th), Penn State (16th) and Oregon (18th).
The Directors' Cup began in 1993. The all-sports competition takes up to 19 scores from each school, based on how different sports finish in the national standings. The 19 scores are pulled from five required sports—men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, women's soccer, and volleyball—and the next 14 highest scoring sports.
Since arriving in March of 2024, Troy Dannen has certainly put a stamp on the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the athletic department. At the same time, he’s shown that when things need to follow in the path that his predecessor laid out, he won’t make changes just for the sake of changes. That approach seems likely to continue to fuel success.