NACDA Announces United States Sports Academy As Director's Cup Sponsor

Cleveland, Ohio - The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) is pleased to announce that the United States Sports Academy (USSA) will become the official sponsor of the Directors' Cup, the national all-sports awards program owned and operated by NACDA.

"The Directors' Cup has become the measuring stick by which colleges and universities evaluate their athletics programs," said NACDA President Judy Rose, director of athletics at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. "It is symbolic of athletics excellence. We have a rich history with the program and look for the significance of the Directors' Cup program to continue with the sponsorship of the USSA."

"The Executive Committee of the United States Sports Academy Board of Trustees voted unanimously to sponsor the Directors' Cup, given our 35-year history with NACDA," says Tom Rosandich, president and chief executive officer of the USSA. "We are excited about sponsoring the Directors' Cup with NACDA in recognition of outstanding collegiate programs in all NCAA divisions, plus the NAIA."

In the 10 years of the Directors' Cup program, winners have included the University of North Carolina and Stanford University* in Division I; Adams State College, California State University-Bakersfield and the University of California-Davis* in Division II; the University of California-San Diego and Williams College* in Division III; and Lindenwood University*, Pacific Lutheran University and Simon Fraser University* in the NAIA.

Additional information on the Sports Academy NACDA Directors' Cup program is available on NACDA's web site at www.nacda.com.

The United States Sports Academy, located in Daphne, Alabama, is an independent, non-profit, special mission graduate school of sport dedicated to serving this nation and the world through programs of instruction, research and service. The Academy has a rich history of addressing the need to provide quality, sport-specific programs.

The USSA has operated an awards program for 20 years. The Academy's Awards of Sport, which have been presented since the 1984 Olympics with the theme "The Artist and the Athlete" bestows a number of awards including the Carl Maddox Sport Management Award, named after the USSA's former chair of the Board of Trustees, former director of athletics at Louisiana State and Mississippi State universities and NACDA's James J. Corbett Award winner in 1986. The Academy also selects the Athlete of the Year and the Team of the Year. Additional information on the USSA can be found on its web site at www.ussa.edu.

NACDA, which is now in its 39th year, is the professional and educational association for more than 6,100 college athletics directors, associates, assistants and conference administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Through its series of management seminars, clinics and workshops and publication of the bi-monthly magazine Athletics Administration, NACDA offers educational opportunities to its members. Close to 2,000 athletics administrators annually attend the NACDA Convention.