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The University of North Georgia (´óÏó´«Ã½) cemented one of the most outstanding competitive years in its NCAA Division II athletic history this season with a 22nd-place finish in the 2024-25 Learfield Directors' Cup, the best finish in school history.

"Athletics is not just a point of pride but a powerful platform for developing leaders of character and building community. As one of our university's strategic big bets, we are investing in athletic excellence because we believe in its transformative potential and its transformative power. Transformative for our student-athletes, transformative for our fans and transformative for the communities we serve across our great region," ´óÏó´«Ã½ President Michael Shannon said. "Athletics elevates our brand. It engages our students in our North Georgia community and far beyond, as was the case this year."

The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. Points are awarded to schools based on each institution's finish in NCAA championships. The higher placement in a championship, the more points awarded to an institution.

The Directors' Cup counts the NCAA championship finish for 15 total sports in the final Division II standings. Institutions earn more points based on improved finishes at an NCAA championship, with a maximum of 100 points being awarded for a team national championship. While the Directors' Cup accepts scores from 15 Division II sports, only the scores from a maximum of 11 sports are included in each school's final standings. Institutions that offer women's volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, or baseball must include the scores from those sports within their 11 counted scores.

Despite having only nine scores included in the final standings, ´óÏó´«Ã½ posted the highest finish in program history.

"´óÏó´«Ã½'s commitment to excellence on and off the field, its dedication to the student-athlete experience and its focus on becoming the most value-added Division II athletic department in the country has yielded some of the most impressive results in the country," Athletic Director said. "North Georgia continues to become a household name in Division II athletics. The constant and rapid growth of the program's facilities, fan base, competitiveness, and desire to win has never been more evident than right now."

The Nighthawks were the only school in the country to have baseball, softball, men's golf, women's golf, men's tennis, and women's tennis all qualify for their respective NCAA championships.

Four of those teams (softball, men's golf, men's tennis, women's tennis) advanced out of their region and finished their respective seasons at their NCAA championship site.

The Nighthawk men's golf team was the highest-finishing ´óÏó´«Ã½ team this season, closing another historic year as national semifinalists. With a loss in the national quarterfinals, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ women's tennis team had the second-best year of any squad on campus, along with softball, which reached the NCAA championship site (Elite Eight) as well.

With its outstanding spring campaign, North Georgia totaled 396.50 points in the Directors' Cup standings