By C. Bart Clareman '05

Ephs 1st NCAA member institution (1,006) to be named #1 nationally in both academics and athletics in the same year

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- On its website, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) catalogues the following as the official philosophy statement of Div. III athletics: “Colleges and universities in Division III place highest priority on the overall quality of the educational experience and on the successful completion of all students' academic programs. They seek to establish and maintain an environment in which a student-athlete's athletics activities are conducted as an integral part of the student-athlete's educational experience” (NCAA.org).

On the Div. III landscape, no institution so fully and excellently embodies this philosophy more than Williams College. Already named the number one national liberal arts college in America by US News and World Report last August, it was announced today that Williams had earned its sixth straight US Sports Academy Directors’ Cup. Eph student-athletes have now captured eight Cups in the nine-year history of the award, which is presented annually to the best overall collegiate athletic program in the country.

Men's tennis advanced to the NCAA title tilt for the 4th year in a row

"I am extremely proud of the effort of our student-athletes in both competition and the classroom," said Eph Athletic Director Harry Sheehy. "Winning the Directors' Cup is emblematic of excellence across the board from students to coaches to all of the tremendous staff who support our programs."

Although Williams now officially stands above the field of Div. III schools – numbering 424 institutions in all – in both the athletic and academic arenas, the Ephs can also lay claim to being the first of the 1,006 NCAA colleges to be named tops nationally in academics in the same year it earned the highest distinction in collegiate athletics.

For Williams President Morty Schapiro, the Ephs’ athletic prowess follows from the commitment to excellence that the College cultivates in all of its endeavors.

“Whether it’s in the playing field, the Berkshire Symphony, the science labs, the art studio or wherever else, we pride ourselves on excellence here,” Schapiro said.

Head Coach Dave Pauslen won his second consecutive national Coach of the Year award

“I don’t see a trade-off between the academic side and the athletic side. I think there’s a real synergy on this campus.”

"In admissions, I like to tout the wonderful balance between academics and extra-curricular pursuits at Williams," said Director of Admission Richard Nesbitt. "This year was clearly demonstrative of that balance. An unprecedented number of top academic accolades were garnered by Williams students, including two Rhodes scholars, two Marshall Scholars, two Truman Scholars, a Watson Fellow, and 21 National Science Foundation honorees. In such a year it is indeed gratifying to also be recognized for the excellence of the Williams athletic program, as represented by the Directors ' Cup."

Although no Eph team managed to bring home a national title, men’s basketball (2003 Div. III National Champions) and men’s tennis earned second places finishes, while women’s tennis and women’s crew went for the bronze in their respective fields.

Women's cross country kicked its way to a fourth place finish at the NCAAs in spite of the fact that its best runner, sophomore Caroline Cretti, could not compete due to a last-minute injury to her quad.

Beyond the four top three finishes, eight Eph teams in total registered top five finishes nationally, while 15 teams wrapped up their seasons somewhere in the top 10. Another four teams (19 in total) finished in the top 15.

Although their finishes do not factor into Directors’ Cup standings, it is noteworthy that women’s squash (eighth place) and men’s squash (ninth) finished within the top 10 in a field that includes several prominent Div. I athletics teams. Squash does not hold an NCAA-sanctioned postseason championship event and thus is not part of the Directors’ Cup competition.

The Eph skiers, though the representatives of a Div. III institution, managed a 13th-place finish against shredders from a field predominantly comprised of Div. I colleges.

Women's tennis advanced to the NCAA semifinals four years in a row -- winning in 2001 & 2002

A year after becoming the first team from New England to earn an NCAA championship, men’s basketball was brilliant once again in 2003-04, winning 30 games against two losses on the season. Dave Paulsen became just the third person in 30 years to be named NABC National Coach of the Year two years in a row. Paulsen led a talented team with a strong senior nucleus consisting of Ben Coffin, Mike Crotty and Chuck Abba to a host of unprecedented accomplishments. Among the most impressive: a 78-71 upset victory over Holy Cross, a Div. I team that had participated in the NCAA Tournament three years running, on the Crusaders’ home floor; the first perfect record (9-0) in the history of NESCAC play; and Williams’ first victory over Amherst in the Final Four, an 86-81 triumph on March 19 that was the Ephs’ third straight victory over the Jeffs on the season. A day after defeating Amherst, however, Williams fell to UW-Stevens Point in Salem, Virginia in the national title game by a final score of 84-82, with the winning shot coming on a 17-foot turnaround jumper just before the buzzer. Back on its home floor, Chandler Gym, the Ephs have won 60 games in a row in, two short of trying the all-time record for consecutive wins at home in Div. III set by the now-defunct North Park College (IL).

For its part, men’s tennis advanced to its fourth straight NCAA title tilt, but for a second year in a row, the Ephs came up just short. This time the Middlebury Panthers clawed their way to a narrow 4-3 victory over Dave Johnson’s squad. Four days removed from the heartbreaking loss to Middlebury (in which he won both matches he competed in, No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles), Andrew Murray garnered All-American honors in singles play by advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Individuals Tournament.

Piecing together third place finishes were women’s tennis and women’s crew. Led by senior tri-captains Steph Hall, Kate Troy and Julie Mallory, women’s tennis could not come up with their third NCAA title in four years (which would have been a record for Div. III women’s tennis), but nonetheless managed to come up with a 5-3 victory over Washington & Lee to earn third place nationally. Like Murray, Hall advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Individual Tournament, and received All-American recognition. The Eph seniors were the first to win back-to-back NCAA titles in Div. III and they also posted two third-place finishes in their careers which are clearly the golden years of women's tennis in the Purple Valley.

Women’s crew finished less than two seconds shy of national champion Ithaca at the 2004 NCAA Div. III Rowing Championships in Sacramento, California. Finishing between first place Ithaca (7:00.80) and third place Williams (7:02.30) was Smith at 7:00.90.

After winning its fourth NESCAC Championship in a row, women’s swimming and diving came away with a fourth place finish at the NCAAs on March 14. Senior Rachel Gealy finished second in the 3-meter springboard diving, while sophomore Meghan Faughnan swam her way to a second place finish of her own in the 200 yard backstroke.

Another notable finish for the Ephs this past year was registered by softball, which tallied its first Directors' Cup points by virtue of a ninth place finish overall. Under the direction of new Head Coach Kris Herman -- who had been the architect behind Tufts' softball dominance -- the Ephs captured their first NESCAC Championship and advanced to their first NCAA Tournament, where they went as far as the regional championship.

Season by season, five teams tallied Directors' Cup points for Williams in the fall, winter and spring campaigns. Aside from the aforementioned women's cross country, women's volleyball (fifth place overall, 73 points), field hockey (fifth, 70), men's cross country (sixth, 72) and men's soccer (ninth, 64) each advanced to the NCAA tournament in their respective fields of competition this past fall, thereby contributing points to Williams' Directors' Cup finish.

Freezing temperatures could not cool the Ephs' athletic hot streak in the winter, as men's swim/dive (sixth, 73.5) and wrestling (13th, 62.25) notched points in addition to men's basketball, women's swim/dive and skiing.

Men's and women's track and field fared better in their spring campaigns than they had in the winter, and thus earned points commensurate with their spring accomplishments. For the women that meant 69.75 points courtesy of an eighth place finish, while for the men it meant 59.25 points via a 14th place finish. Along with the already-referred-to finishes of men's tennis, women's tennis and softball, the track and field points made the spring the most prolific season for Williams in terms of points-earned. To wit, Eph student-athletes earned 359 points in the fall, 356.75 in the winter and then brought it all home with 366 points in the spring.

So how do you begin to account for all of this athletic success? For Schapiro, the source of the College’s athletic excellence is two-fold. On the one hand there is the superb quality of the Eph coaching staff; on the other is the top-tier education that Williams provides.

Women's crew made its second trip to the NCAAs in the last three years

“I think our success feeds upon itself,” said Schapiro. “We have a spectacular group of coaches – they are just wonderful, both those that have been around for a while and those that are relatively new, they are simply extraordinary. Just look at the number of our coaches who win Coach of the Year and other accolades – they deserve it. I think some of the very best teaching that takes place at Williams College takes place on the playing fields and the hockey rinks and the various arenas.

“[How] are we able to attract such a wonderful group of intellectually engaged athletes, how do you get those people? They could go anywhere they want, why do they come to Williams? The way I see it is that we have athletics in balance with academics. It’s just an extraordinary academic institution, and if we were to lose anything in the academic sense it would have a negative impact on our athletic teams to the extent that we wouldn’t be able to attract the great student-athletes that we're able to attract now.”

Number one in academics, number one in athletics – the awards, accolades and distinctions just keep coming home to the Purple Valley. The only question left is, does winning the Directors’ Cup still mean what it used to? Does having won the award year-in and year-out for the past six years make winning the award any less sweet?

“I think the accomplishment never gets old,” Schapiro said. “I think we shouldn’t take for granted any of our successes at Williams College and I don’t think we do, I sure hope going forward we continue to celebrate the excellence that defines this college.”

NCAA Div. III U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup Top 10

1. Williams 1,081.75

2. Emory 811

3. Middlebury 779.5

4. TCNJ 751

5. Wisc. Stevens Point 730

6. Amherst 686.75

7. Wisc. LaCrosse 640

8. Cortland St. 627.5

9. Washington U. (MO) 610

10. Gustavus Adolphus 583