GREENVILLE, S.C. – On the strength of Furman's men's soccer run to the NCAA College Cup, Furman University finished the fall season ranked 78^th nationally among all Division I athletic programs in the 2025-26 Learfield Directors' Cup competition, according to standings announced today.

Coming off last year's 96^th place finish among 303 Division I schools based on points scored for NCAA Tournament qualification, Furman ranked first in the fall season among Southern Conference institutions, ahead of Mercer (117^th), and both Samford (T154^th) and Wofford (T154^th).

Furman has paced SoCon schools in Learfield Directors' Cup competition seven times over the last nine years and was the league front runner in March of 2020 when the worldwide Covid pandemic halted competition.

The Paladins' 83 points in the fall were the product of the men's soccer team brilliant 2025 campaign that saw head coach Doug Allison's men's soccer squad claim both regular season and SoCon Tournament championships, as well as NCAA Tournament triumphs over Western Michigan, Hofstra, and Portland en route to the program's first appearance in the Men's College Cup in Cary, N.C.  Furman fell, 3-1, to eventual national champion Washington in the semifinals to complete the season with a 16-2-5 record and No. 3 final national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll.

Paladin Athletics ranked third among state institutions this past fall, trailing only Clemson (64th) and South Carolina (77th).  
North Carolina emerged from fall competition ranked No. 1, with Stanford, Virginia, BYU, and Notre Dame rounding out the top five.

Click HERE for full 2025-26 Learfield Directors' Cup fall standings.

The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's NCAA Tournament competition finish in up to 20 sports in Division I — 10 men's and 10 women's.