05/14/2025
Cortland’s intercollegiate athletics program had its best year ever in competition against fellow SUNY schools, once again finishing first in the Dr. Patrick R. Damore State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Commissioner's Cup standings.
Cortland won the Commissioner’s Cup, which is awarded for overall sports excellence, for the second straight year and the 19th time overall.
The Red Dragons also raised the bar for athletic achievement by winning an historic 17 of 22 possible sport conference titles during 2024-25. The previous Cortland record of 11 SUNYAC titles was set in both the 2006-07 and 2012-13 seasons.
“This is truly a special accomplishment by all of our programs,” said Cortland Athletic Director Mike Urtz. “It is really a testament to the support our campus shows toward athletics, as well as an amazing job by our coaches to recruit such fine talent and coach them up when they get here.
“Most importantly, is a testament to our dedicated student athletes and their commitment to excellence.”
In the 26 years since the Commissioners Cup was created, Cortland hasn’t done worse than second place, taking first place 19 times and second eight times. The Cup is named for Dr. Damore, the longtime SUNYAC Commissioner who retired in 2012 and passed away in 2021 at age 90.
Commissioner's Cup points are awarded based on each team's finish in the SUNYAC standings, both during the regular season and in league postseason tournaments. The first-place school in each sport receives 10 points, second place receives nine points, and so on. A school’s regular-season finish is added to its postseason finish and is divided by two to determine the points for each sport. The total points earned are then divided by the number of conference sports the school sponsors.
Cortland finished with an average score of 9.60 points. New Paltz finished second with an average of 7.80 points and Oneonta was third with a 7.28 average.
In addition to the Cortland teams winning 17 SUNYAC titles in 2024-25, Cortland teams won the Empire 8 football title and the Northeast Women's Golf Conference (NWGC), raising the total of first-place conference finishes to 19.
That means more than 75% of Cortland’s 25 varsity teams took their conference’s top spot.
Cortland won five SUNYAC titles in the fall — men's cross country, women's cross country, field hockey, men's soccer and women's volleyball. The Red Dragons then claimed seven conference crowns in the winter — men's basketball, women's basketball, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, men's indoor track and field, women's indoor track and field, and wrestling. Cortland closed the year with five SUNYAC spring titles — baseball, men's lacrosse, softball, men's outdoor track and field and women's outdoor track and field. In addition, the women's soccer and women's lacrosse teams were each conference runners-up.