May 21, 2015
Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
There used to be a great deal of annual interest in the SEC All-Sports Trophy, back when the league was smaller and sponsored fewer sports. Now, it's hardly noticed for a variety of reasons, ranging from Florida's annual dominance, to the expansion of the league, to the mathematically complex formula by which the title is decided. That problem applies far more to national all-sports awards like the Capital One Cup, which requires the mind of Stephen Hawking to decipher.
The SEC office no longer administers the trophy. For many years, the Gainesville Sun which, like The Tuscaloosa News, is now a part of the Gatehouse Media Group, has done the math. Still, while it isn't much of a conversation piece these days, it is still an interesting measure of which teams are doing well.
Florida once again won the overall title, although the Gators did not win in either the men's or women's division. Still, the six overall SEC titles won by Gator teams gave them enough depth to finish second in each of the divisions and narrowly outdistance Texas A&M in the overall competition.
On the men's side, LSU won for the first time since 1997, while Texas A&M edged Florida for the women's title. The success of the Aggies is no surprise. When the league expanded three years ago, it was obvious, given its history, facilities and in-state population, Texas A&M would quickly be competitive across the board, even if they haven't won a football title yet.
What about Alabama? The Crimson Tide didn't win, but was solid enough. Alabama finished fifth overall, landing squarely in the middle of the pack (seventh) in the men's competition and faring somewhat better (fourth) in the women's competition. UA won two championships (football and gymnastics, which won't come as a surprise to anyone) and had some sports - basketball on both sides, and baseball, which was 11th against admittedly strong competition - that didn't help the overall score.
Realistically, that isn't a bad year. Ideally, Alabama can aspire to more. If LSU and Texas A&M can fight Florida tooth and nail, so can UA. Bill Battle doesn't seem to be conceding. There is a new men's basketball coach, as well as one in women's soccer. The long-awaited new baseball stadium is getting closer to completion. The arms race of SEC facilities continues to accelerate but Alabama seems determined to keep up, although the softball team might help themselves by knocking a few more home runs off their scoreboard this weekend.
The SEC, in every sport, is demanding. To be fair, it wasn't just the usual teams at the bottom, either, spots usually reserved for the Mississippi schools and Vanderbilt. Auburn was 11th overall. Tennessee, a major factor in SEC all-sports competition for years, was 12th overall and was dead last, 14th, among the men's programs. Missouri, which is admittedly competing against some much sunnier schools in spring sports, was 13th.
Despite the neverending "football school" appellation, one that was repeated at deafening volume during the basketball coaching search, Alabama has shown it can succeed in plenty of sports: softball, golf, tennis, swimming, track. Some of those programs have NCAA titles of recent vintage, and are capable of repeating that in the near future. If so, perhaps there will be a little more interest in the All-Sports outcome in the coming years.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1768295
Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
There used to be a great deal of annual interest in the SEC All-Sports Trophy, back when the league was smaller and sponsored fewer sports. Now, it's hardly noticed for a variety of reasons, ranging from Florida's annual dominance, to the expansion of the league, to the mathematically complex formula by which the title is decided. That problem applies far more to national all-sports awards like the Capital One Cup, which requires the mind of Stephen Hawking to decipher.
The SEC office no longer administers the trophy. For many years, the Gainesville Sun which, like The Tuscaloosa News, is now a part of the Gatehouse Media Group, has done the math. Still, while it isn't much of a conversation piece these days, it is still an interesting measure of which teams are doing well.
Florida once again won the overall title, although the Gators did not win in either the men's or women's division. Still, the six overall SEC titles won by Gator teams gave them enough depth to finish second in each of the divisions and narrowly outdistance Texas A&M in the overall competition.
On the men's side, LSU won for the first time since 1997, while Texas A&M edged Florida for the women's title. The success of the Aggies is no surprise. When the league expanded three years ago, it was obvious, given its history, facilities and in-state population, Texas A&M would quickly be competitive across the board, even if they haven't won a football title yet.
What about Alabama? The Crimson Tide didn't win, but was solid enough. Alabama finished fifth overall, landing squarely in the middle of the pack (seventh) in the men's competition and faring somewhat better (fourth) in the women's competition. UA won two championships (football and gymnastics, which won't come as a surprise to anyone) and had some sports - basketball on both sides, and baseball, which was 11th against admittedly strong competition - that didn't help the overall score.
Realistically, that isn't a bad year. Ideally, Alabama can aspire to more. If LSU and Texas A&M can fight Florida tooth and nail, so can UA. Bill Battle doesn't seem to be conceding. There is a new men's basketball coach, as well as one in women's soccer. The long-awaited new baseball stadium is getting closer to completion. The arms race of SEC facilities continues to accelerate but Alabama seems determined to keep up, although the softball team might help themselves by knocking a few more home runs off their scoreboard this weekend.
The SEC, in every sport, is demanding. To be fair, it wasn't just the usual teams at the bottom, either, spots usually reserved for the Mississippi schools and Vanderbilt. Auburn was 11th overall. Tennessee, a major factor in SEC all-sports competition for years, was 12th overall and was dead last, 14th, among the men's programs. Missouri, which is admittedly competing against some much sunnier schools in spring sports, was 13th.
Despite the neverending "football school" appellation, one that was repeated at deafening volume during the basketball coaching search, Alabama has shown it can succeed in plenty of sports: softball, golf, tennis, swimming, track. Some of those programs have NCAA titles of recent vintage, and are capable of repeating that in the near future. If so, perhaps there will be a little more interest in the All-Sports outcome in the coming years.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1768295
