The Texas Longhorns were awarded the Women’s Capital One Cup on July 15 at the ESPYSfor its success across all women’s sports.
Texas has won the Women’s Cup four out of the past five years, broken up by a third place finish in the 2024-25 season. Texas holds the second most Women’s Cups since the cup’s inception in the 2010-11 season, second only to the Stanford Cardinals with seven.
The Capital One Cup is awarded annually to one women’s athletic department on a point-based system which reviews athletic department success by splitting sports into two groups — Group A and Group B. The scoring for this particular award is weighted, with Group B results yielding three-times higher points than their Group A counterparts, as Group B typically holds more premier sports such as volleyball, softball and basketball.
Teams can receive up to 60 points for a Group B sport or 20 for Group A. The Longhorns’ national championships in rowing and softball helped propel them to 145 points, over Stanford’s total of 136.
Texas’ recent success over the past five years with the cup has been propelled by nine national championships across outdoor track & field, tennis, rowing, volleyball and softball. Approximately 13% of the 67 total NCAA championships in the University’s history have been won by the women’s department during this era.
Texas did not win the award this year by being a top-heavy department. Outside of the national titles, Texas also posted top-10 finishes in volleyball, beach volleyball, golf and swim and dive. Texas’ versatility sets them in a unique position. Whereas universities like UConn basketball and Penn State volleyball have historically dominant programs in a single sport, Texas sets itself up to gain a foothold in six at once.
The Texas women’s department’s efforts have been felt in the recent years of the Director’s Cup standings as well. Texas recently completed a three-peat of winning the cup, an award given to university’s athletic departments for their successes as a whole rather than split into genders. Texas has won the award five of the last six years, placing second in 2022-23 before becoming the second university ever to win three consecutive cups, after Stanford.
Texas women’s successes have played a large role in the final standings for the award. This year, Texas women’s golf, rowing and softball alone gained 272.75 of UT’s 1322 points.
Over the past three years that Texas has held the cup, the women’s department has won five of the University’s eight national championships.
Texas is looking to keep the momentum going. According to On3, reigning champion Texas softball boasts the third-best recruiting class in the nation, behind Oklahoma and LSU. Its class holds two five-star and four four-star recruits to add to a championship winning roster. Additionally, Swimswam’s top-rated women’s swim prospect, Audrey Derivaux, recently reclassified to the class of 2026 to add to Texas’ swim and dive team, which placed third this past year.
These strong recruits look to join a department coming off postseason runs, national championships and awards with continued championship aspirations.