The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics department has had a good week.
A day after former Mocs football player Davis Tull, now with the New Orleans Saints, was named the Southern Conference male athlete of the year, the department won the Commissioner's Cup, which is awarded annually to the top men's athletic program in the conference.
Also announced Wednesday were results for the Germann Cup, given to the conference's top women's athletic program. UTC finished second to Samford.
In addition, the NCAA released its Academic Progress Rate scores, and 14 of UTC's 17 teams were at or above the national average. Eight of those programs had a perfect score of 1,000.
It's the second time in school history UTC has earned the Commissioner's Cup, having previously won in 2004-05 to snap Appalachian State's 13-year winning streak. The Mocs were runners-up the following year and last year.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletic Director David Blackburn speaks at a news conference in Chattanooga in this April 7, 2015, file photo. "With our league being as competitive as it is, to win the Commissioner's Cup and finish second in the Germann Cup in the same year is a tremendous accomplishment," UTC vice chancellor and athletic director David Blackburn said in a released statement. "It is exciting to see our student-athletes honored for their hard work. We are achieving excellence in competition, in the classroom and in the community, and that is our vision for UTC athletics."
In Cup competition, scoring is done on a percentage basis and only scores for the top seven sports at each school count toward the season total. The first-place finisher in each sport is awarded 10 points, with the remaining points based on a team's finish and the number of schools that sponsor that sport. A two-point bonus is given for a team that wins a conference tournament for sports that also have a regular-season champion.
The totals for the schools are divided by 70, the maximum number of points possible when counting seven sports, to determine each school's percentage for the year.
UTC finished with 51.58 points for a percentage of .7369, defeating Mercer by two ten-thousandths of a point in the percentage standings. The Mocs' football team won the SoCon in the fall, followed by the wrestling program winning both the regular-season and tournament titles. The men's basketball team finished second in the regular season, while the men's golf team was third in the conference tournament.
UTC's women won regular-season and tournament championships in softball and basketball, and they had second-place finishes in golf in tennis.
"Over the last week, we have seen a school-record eight programs earn public recognition from the NCAA for their APR scores, Davis Tull become the first Moc to win SoCon male athlete of the year and today we win our second Commissioner's Cup and are second in the Germann Cup," Blackburn said. "We also led the SoCon in attendance in football, men's basketball and women's basketball and set a school record with a 3.11 overall GPA in the spring.
"I think our fans, coaches and support staff should all be commended for equipping our student-athletes for success in each of those areas."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.