Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois didn't get much attention last month when the Big 12 announced the Wildcats won the 2025-26 Commissioner's Cup, symbolic of the league's top program in both athletics and academics.
UA student-athletes produced a record overall GPA of 3.413, and the Wildcats were exceptional in men's basketball (Final Four), men's golf (Final Four) and men's tennis (Elite Eight). Yet overall, Arizona finished No. 36 nationally in the Learfield Cup, a measure of success in 19 sports. That was No. 5 in the Big 12.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd celebrates with his team in San Jose, Calif., on March 28, after beating Purdue to earn a spot in the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 25 years.
Beyond that, the UA's 2025-26 sports season was a success because Reed-Francois announced the school raised a record $46 million from donors, and also signed corporate sponsorship deals for a cumulative $87 million. Ten donors contributed at least $1 million to the UA athletic department.
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Indeed, that's a year to remember, made sweeter by a 9-4 football season and a Territorial Cup victory over ASU.
"We look to build upon a record-setting season,'' said Reed-Francois.
The challenge is that as soon as the UA announced its financial gains, Big 12 rival Iowa State said it raised $52.7 million from donors. Even Oregon State, relegated to the now-low key Pac-12 Conference, announced it had raised $62 million from donors in 2025-26.
The competition never stops.
The big question is: How does Arizona improve its Learfield Cup standing from 36th to, say, the Top 25, where it last finished in 2016 (it was 25th that year). That's still a long way from the 1994-2010 period when Arizona was a consistent Top 10 finisher in the Learfield Cup, one of the most successful sports departments in the nation.
Here's the answer: Arizona must greatly improve its men's and women's swimming programs, its men's and women's cross country programs, and its soccer and gymnastics programs. Those six sports are the difference between Top 10 and No. 36. Here's how far those programs have fallen:
– Men's cross country: The UA won Pac-10 championships in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1994 and 1999. They produced three NCAA champions. In the last decade they have been without a Top 25 finish.
– Women's cross country: The UA won the 2013 Pac-12 championship and then unraveled. They have not produced a leading runner or league contender for more than a decade.
– Men's swimming: The UA has won 42 NCAA individual championships and 52 relay championships in men's swimming, but nothing since 2015 following the graduation of Kevin Cordes. The UA men finished in the Top 10 every season from 1998-2014. Coach Frank Busch ain't coming back.
– Women's swimming: The UA's last NCAA champion was Margo Geer in 2014. Since then: no one has even come close. Before Geer, the UA won 25 NCAA individual championships and 21 relay winners. More telling, the Wildcats finished in the nation's Top 10 every year from 1991-2014. Since then? Not even close.
– Gymnastics: The UA was a national power in gymnastics from 1988-2002, finishing in the Top 10 five times with All-Americans like Heidi Hornbeek. But it was no factor in the Pac-12 year and remains a mid-level program, at best.
There is hope that Becky Burke can spin some magic and make the UA women's basketball team a Top 25 program again, sooner rather than later. And after a 20-year run as a Top 25 volleyball school, there are signs that coach Charita Stubbs can get the Wildcats back in the Top 25 for the first time since 2018.
All the other variables seem to be in place to make the UA athletic department into a Commissioner's Cup threat every year. The next thing is returning to the Learfield Cup's Top 25, replacing BYU as the Big 12 leader. Stay tuned.
Another Tucson golf course to close
