Texas State wins Bubas Cup for second time

Staff Reports

SAN MARCOS – With the help of two regular-season conference championships and all-around performances by all programs, Texas State won the Sun Belt Conference’s 2021-22 Vic Bubas Cup, the conference office announced.

It is the second time in the last four years the Bobcats have won the conference’s annual all-sports championship trophy, which is awarded to the top athletic department in the Sun Belt.

“On behalf of our entire athletic department, I am incredibly proud and grateful of the hard work and dedication put in by our student-athletes and coaches this year,” said Texas State Director of Athletics Don Coryell. “To win the Vic Bubas Cup and represent all it stands for is an honor for Texas State, the campus community, and Bobcat nation. We made this a goal of ours back in August, and with the help of our championships earned and the fight by all Bobcats, we achieved the level of being the Sun Belt’s best. We are fired up to bring the Bubas Cup back home to San Marcos.”

Texas State tallied 123.0 points in the final standings, one point ahead of second-place South Alabama (122.0).

Lifting the Bobcats to the Bubas Cup were regular-season conference championships captured by men’s basketball and baseball. The baseball team set the school mark for the best record in school history while matching the Sun Belt’s best conference record by any school in the last 40 years. The men’s basketball team, meanwhile, won its second consecutive regular-season conference championship.

Texas State, which sponsors 16 of the Sun Belt’s 17 sports, also had top-three finishes in the conference standings by volleyball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, and softball.

Texas State, which last won the Bubas Cup during the 2018-19 athletic year, is now one of only two schools to win multiple Bubas Cups since the 2013-14 season, when the Bobcats joined the conference. Texas State is also one of only five schools to win the trophy since 1991.

Points for the Bubas Cup are awarded based on regular-season finish for sports that have a regular-season conference schedule. Points are awarded based on Sun Belt Championship finish if that sport does not have a regular-season conference schedule. Schools receive points if they sponsor a sport within the Sun Belt. Institutions not sponsoring a sport do not receive points in that sport. Institutions tying for positions split the combined points of their positions.

For sports that have both a regular-season schedule and a conference tournament, one additional point is awarded to the winner of the conference tournament, including an additional point for winning the Sun Belt Conference Football Championship.

For sports with divisions, the conference records of all teams are ranked and points are awarded regardless of divisional finish. Standings for the sport of women’s soccer are determined by points rather than winning percentage.

The Vic Bubas Cup is named after the Sun Belt Conference’s first Commissioner. Bubas was appointed the conference’s commissioner on Oct. 6, 1976, and served for 14 years until his retirement in 1990. He led the conference during a period in which its membership increased from six to eight members and its sport sponsorship grew from four to 10 sports. Bubas was a three-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Coach of the Year at Duke in the 1960s, taking his team to three Final Fours. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Bubas passed away in April 2018 at the age of 91. 

2021-22 Vic Bubas Cup Final Standings 

1. Texas State – 123.0
2. South Alabama – 122.0 
3. Coastal Carolina – 108.5 
4. Arkansas State – 104.5 
5. UTA – 102.5 
6. Louisiana – 97.0 
7. Troy – 91.0
8. Georgia State – 89.0 
9. App State – 86.0 
10. Georgia Southern – 73.5 
11. ULM – 57.0
12. Little Rock – 53.0