(College Station, TX) - San Jose State, Utah State and Idaho have finished in the top 10 of the Excellence in Management Cup as presented by Texas A&M's Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics (LSIA).

With an unprecedented three Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championships during the 2011-12 academic year, San Jose State University was cited as the fifth most economically efficient athletics program in the 2012 Excellence in Management Cup study.  

The purpose of the Excellence in Management Cup is to determine the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) athletics departments in NCAA Division I that win the most championships in accordance to financial expenditures.

Kent State, Western Kentucky, Alabama, Tulsa and San Jose State are the top-five programs in the 2011-12 Excellence in Management Cup study.

During the recently-completed academic year, the Spartans won WAC titles in women’s swimming and diving, women’s golf and men’s golf.  The championships in swimming and diving and men’s golf were San Jose State’s first in the WAC. The Spartans made it four in a row in women’s golf.

“We are delighted to be ranked among the top-five NCAA Division I athletics programs in this year’s Excellence in Management Cup rankings,” says San Jose State University deputy director of athletics Marie Tuite, who concluded the 2011-12 academic year as the Spartans’ interim director of athletics.

“We are proud of the championships we won last year and pride ourselves on being fiscally responsible.  We accept the revenues we generate and resources we receive with great appreciation. In conjunction with our expenses, we aim to give our student-athletes, fans and alumni the best possible intercollegiate athletics experience.  This recognition validates our fiscal responsibility in a national context.”

For San Jose State, this year’s ranking is its first in the top-10 and second in the study’s four-year history.  In 2009-10, San Jose State received honorable mention status.

San Jose State’s finish in 2012 also is the best by a Bay Area school in the Excellence in Management Cup’s four-year history. Previously, Stanford, listed 17th in 2010 and 2011, was the highest among the three FBS Bay Area universities.

Besides the recognizing the top-five schools nationally, the top schools in each conference were Maryland (Atlantic Coast Conference), Notre Dame (Big East), Illinois (Big Ten), Baylor (Big 12), Tulsa (Conference USA), TCU (Mountain West), California (Pac-12), Alabama (Southeastern Conference), Western Kentucky (Sun Belt), San Jose State (WAC). This year’s results marked the first time a school other than Utah State was named best in the WAC in the Excellence in Management Cup rankings.

Scores for the Excellence in Management Cup are determined by a formula that incorporates total athletics department expenditures, number of sports sponsored and the number of conference and national championships won.