The University of North Carolina has finished second to Stanford in the Directors Cup standings, which denotes overall excellence in intercollegiate sports.

UNC's finish in the Cup is special; the reality of what UNC accomplished is even greater, because of the significance of how Carolina finished in the three sports -- football, basketball and baseball -- which capture the lion's share of attention and generate the revenue that enables all the other athletes on campus to participate.

In the annual Cup standings, each Division I school is ranked based upon its 20 highest finishes in all sports for men and women. Carolina won the inaugural Directors Cup, and Stanford has won 15 straight since then. This year marks the Tar Heels' seventh top-10 finish in the past eight years, which includes top-four finishes in 2006, 2007 and 2009. By comparison, the other 11 ACC schools have a total of five top-10 finishes -- none in the top four -- in the history of Directors Cup.

The 2008-09 season was one of the finest in Carolina history.

The women's soccer and men's basketball teams won NCAA championships; men's soccer and women's lacrosse reached the NCAA finals; the baseball team advanced to the College World Series for an unprecedented fourth straight year; the football team returned to prominence by playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

While doing so, Carolina became the first school in ACC history to play in the men's basketball Final Four, the College World Series and a football bowl game in the same year. In all, 23 Tar Heel sports qualified for NCAA postseason play.

Of course, the athletes are the ones who make it all happen, and some of those kids were recognized in the ultimate fashion by being drafted in the first round by a major professional sports league.

Carolina, Missouri and Southern California are the only schools to have players selected in the first rounds of the 2009 National Football League, Major League Baseball and NBA drafts.

The New York Giants selected wide receiver Hakeem Nicks with the NFL's 29th pick. In the NBA, Tyler Hansbrough (Indiana Pacers), Ty Lawson (Denver Nuggets by way of trade) and Wayne Ellington (Minnesota Timberwolves) all became first-round draft picks. In the MLB, the Seattle Mariners picked first baseman Dustin Ackley second overall and pitcher Alex White went 15th in the first round to the Cleveland Indians. This was the second time in Carolina history (1984 was the first) when at least one Tar Heel has been selected in the first round of the NFL, MLB and NBA drafts.

Plenty of kids went in later rounds, too.

In addition to all the individual recognition, UNC certainly succeeded at the team level in 2008-09.

The football team (8-5) took a huge leap forward by returning to a bowl game for the first time since the 2005 season and winning eight games for the first time since 2001. Third-year coach Butch Davis had several players taken in the NFL draft, and even more football alumni should hear their names called in the coming years.

The basketball program will enter its 100th season this fall, and Coach Roy Williams has managed to take it to greater heights than ever before, which is an amazing statement to make when one considers all of what Carolina has accomplished in a century of play. Williams' team won its second national championship in five years and appeared in its third Final Four during that stretch. With the talent Williams has on hand, and on the way, the Tar Heels appear to be more at the start of a run than at the end.

Then there is the baseball program, which never before has come close to the ongoing success it's enjoyed the last four years. Coach Mike Fox and his All-Americans just keep winning games and producing draft picks.

What is happening at Carolina right now is something truly special. Fans really should be careful not to take any of this success for granted.

One has only to think back to 2002 and 2003 to recall far different times in the two marquee sports of football and basketball.

But, as long as this elite group of coaches remains here in Chapel Hill to recruit and teach, there is every reason to believe UNC can continue to be uniquely successful for the future.

- chn -