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Arizona State named Big 12 Commissioner's Cup recipient

Arizona State named Big 12 Commissioner's Cup recipientArizona State named Big 12 Commissioner's Cup recipient
Charlie Leight

ASU athletic director Graham Rossini and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark at Big 12 Football Media Day Tuesday in Dallas

by Scott Bordow

DALLAS - In its inaugural year in the Big 12, Arizona State University’s athletic department has won the Commissioner’s Cup, awarded to the conference program that best combines athletic and academic excellence as well as its community service efforts.

“I’m just incredibly proud,” said ASU athletic director Graham Rossini. “Most importantly, I think it’s a good validation that we’re on our way.

“It’s nice that the conference looked at not only athletic performance but academic performance, community engagement and outreach. I think it’s a great representation of everything that we’re trying to focus on.

“To do it in year one is a great validation of what we’re capable of and what we want to be in the Big 12.”

Commissioner Brett Yormark announced the award at the Big 12 Football Media Day Tuesday in Dallas.

“Congratulations to ASU president Michael Crow, Graham Rossini and the entire Sun Devil community,” Yormark said.

Four Sun Devil teams – football, men’s and women’s swimming, and volleyball – won conference championships last season. Four other teams – lacrosse, beach volleyball, men’s and women’s golf – were runners-up.

Rossini said the success across the board speaks to the depth of ASU’s athletic program and the ability of its coaches to adapt to the seemingly ever-changing world of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).

“Our coaches have really taken on the unknown environment that we’ve been navigating the last two years,” Rossini said. “They’ve taken it with confidence and gusto. The world is different than it’s ever been in college sports, and our coaches have not used that as an excuse.”

On the academic side, the average cumulative GPA for all of ASU’s student-athletes in the spring of 2025 was 3.37 and 48 percent of ASU’s student-athletes made the Dean’s List. In addition, 82 percent of student-athletes had a semester or cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and 135 student-athletes earned a 4.0 semester or cumulative GPA.

“Look, we want to win at the highest level. I’ve said that repeatedly,” Rossini said. “But the whole point of what we do is to prepare young people for the real world. When you see our academic progress rate and our graduation success rate continuing to maintain and grow at elite levels, that’s important to me.

“It’s easy for kids to transfer now. It’s easy for academic coaches to say, ‘Well, he’s not going to be here next year, so we’re not going to put in the same time and attention to him.’ But we don’t do that. We have an ecosystem in place that’s figured out how to get kids to have success while they’re here.”

“But the whole point of what we do is to prepare young people for the real world."

Graham RossiniASU athletic director

The award also recognizes an athletic program’s commitment to career development, community service programs and impact/mental health offerings.

ASU’s programs include:

  • Sparky’s Tours, character education programs delivered in elementary schools, as well as initiatives in partnership with a New Leaf Homeless Shelter.
  • ASU Career Services has a career fair in which student-athletes have one-on-one interactions with hiring managers who offer real-time feedback on resumes, interviewing strategies and LinkedIn.
  • A Mental Wellness Fair, along with other programs addressing trauma, sleep, travel, managing emotions, gambling, etc.

Rossini credited the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and coaches within the athletic department for driving community service programs.

“They just show up at a lot of food shelters, homelessness areas … help with youth literacy and just try to be very visible in the community,” he said.

Rossini said he hopes the award will further ignite ASU’s fan base.

“The fan energy has led to the performance outcomes that we’re seeing both academically and athletically,” he said. “It just gives us energy, it gives us momentum, it gives us resources.

“So, those are all things that we’re reinvesting into all areas of our department to be successful in the way that this award indicates we are.”

Arizona State’s Big 12 Titles

Women’s Swimming and Diving

The Sun Devils won their first conference title in program history at the Big 12 Championships winning 14 individual titles in Federal Way, Washington. The team went 8-6 in the regular season in duals. 

Men’s Swimming and Diving 

The Sun Devils were able to win their third consecutive conference championship and the first Big 12 title winning 12 individual titles and sweeping the relays to establish their dominance within the conference all season long. Junior Jonny Kulow was named Big 12 Swimmer of the Meet and Lucien Vergnes was named men's Freshman of the Meet. 

Football 

The Sun Devils also finished the season with an undefeated record at home for the first time since 2004 and just the tenth time in program history. Highlights from this season included a blowout opening home win against Wyoming with the second-highest student attendance recorded for an ASU home game with 13,698 students attending the game. Other highlights include a thrilling 28-23 win over No. 14 BYU and a crushing 49-7 victory over in-state rival Arizona in Tucson. By defeating No. 16 Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship and clinching their first outright conference championship since 1996, Arizona State secured a spot in the College Football Playoffs for the first time in program history. 

Volleyball 

ASU won the 2024 Big 12 championship as JJ Van Niel in his second season helped Arizona State win its first conference championship in program history. The team finished 30-3, going 17-1 in Big 12 play. 

Sun Devil Athletics Matches All-Time Best GSR

Sun Devil Athletics has either maintained or surpassed its all-time best GSR every year since 2008. Twelve teams posted GSR scores at 100 percent. Those teams are men's and women's basketball, beach volleyball, men's and women's golf, gymnastics, soccer, women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, water polo and wrestling.

Highlights from the student programming areas:

CAREER: 

Sun Devil Athletics continues to elevate its partnership with ASU Career Services and hosted 15 career-related events to include a Career Fair, hands-on career readiness-related workshops involving multiple employers across various industries.  Student-athletes had direct one-on-one interactions with hiring managers who offered real-time feedback on resumes, interviewing strategies, and LinkedIn.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

Sun Devil Athletics continued Sparky’s Tours, character education programs delivered in elementary schools, as well as the wide range of initiatives Sun Devil Athletics support in partnership with A New Leaf Homeless Shelter.

MENTAL HEALTH/IMPACT

Mental Health: Hosted multiple SAAC/SDA/ASU Sport Clinician collaborations around mental health topics, including a Mental Wellness Fair, along with other key programs addressing trauma, sleep, travel, managing emotions, gambling, etc. 

Impact Programs: EmpowHER hosted student-athlete tailgates before selected Olympic sports competitions to bring student-athletes together and encourage support for their peers at the selected game. The SAAC, International Student-Athlete committee hosted an affinity event in collaboration with ASU’s International Students and Scholars Center (ISSC).

What is the Big 12 Commissioner's Cup?

The Commissioner’s Cup was created to recognize Big 12 athletic departments for their efforts in fostering an environment that develops student-athletes both on and off the field. Points are determined by a combination of NCAA Graduation Success Rate, Big 12 regular and postseason titles, plus on-campus programs offered that focus on community engagement, mental health and career development.