Winter weather photos
SI cover features area model
Madison vs. Waynesville
Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > November > 20 > Entry
Editorial: UD’s winning plan is working
For University of Dayton sports fans, last weekend had the feel of a dream being fulfilled.
Since the early 1990s, Dayton has aimed for a day when it would field intercollegiate teams that earned respect for the way they competed, succeeded and represented the university. That time seems to have arrived, considering the accomplishments in 2009 in men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, football, volleyball and baseball.
The blossoming of UD athletics has resulted from a purposeful effort to improve management, facilities and coaching.
The men’s basketball program, the flagship sport for UD, is getting lots of attention, and justifiably so. After former Coach Oliver Purnell returned the team to respectability from the lost years of defeat in the early 1990s, Brian Gregory was hired with the expectation that he’d take the program to the next level.
The school and its fans wanted a team that competed for its league title regularly, played in NCAA tournaments and earned a top 25 national ranking.
Under that criteria, men’s basketball — ranked No. 18, the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 and coming off an NCAA tournament second- round appearance — certainly seems to be living up to these high hopes.
But basketball success isn’t confined to the men. The Flyers’ opening game win over Creighton Saturday came the same weekend that the UD women’s team defeated 10th-ranked Michigan State and lost a two-point squeaker to 19th-ranked Louisville. It was an especially nice start to the new season coming off consecutive 20-win seasons.
It was also a big weekend for UD soccer, which saw the women finish the season among the nation’s 32 best teams in the NCAA tournament’s second round, while the men finished the regular season as league champs and hopeful for their own tournament bid.
At the same time, UD volleyball won its 11th straight game Saturday, Nov. 14, to claim at least a share of the Atlantic 10 title, while a big win at Drake put UD football back into a tie for first place in its league.
In case anyone forgot about the success of UD baseball last spring — when it won the A-10 title and had one of its best seasons ever — the team was honored at halftime of the men’s basketball game Saturday.
All this success celebrated since Friday follows a report last month that ranked UD’s 96 percent graduation rate for athletes in the top 10 nationally.
Ted Kissell, who retired in July after 16 years as athletic director, deserves a lot of credit. UD was a low performer in most sports in a bad-fit league when he arrived; he launched a rebuilding effort.
This year’s success and the seamless transition to the new athletic director, Tim Wabler, during the summer are a testament to his leadership.
At the start of Mr. Kissell’s tenure, the university chose carefully those sports it wanted to commit to and then added resources and support for them. This included some painful early decisions to drop some minor sports.
The turnaround took time as UD rehabbed sports venues like UD Arena for basketball, Baujan Field for soccer and the Frericks Center for volleyball and built new baseball and softball stadiums.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kissell demonstrated a good eye for coaching talent, and those coaches have taken the right approach of steady, consistent improvement.
UD’s athletic program, as a rule, now attracts quality student-athletes. That’s worth cheering for.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Scott Elliott, Sports and Recreation
Comments
By Rich
November 20, 2009 7:42 AM | Link to this
Thanks for the great editorial acknowledging the true success of UD athletics. I appreciate the underlying message—university athletic programs can compete at a high level without sacrificing academic integrity. Worth mentioning is that the young men and women who represent the university on the athletic field or court also represent the university in a positive manner when they are off the field or court. Finally, in recent years, there has been much written about the economic and other turmoils of the city of Dayton. Much work needs to be done to restore Dayton to its once-vibrant status. Much of that work is already being done in southeast Dayton by the University of Dayton and Miami Valley Hospital. Hopefully, their efforts will spread to the neighboring areas. Go UD!!
By Jim Meixner
November 20, 2009 7:53 AM | Link to this
Agreed! Also UD’s president, Dan Curran has been a “right choice” for the school and community.
By Jim Meixner
November 20, 2009 7:53 AM | Link to this
Agreed! Also UD’s president, Dan Curran has been a “right choice” for the school and community.
By Heather
November 20, 2009 8:03 AM | Link to this
I currently go to UD and it is a great school for sports and definitely academics. I am truly proud to be a FLYER!!! GO UD!!!!
By Mary
November 20, 2009 3:03 PM | Link to this
“Bright sided” by the sports industry and the news/sports media again. I would like to see an editorial that gets down to business and discusses the cold hard facts on how big time college sports helps drive up college costs for all students - public and private. Most athletic departments throughout the U.S. do not break even. Also, there should be a discussion about all the tax deductions athletics donations get which cause the rest of the taxpaying public to make up the slack. Students and parents go into debt and do not receive the same tax deductions for college expenses. Where are the hard-hitting editorials on how this impacts education, culture and the economic climate. The real winners seem to be sports fans whose entertainment is subsidized by tax code and highly paid coaches, while academics, students and other tax payers suffer.