Bucknell University Athletics
From the AD's Desk
8/29/2014 12:27:00 PM | General
Greetings from Bucknell and the 400 acres set apart!
According to the calendar on my wall, the last full day of summer is September 21. I always get a chuckle when I see that, because as anyone who works in college athletics can attest, our summer came to an end earlier this month with the arrival of our fall sports teams for preseason training.
Personally, I greatly enjoy this time of year. Our athletics venues are once again buzzing with activity and energy, and everyone returns to campus with an 0-0 record and great hope for the coming season. It is fun and rewarding popping from field to field and beginning to put faces to the names of our first-year student-athletes. We have heard so much about them during their recruiting process, and now it is great to meet them and watch what they can do first-hand.
While the summer months provide a good time to take a breath from the whirlwind of activity we experience during the school year, there is still plenty of work done from May into August, much of it revolving around planning, facility upgrades and wrapping up another fiscal year of fundraising. This year was no different.
I am especially grateful for two major gifts to Athletics that will have a long-lasting impact on Bison student-athletes that reaches far beyond the playing fields. In May it was announced that Trustee Emeritus Bill Graham '62 – already one of the most generous donors in the history of Bucknell University – has pledged another gift exceeding $7 million that will fund a brand new facility that will house both a wrestling training center and a campus-wide health and wellness center. The facility will be built adjacent to Sojka Pavilion and will provide much-needed training and locker room space for our varsity wrestling program. Another by-product of this new facility is that we will now be able to re-purpose the current wrestling practice room in Gerhard Fieldhouse, allowing for even more space for health and wellness activities that are enjoyed by the entire campus community, such as aerobics, dance fitness and Zumba.
Another of our most valued and loyal supporters is Trustee Emeritus Bill Dearstyne, also from the Class of 1962 and a Hall of Fame swimmer during his undergraduate days. Bill is a major advocate for the Bucknell Bison Leadership Academy, which is a leadership-training program for student-athletes. The Leadership Academy will be entering its fourth year in 2014-15, and it has grown by leaps and bounds each year so far. Thanks to a multi-million-dollar gift from Bill and his wife Tocky, the Leadership Academy will now be able to grow exponentially. This generous gift will ultimately provide the Leadership Academy with full-time staffing and additional programming and support.
The Leadership Academy began its fourth year on August 25 with a kick-off session with the Student-Leader Seminar, a program based on the leadership training given to midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. In June, a number of Bison coaches and staff members visited Annapolis for a day-long colloquium, and those individuals then became facilitators for this student-athlete leadership gathering.
I am extremely excited about the future of our Leadership Academy, and, to date, the feedback from our student-athlete participants has been extremely positive.
We are all so very thankful for the financial leadership and support provided by Bill Graham and Bill Dearstyne, and even more reassuring is that the support of Bison Athletics has really been a group effort. In 2013-14, an all-time record 3,935 donors gave to the Bison Club for a total of over $2.2 million. To our contributors, I cannot thank each of you enough for your support! You can rest assured that your contributions will directly impact Bucknell student-athletes.
It is never too early to make your 2014-15 gift to the Bison Club. You can donate ONLINE, or call Todd Newcomb at 570-577-1771 for more information.
With the remainder of the student body returning to campus, they will experience a complete overhaul of the fitness and cardio machines in the Krebs Family Fitness Center. We were very pleased to partner with Advantage Sport & Fitness of Ithaca, New York, to replace more than 75 pieces of equipment in a space that gets heavy usage from students, staff and faculty throughout the year.
Even though the calendar still says August, one element from which our teams have benefitted thus far is some fall-like weather. There was one complete washout, but that was followed by moderate afternoon temperatures and some beautiful, crisp evenings.
Excitement is very high surrounding the Bison football program as we head into the 2014 season. The team went 5-1 in its last six games in 2013, including landslide wins over Lehigh and Colgate, and six of our seven All-Patriot League selections and 17 total starters from last year return this season. I hope you can make it to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium for the season-opener on August 30 against VMI at 6 p.m. That is our Football Alumni Weekend, and we will be paying special tribute to the 1964 Lambert Cup team.
Other games of note include the Homecoming game on November 1 vs. Lafayette, and a special Friday night, nationally televised game against Fordham on November 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Just like the football team, hopes are high for each of our other fall sports as well. Led by a very strong group of juniors and seniors, the men's soccer squad enters the season with championship aspirations, but Brendan Nash's team will have to navigate a very deep and talented Patriot League along the way. Coach Nash is entering his 16th season as head coach of the men's soccer team, and Ben Landis is now going into his 10th year with the Bison women's squad. It has been tremendous to have that kind of stability in our soccer programs with two outstanding coaches. The women's team was a playoff qualifier last season, and they return most of their defense and about two-thirds of their scoring production this year.
Jeremy Cook is going into his seventh year as our head field hockey coach, and his Bison squad has been an annual Patriot League championship contender. That should be the case again this season, as the Bison lost only four seniors from a team that went 4-2 in league play.
Anna Allison is back for her second year at the helm of the volleyball program, and she has the team moving in the right direction as it looks to get back into playoff contention. Cross country coach Kevin Donner feels that he has one of his deepest women's teams of his 14-year tenure at Bucknell. He also has high expectations for the men's squad, which was devastated by injuries last year. And fourth-year head water polo coach John McBride will have to contend with the loss of a terrific senior class that accounted for almost two-thirds of the team's goals. He does have a returning All-American in Sefan Aleksic as well as a very promising first-year class.
As usual, our men's and women's golf and tennis teams will all be playing competitive tournament schedules this fall, even though their championship seasons are in the spring. I'd like to wish the best of luck to Craig Schwartz, who is now the full-time head men's tennis coach after serving in an interim capacity last spring, and Michael Binney, who was named head men's golf coach this summer following the retirement of Jim Cotner.
As the new season gets underway, my staff and I will be paying close attention to the rapidly changing landscape of college athletics. Over the last few weeks I'm sure you have read the many headlines detailing a new NCAA legislative structure, lawsuits over the use of student-athlete likenesses, and issues pertaining to concussion testing. Exactly how these events will specifically impact Bucknell remains to be seen, but I can tell you that they will have no impact on our core mission, which is to be a national model of excellence in upholding the scholar-athlete ideal.
Every decision that is made within Bison Athletics is based upon the impact it will have on our student-athletes and their welfare, education and opportunities for success. Regardless of where the “Big Five” conference programs take their new legislative autonomy, our student-centered priorities will never change at Bucknell!
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't close with a note of condolence to the family of Fitz Walling, a true Bucknell legend who passed away recently at the age of 92. Fitz served as director of admissions at Bucknell for more than 20 years and retired as director of development and planned giving in 1984. Throughout his retirement Fitz remained a dear friend to Bucknell, and particularly Bucknell Athletics. There was no bigger Bison fan, and he always had a word of encouragement for our coaches and student-athletes. Fitz, you will be sorely missed but always remembered.
I hope you are as excited as we are about the start of a brand new year, and I look forward to seeing you at a Bison athletic event very soon.
Thank you … and GO BISON!
Sincerely,
Director of Athletics & Recreation
Bucknell University
