So, how are we doing in the Horizon?

[vu72]

I have to make a post like this every once in a while so everyone knows I don't drink the cool aid every day, just most days! 

Now that the year is almost over I took a look at our performaces in various sports and found some good and some very bad.  In the more prominent sports Valpo is holding its own and in the lesser sports its performance is Youngstown State like and clearly needs a bunch of work.  Whether or not Valpo can attract the necessay athletes to minor sports is a fair question.  Clearly we have, on an individual basis--Laura Rolf, All American, or Jarrett Mickens in track, as examples.  Still, we, as fans, don't do the institution any great favor by ignoring results.

So here are some facts, whether or not we appreciate knowing them:

In "primary sports" we have done fairly well (top half), as follows:

Men's Basketball           Fourth
Women's Basketball       Last

Volleyball                    Fourth
Women's soccer           Seventh
Men's soccer               eighth

Baseball                     Second (currently)
Softball                      Second

On balance, these results are good, no doubt

Here is where we run into "trouble"

Women's Swimming      Second last (Butler last!!)
Men's swimming           Last (Butler doesn't have a team)
Women's track            Last
Men's Track                Last
Women's tennis           Last
men's tennis               Last
men's cross country    Second last
women's cross countrySecond last
men's golf                 Second last
women's golf             Second last

So there you have it.  Sometimes we basketball fans lose track of other sports and their success or lack there of.  More power to them all!  We have a long way to go to truly compete at the Horizon level.

[sectionee]

How many, maybe it is all of them, of these minor sports does VU offer athletic scholarships?  It is very hard to compete when you can't attract the upper tier of athletes. 

[vu72]

How many, maybe it is all of them, of these minor sports does VU offer athletic scholarships?  It is very hard to compete when you can't attract the upper tier of athletes. 

I think its all of them.  Not the full compliment allowed other than men's and women's basketball, volleyball, softball and baseball. (Don't quote me on these numbers but I think that's right) Sure wish the AD still posted, it would be a good question for him.

[rlh]

Many of the sports only have 2 or 3 scholarships, so they break them up into halves and fourths....also you forgot women's bowling on your sports list.

[vu72]

Many of the sports only have 2 or 3 scholarships, so they break them up into halves and fourths....also you forgot women's bowling on your sports list.

I didn't mention football either.  Neither football or bowling compete in the Horizon.

[vu72]

Here is a site which details how many scholarships are allowed by sport.  Clearly Valpo isn't even close to the maximum other than in the sports indicated above.  Funny how we seem to compete at a higher level in the sports where we offer more scholarships (other than women's basketball)!

http://www.mygamefilm.com/mnsad1.htm

[bbtds]

How many scholarships Valpo offers is not really the point. It's how Valpo compares to the other schools in the Horizon League in number of scholarships offered. Does anyone have that info?

[covufan]

I think this was the second year for both golf teams, so both teams are fairly young.  The men finished only 9 strokes out of third place, and 20 strokes out of first place in the HL Championship, with a roster of mostly freshman and sophomores.  I would expect both the women's and men's golf teams to improve.

If VU is serious about competing in the HL in all sports, they will need to upgrade the number of scholarships.  This will take money, especially a few very generous donations from Alumni to fund scholarships.

The upgrades to sports facilities and overall upgrades in sports programs at VU has been good over the last few years.  I'm looking forward to seeing VU compete in the HL in all sports, and to continue being competitive for the coming years. 

[sectionee]

I think the problem with needing money is that the athletes don't give back.  Athletes have the give me give me give me mentality, but don't feel like they need to give back.  I was an athlete in college and had that same mentality until I married a fundraiser.  Once the athletes start giving back in larger amounts, which can take time after graduation since nearly all of athletes go pro in something other then sports, then the scholarships and facilities should start appearing.  This of course is all just my opinion.

[ml]

In the "team sports", men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, softball, and baseball we are either at the NCAA limit for scholarships or close.  When we added men's and women's golf (as well as bowling) we were able to provide scholarships at levels equal to the schools against which we compete most often.

Our other programs, men's and women's track&field/cross country, men's and women's swimming, and men's and women's tennis, all have limited scholarships.  The NCAA limits for track&field and swimming are pretty high which is why the private schools in the Horizon League either don't compete in those sports or are selective in how they go about it.  For instance neither Loyola or Detroit has swimming and Butler only has a women's team with no scholarships.

The golf teams have made very good progress in the first 2 years of competition and will continue to get better.  At the Horizon League championships this year the men competed with 3 sophomores and 2 freshmen and the women competed with 1 sophomore and 4 freshman.   

[valpotx]

I am impressed that we are close to offering the full complement of scholarships in baseball now.  I think when I was playing, we had 6-7 total full scholarships to give out, as most people had 1/4 or 1/2 scholarships.  Of course, this was all based on players talking to each other about what they had, and what it added up to as a team...