Men’s golf is kicking butt. Swimming is making an inroad in he MAC. Bowling was once highly ranked and is coming back. WT is solid ( wish we never cut MT - so short sighted), T&F and CC are breaking more and more school and PRs.
Think about it. These teams are filled with kids who are academically motivated and who also have a competitive athletic drive. QUESTION: Where can kids like this thrive in a supportive and nurturing D-I environment?
ANSWER: A smaller, private institution that puts a dual priority on academics tightly interwoven with athletics. Know a midwestern D-I school that might fit that profile? Duh!
I’m not in anyway suggesting stripping our biggies and then super fund the minors. But I am saying funnel more $$$$ into the recruiting expense line for these sports so that promising minor sports athletes can be a) contacted and b) allowed to visit the campus (it sells itself!).
The positive ramifications are enormous. It doesn’t take away from our flagship sports: it complements them. And the investment is not in $60K scholarships, it’s in coaching support. Most of the great kids we’d attract already expect to be paying most of their way anyway - they just want to be wanted by the right D-I school. That could be VU.
jury still out on mens basketball-Powell seems like the best guy for this job and may have some excitement early on to attract nil and donors-but if we don't win soon that will dissipate
we have had 2 or 3 of the best tennis players we ever had and still got smoked in this conference the last few years
golf team had 2 that were above anything we ever had or will most likely get again-still a distant 3rd in the tournament
soccer won with a level of talent on the team that they never have had previously-this is one team that should win often since mvc is weak in women's soccer
womens golf is a complete embarrassment-how they let her continue to coach is dereliction of duties
womens basketball same-good players I think?
our volleyball team had one of their best years when they went to NIT final and we were like 4th in the mvc that year so that shows you how tough it is
baseball holding their own but will never compete for a title
softball-complete overhaul
football is about where it will always be-hover around .500 not going to win the league but at least we aren't a bottom feeder
bowling -no idea? were ranked but what does that mean?
swimming? no idea-that pool was old when I was there so not sure how to attract talent?
cross country and track programs seem to be doing much better with new regime-not sure if it matters but still much improved
I can attest for swimming. ARC pool is the practice facility only now. The teams compete in the VAC at Valparaiso High School. Us HS swimmers would be forced to time their meets all the time. The VAC is actually a state of the art facility. Adam "Boomer" Nelleson made sure the money went to the right places. Latest gen timing system and 10 mil worth of score board. Was the largest of its kind in the country built on a HS at the time.
Just talked to a D1 coach friend about his belief that smaller D1s, D2s, and D3s will be attracting more talent for minor sports. Basically he believes "opt in" NCAA schools could cut sports to pay for it. Hopefully a school like Valpo is a safer home for some of these athletes. As VULB62 mentioned Valpo already has several minor sports taking off...
