I am pleased to see the endorsement from the three coaches mentioned. Obviously Smith has done wonders with women’s soccer so his support is very important. Sendek has done a very good job and I would want him to continue building our program and having the Broncos in the NCAA tournament on a regular basis. Women’s softball has improved so her endorsement is also nice to have. I would think since our women’s volleyball coach came from Stanford, she would be supportive as well.
These are tough times for college sports with the mega conferences trying to push everyone else out so they can keep all the money. I hope that never happens and wish Heather all the success in building SCU into a force in division one athletics. Welcome back to SCU!!
If we want to be competitive in recruiting top tier talent (especially for MBB), we’ll need to embrace an NIL / collective model. There’s a path to making this happen as a mid-major D-1 program but that starts with leadership. We will need Julie and Heather to not only accept this new reality but champion the adoption of a sustainable process that facilitates this next era of D-1 athletics. SCU has a golden opportunity to figure this out in the cradle of Silicon Valley.
Curious, what is the word on our new President Sullivan? I don’t know much about what she’s done since her time on campus. Obviously she just made this hire (looks good!), but I have a kid in college and the school president is incredible, leading from the front, driving a whole bunch of great initiatives, super engaged internally & externally. Some moves haven’t been flawless, but I am very impressed. I can’t say I’ve seen the same with Sullivan, but then again it could be more lack of PR and/or since its really just an alumni relationship that I have, mostly tethered to this website!
Others closer to campus will know more about specific accomplishments/initiatives. But–though I roll my eyes at college rankings–I did notice that SCU’s place in the WSJ college rankings shot up to #38 this year. The WSJ seems to be trying to put value on college as a factor of social mobility (i.e. which colleges/universities give students a meaningful boost from where they might be otherwise?). SCU is the 4th ranked Catholic college after Notre Dame, Georgetown, and, a bit surprising, Loyola Maryland. SCU is ahead of Duke, Dartmouth, and a few other big names. Caveat all you want–I certainly will–but it’s nice to see even for a rankings skeptic.
So whatever President Sullivan is doing, she certainly doesn’t seem to be sinking the ship by any means.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our MBB rankings could rise to be on a level with Georgetown , ND, and Duke?
I read on a blog - The Bucking Bronco that President Sullivan has ambitions for MBB to be able to on a par with the top Catholic U’s in D1….
Glad to see the emphasis is there. I would take Gonzaga, Villanova, Creighton and Xavier. ND and Georgetown have work to do to get back to their former selfs.