Alumni and Friends Making an Impact
This Family Flies Together
If this past year was a tee shot, it was a cannon from the back of the box — opening with our softball team bringing home the A-10 regular season and tournament trophies before classes began. Then the volleyball team and men’s soccer both advanced to the Sweet 16.
You don’t see this kind of programmatic success across multiple sports unless there is truly a culture of competitiveness, support, camaraderie, faith and fun. Does it get more Flyer than that?
Once you get to know some of our coaches, it’s no surprise. Tim Horsmon reached his 400th career win as UD’s head volleyball coach. After the team’s second-round tournament win, former players joined them in the locker room and Horsmon spoke about it in the postgame interview.
“We talk a lot about legacy and family,” said Horsmon. “There are just so many generations now that I think are going to be incredibly proud and happy of this program.”
The team finished the season 31-3, building on their A-10 legacy with their 17th regular season title, and One Day, One Dayton donors provided support with the close calls, funding the state-of-the-art replay system and the popular Chapel blue alternative uniforms.
The UD programs invest fully in the development of each and every player, and it pays off where it counts — in their futures. Part of that is due to the leadership and stability that starts at the top with Neil Sullivan, vice president and director of athletics. Sullivan is in his 19th year at UD, and he has fostered an atmosphere where coaches like Cara Clark, for softball, and Gip Hoagland ’93, for men’s golf, have built successes one student-athlete at a time.
“We do all kinds of leadership development and training throughout the year,” said Clark, head softball coach since 2007. “It starts the very first week that they get to campus. We’ll bring in speakers; focus on mental health awareness; failure recovery skills; nutritionists ... ” And this was all before she began talking about their ball skills.
Of course she cares about winning, but she cares deeply about her players — her family of Flyers.
“We try to tailor the specific lessons to the particular identity of that team,” said Clark. “Last year was a veteran team, so we had different types of leadership engagement than this year’s team that is heavy on freshmen.”
And that team? The first team to complete the trifecta of winning the regular season A-10 and the A-10 tournament and advancing to the NCAA tourney?
“It was really special. We had five fifth-year seniors, and that’s never happened in my career before,” said Clark. “Those young women could have graduated and moved on with their careers, and yet they chose to come back and continue to invest in the program and their teammates. Together, we accomplished something that’s never been done before.”
Part of that is because former players, alumni, fans and people like you support them by making a gift to the program during One Day, One Dayton, giving them the opportunity to travel to more tournaments, get more training, even get a few more perks.
Gip Hoagland ’93, head coach of men’s golf, has been able to fund the purchase of vans for men’s and women’s golf thanks to One Day, One Dayton donors through the years. And with a trade-in and gifts from last year’s donations, Hoagland added a new van to the stable.
“Their (the student-athletes’) experience when we go to events is a lot better,” said Hoagland. “They can study easier as they have more space, have Wi-Fi and are just more comfortable.”
Hoagland is another amazing UD story. He’s in his 16th season as UD’s head golf coach. He didn’t learn to play golf until he was 26, but he took to it with a passion and quickly became a professional.
He’s approached UD golf with the same spirit, building the program up from six freshmen and one scholarship to a full team, stacked with leaders and four and a half scholarships, the NCAA maximum for men’s golf.
Each season has built upon the Flyer foundation — the people. When he’s recruiting, he watches all the players and knows the scores they post. Finding talented athletes is the easy part.
“To me the most important part is when I have them on campus,” said Hoagland. “Do they fit what this University is about? The character and community? Dayton golf is a big family, and this family competes!”