March 2005

This installment of the Athletic Director's column is being written as we return from Oklahoma City by Charter. The plane is full of the men's basketball team, coaching staff, spirit squad, sport band, staff members, and loyal supporters of Gael Athletics.

• Men's Basketball
  As most of you know by now, the men's basketball team completed their season with the loss in the NCAA Tournament first round to Southern Illinois. The first emotion for many of us was disappointment. We wanted the experience for the seniors and the student-athletes to continue. Quickly, our perspective returned.

During the last four years, the Gael's basketball team has built two wins into 25! Head Coach Randy Bennett and his staff of Kyle Smith, Lamont Smith, and Dan Shell have done a terrific job. Our community is fortunate that these men chose Saint Mary's four years ago to pursue their profession and their passion!

Perhaps a highlight of the past several weeks has been the support of the families and friends of our student-athletes and coaching staff. As one example, Randy's father, Tom; mother, Barbara; wife, Darlene; and two sons, Chase (age 2) and Cade (age 1), all made the trip to Oklahoma City to watch Dad. Having family and friends share the experience makes it all the more wonderful.

• New Volleyball Coach
  This past Friday, a few hours after the basketball team concluded our men's basketball season against Southern Illinois, I received a phone call from Rob Browning indicating that he was accepting our offer to be our head women's volleyball coach.

One sign that we are making progress is both the quality and number of applicants we received for our women's volleyball coaching position. We were overwhelmed by the interest of so many in joining our team.

Rob was the unanimous choice of the student-athletes on the team, the search committee, and all who had the opportunity to meet with him during his two visits to our campus in the last few weeks. His most recent experience includes serving as an assistant coach for the USA Men's National Team. This included an opportunity to coach in the last two Olympic Games. Rob has additional coaching experience at Brigham Young University and the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition to coaching volleyball, Rob has worked at the Meridian School in Provo, Utah as Dean of Students and Athletic Director.

Rob is known throughout the profession as a student of the game of volleyball. He is respected by his coaching peers as a quality individual with the ability to use the game of volleyball to teach life-long skills and values. Please join me in welcoming Rob, his wife Michelle, and their two children, daughter, Madison (age 8) and son (age 3) to our Gael Family.

• Michelle Jacoby Signs Four-Year Contract
  I have great news to report from women's basketball. Head Coach Michelle Jacoby has agreed to a new four-year contract. Our women's basketball team has many promising student-athletes on the team that will continue to develop under Michelle's leadership and guidance. This news should also keep long-term Gael Steve Jacoby, Associate Director of Athletics for Operations on the team for many years to come as well. Both Michell and Steve are valued members of our team.

Expect continued improvement from the women's basketball team. We will also work on a scheme to limit injuries to key people for the coming season.

• Spring Sports
  As I write this, Baseball has won four of there last six games and is 3-3 in WCC play. Jedd Soto, 2nd year head coach and his staff are doing an outstanding job.

• Women's Rowing
  The women's rowing team has competed in four events this spring and is improving rapidly under second year head coach Pasha Spencer. Last week at the Sacramento State Invitational, the varsity eight and varsity fours posted second place finishes and most recently, the team posted a 1-2 record in the WCC Challenge.

• Women's Lacrosse
  On Tuesday, the women's lacrosse team picked up their first win of the season by defeating Marist College 15-11 on a rainy afternoon. The lacrosse team is currently 1-6 on the year and will begin a four-game road trip that includes games at Ohio University, Duquesne University, Cal and Denver.

• Men's Tennis
  The 2005 men's tennis team has had some struggles through injuries this season and has a 6-9 record on the year. The Gaels are coming off back-to-back wins over Radford (5-2) and Northern Colorado (7-0) last week. With four matches remaining until the WCC Championships, the Gaels will look to get above .500 before the tournament begins on April 22.

• Women's Tennis
  The women's tennis team has a 7-4 record this season and is 2-2 against teams from the West Coast Conference. With just over a month remaining in the season, the Gaels have six matches left before the WCC Championships take place from April 22-24 at the University of San Diego.

• Golf
  Scott Hardy's team won the Naples Intercollegiate Tournament this last week with a school record score of 272. Liam Kendregan of Saint Mary's captured the individual title with a score of 208 (-8). At this time, the team is ranked ninth in the competitive NCAA West Region which, if maintained, will earn them a birth in the NCAA play-offs.

Remember...Together Everyone Achieves More! We all need to find ways to assist others (members of our team). Achieving success is only fun when there are others to share it with.

God Bless and Go Gaels!

Carl