From the desk of the Director of Athletics…

Tomorrow will mark the first-ever Daemen Day Of Giving. There are a number of challenges facing small colleges and universities in New York State and, in particular, small college athletics. I have previously shared with Paw Prints readers that when our President, Dr. Gary Olson asked me to serve as Daemen's Athletics Director, the most daunting task Daemen Athletics faced was the creation of outside revenue streams needed to fund the growth and ultimate success of our programs in NCAA Division II competition. At that time, Daemen ranked last in the East Coast Conference in terms of scholarship and operating budgets. Daemen Athletics has worked hard to develop several revenue streams that have helped us grow without impacting the college's tuition rates. In the past three years, Daemen Athletics has increased our external sources of funding by 300%. And due to those efforts, we no longer sit at the very bottom of our conference in funding, but we still rank in the bottom ten of resources for NCAA Division II schools nationwide as determined by an analysis of the Federal Government's EADA Report. 
 
Simply put, Daemen Athletics needs your support.   More specifically, our coaches and student-athletes need your support.  When alumnus Anibal Soler, Jr. spoke to our student-athletes on National Student-Athlete Day earlier this month, he stated, "Daemen Athletics is about the student-athletes, both past and present."  It is the student-athletes that are the focal point of all that we do, and, in these challenging times in New York State, they need your support.
 
Daemen Athletics has always worked hard to develop an athletics program that inspires school spirit, enrollment growth and investment by alumni, charitable foundations and donors.  We know that dollars can be tight and giving requests are many, but for the reasons listed below, we believe Daemen Athletics is a program that gives back to our students and our community and thus is worthy of support through #DaemenDayOfGiving.  Please know you can designate your gift to a particular team or initiative (academic support, athletic training) of Daemen Athletics. Here is a list of just some of Daemen Athletics' accomplishments in just this past year that we hope inspires you to make a gift at whatever level you can to #DaemenDayOfGiving. 
 

• Daemen student-athletes carry an average cumulative grade-point average of 3.1 on 4.0 scale; on average 50% of our student-athletes earn a spot on the Dean's List; our graduation rates are more than 15% higher than the general student body
• Our women's volleyball team qualified for NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament last fall, advancing to the Sweet 16
• Our men's basketball team earned its second-straight ECC Tournament berth, advancing to the semifinal round
• Our women's cross country team was regionally ranked all season, ultimately finishing as runners-up at the conference level and fourth in the East Region
• Standout long distance runner Mackenzie Donahue earned her second NCAA Division II National Championship invitation, and her first in the sport of indoor track & field
• Our coaches continue to be recognized for the great work they do, like Stephanie Albano earning a 30 Under 30 award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association & Jon Metz being appointed to the USA Triathlon National Coaching Commission (details on both are in the news recaps below)
• We will host NCAA President Dr. Mark Emmert next week for a Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series and student-athlete town hall events (details also below)
• Daemen Athletics has helped grow the college's enrollment footprint by recruiting students from foreign countries such as Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, England, Germany, Kenya, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and The Bahamas, as well as from states and territories outside our region like California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Texas and West Virginia
• Daemen received over $100,000 in grant money from the NCAA to fund student-athlete leadership development programs
• Daemen Athletics received $50,000 from local foundations to help us grow our program and strategically plan for the future
• To show an independent source of funding for our growth, Daemen Athletics developed external funding sources through expanded gym rentals, camps & clinics, concessions, ticket sales, licensed product sales, corporate partnerships and athletics memberships
• Daemen Athletics brings business to Buffalo as Daemen has been selected to host the ECC Volleyball Championship Tournament and two NCAA Division II National Championship regional qualifiers that will bring over $500,000 in hotel and restaurant business to Western New York
• Daemen Athletics has built a system and staff that supports extensive community programming and rentals in both Lumsden Gymnasium and the Academic and Wellness Center that serve on average 100 Western New York residents per day.

 
I truly hope that you have read this far and that you will take a moment to donate whatever amount you can afford to your show support for what Daemen Athletics has done and will continue to do for our student-athletes. Please click here for donation information. 
 
Thanks again for following Daemen Athletics.



Bridget Niland
Director of Athletics