From The Director of Athletics' Desk...
 

This month's Paw Prints will arrive on the eve of our annual Women and Girls in Sports week celebration at Daemen.  As noted in last month's Paw Prints, we co-hosted a Girls and Women in Sports community engagement event with the University at Buffalo on February 27, and we're excited to kickoff our exclusive celebration next week.  This year's weeklong events will mark the fifth time that Daemen Athletics has celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Week which was started 30 years ago by the Women's Sport Foundation. 

As previously announced, we are thrilled to have two separate events on campus to mark the week. On Monday April 4, U.S. Senator for New York Kirsten Gillibrand will speak in the Premier Center Cabaret at MusicalFare Theatre, located on the college's campus at 4380 Main Street.  Senator Gillibrand will discuss the importance of advancing women in sports and life before a gathering of Daemen's female student-athletes and other invited guests, and will field questions from the audience at the conclusion of her remarks.  Senator Gillibrand competed in squash and tennis as an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College and has discussed the value of sport in her life in several published pieces (see TIME Magazine article, ESPN radio interview) including her 2014 book Off the Sidelines.

On Friday April 8, we will hold our fifth annual Girls and Women in Sport luncheon with keynote speaker Elana Meyers Taylor, who has won both bronze and silver medals as an Olympic bobsledder after competing as a softball student-athlete at George Washington University.  The Friday event will also recognize Western New York Girls in Sports, an event founded in 2006 by Mary Wilson, the widow of former Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.  

Given the theme of next week, this month's Paw Prints provides a great opportunity to announce the restructuring of Daemen Athletics' administration . In January, Heidi Cheston and Vivian Heverely joined Daemen us as Assistant Athletics Director for Business Affairs/Athletics Controller and Athletics Development Assistant, respectively.  The addition of Heidi and Vivian was significant in that it marked the progress Daemen Athletics has made in terms of revenue generation and external support.  The two are working closely to launch several time and money saving initiatives that will help Daemen Athletics continue to grow its external levels of support through corporate partnerships, apparel sales, camps, clinics, facility rentals and other development activities.

In addition to the development of outside revenue streams, Daemen Athletics has been hard at work elevating the exposure and profile of our brand.  The success of doing so is largely due to the extremely good work of Mike Miranto, who in January was elevated to Associate Athletics Director for Communications.  The expanded traditional media and social media attention garnered by Daemen Athletics is due to the strategy Mike put in place starting last spring and has resulted in coverage valued at over $50,000 in market exposure. 

In March, we welcomed Brandi Guerinot as our Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Student-Athlete Success and Stephanie Albano, Associate Head Coach of our women's volleyball program, accepted the position of Senior Woman Administrator.  The addition of both Brandi and Stephanie highlight our growing attractiveness in the collegiate sports industry as both come with big-time Division I backgrounds.  Brandi was a collegiate rower at George Washington University and comes to us after stints in the compliance departments at Ohio State University, Boston College and, most recently, the University at Buffalo.  Stephanie, who came on board in a coaching capacity last fall, spent her collegiate playing career at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and has spent time working at Medaille College, Canisius College and the University at Buffalo.

Academic support is always at the forefront for Daemen Athletics and we were excited to have Business Administration Professor Carol Bartlo join our team as the Academic Support Coordinator in January.  A former Division I field hockey player at Central Michigan University, Carol possess a wide range of experience in higher education and understands the different needs and study plans for our student-athletes. 

The restructuring outlined above along with the pending announcement of a full-time head men's soccer coach means that Daemen has now fulfilled its initial staffing plan submitted to the NCAA during its transition to Division II status.  The vision this group brings to work each day is inspiring and energy of progress has been contagious both for our student-athletes and individuals across our campus.

April will bring about more announcements of progress and accomplishment as we get ready to close out the 2016-17 academic year.   End of the year celebrations will take place on April 29 and May 20.  More details to come on both of those events.

As always, thanks for your continued following and support.  Please do not hesitate to contact me at bniland@daemen.edu with any comments or questions you may have about Daemen Athletics.  
 

Bridget Niland
Director of Athletics