Paw Prints E-Newsletter: Volume 61

1/22/2021 12:00:00 PM

From the Desk of the Director of Athletics...

Dear Wildcat Nation,

Happy New Year! I sincerely hope each and every one of you had a healthy and restful holiday season. With 2020 gladly in the rearview mirror, I hope you're as re-energized and enthusiastic about 2021 as I am.

Among the many reasons that I'm enthusiastic about the year to come is the return of athletic competitions to our campus! Just this past weekend, our women's basketball team, newly ranked among the top 25 teams in the country, took the court for the first time in more than 300 days and began defense of their East Coast Conference championship with an impressive victory over Mercyhurst. It was inspiring to see these talented women get back to doing what they love. The game definitely had a different feel with no fans in the stands, but it was extremely successful nonetheless. I want to send a heartfelt thank you to our athletic training, game operations and communications staffs who worked tirelessly to meet the constantly evolving guidelines for hosting a safe athletic event. I know they'll continue to do the same over the coming weeks and months, including next week when we host our men's basketball season opener.

In the coming weeks we will be welcoming more teams and students back to our campus, and the COVID-19 policies we've instituted for basketball will in some form be applied across the board. We expect more teams to begin competing in February and March. This includes our men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball teams. Let me be clear, although our conference has announced it will not conduct spring seasons for the fall sports, we remain committed to getting these teams games in March and April. At my direction, our head coaches have been hard at work investigating different opportunities and I'm confident in the plans that we're developing together.

Away from competition, we're anxiously awaiting the final academic stats from the Fall 2020 semester, and I'm again optimistic about what the return will be. We're also moving ahead with a presentation of our newly developed Strategic Plan, which I referenced in last month's letter, and should have something for public consumption next month. Part of that plan is a reimagining of our Athletics Hall of Fame, and I'm happy to report that our new Hall of Fame Committee - one that includes representation from our staff as well as alumni - has already held a productive virtual meeting to get the ball rolling.

In closing, I'd note that nothing about this academic year has been easy, and there are still many challenges ahead of us. If you're looking for a way to make a difference, I would invite you to consider making a contribution to the Game On Campaign that we launched in November. Built around a virtual sellout of Lumsden Gymnasium, this comprehensive campaign directs donations to the Daemen Wildcats Gotta Play Fund. We're now approaching the 50% mark of the virtual sellout - a nearly 20% increase from this time last month. In fact, we recently received a donation in honor of the "old Daemen Warriors" covering nearly half a section. We're forever grateful for all those who have chosen to invest in our student-athletes and our ability to provide a first-rate experience for them. To learn more about the campaign, please visit daemenwildcats.com/gameon.

Thank you again for the opportunity to brief you on the status of our program. As always, remember to BE FIERCE and GO WILDCATS!

Sincerely,