To Our Daemen Wildcats Family:

The Spring Semester has begun and the uptick in the level of activity in our building is exciting.  The College's administration, Emergency Response Team and the many volunteers who worked the on-campus testing center have made it possible for our campus to return to in-person instruction and our athletic programs to practices. We have  continued our effort to provide competitive opportunities for our programs. In the coming weeks, schedules will be posted for our Spring and Fall sports. A tremendous amount of gratitude goes to our athletic training staff who have worked hard with supplemental testing sessions to obtain clearance for our student-athletes to return to activity. Without all of this support, the Division of Athletics would not be able to maintain our commitment to provide our 250 student-athletes a safe and healthy environment to do what they have worked hard towards. Below, I have shared some important updates to spark your enthusiasm and pride of being a Wildcat supporter.

Our basketball programs have been participating in an abbreviated season since mid-January. I am thrilled to report that our women's team is currently 9-1 overall and unbeaten in conference play (7-0). They've also ascended to a top 15 ranking in both Division II national polls - a program first. On the men's side, our team has hit its stride with a four-game winning streak and a 6-3 overall record.

We've seen two individuals reach important milestones as the basketball season got underway. Tiara Filbert became the 25th player in the history of our women's program to reach 1,000 points. Andrew Sischo became the all-time leading scorer in the history of our men's program, breaking the benchmark established by Robert Robinson in 1992. Andrew has also become only the second player in the history of the East Coast Conference to reach 2,000 points AND 1,000 rebounds in a career! 

More recently, we've been thrilled to see the return of our women's bowling and men's volleyball teams. Both had not competed in nearly a full calendar year. These dedicated student-athletes have worked long and hard for this opportunity, and soon they'll be joined by others. 

Another source of pride is the Division of Athletics Strategic Vision: The Wildcat Way. This document provides us a road map for the next five years. While we are planning a full rollout for next month, I would like to share some highlights of the new strategic vision for our division. This plan is a product of collaboration, analysis and assessment by our entire division - from student-athletes to our Athletics Leadership Team and all of our staff in between. We are also grateful for the guidance and assistance of Darren Treadway, associate professor of business administration, who served as our consultant on this project.

We began with the Athletics Leadership Team reviewing the previous strategic plan that navigated Daemen Athletics from NAIA membership to becoming Western New York's only NCAA Division II institution. The question that arose from the evaluation was, "how do we move from a transition period with momentum to developing championship level programs that would enhance recruiting and name recognition for Daemen College?" All of the feedback we received allowed us to create priorities that helped identify the updated mission and vision of our division. 

MISSION: Create tomorrow's leaders by developing championship-caliber student-athletes today

VISION: Cultivate high character student-athletes through competitive excellence fostered in the classroom, developed through sport and practiced in community.

The development of this plan did overlap with the college's strategic planning process. Therefore, the next question was, how do we align ourselves with the college's new Strategic Plan? The college's document is titled A Shared Vision: Daemen's Emerging National Distinction. Several athletics staff members participated in either the Steering Committee or one of the five subcommittees. This provided a working knowledge of the plan for continued growth, support and to strengthen our position of national distinction. 

Our goal was to produce a road map that would steer us towards growth and national distinction through recruitment and success while aligned with the College's 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. Each goal has detailed objectives that will guide our path forward. We will measure our success in each strategic priority annually, and pivot as our division as the collegiate athletics landscape evolves and advances.

The primary function of our strategic vision is to emphasize a comprehensive development of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff, and with that, to find competitive success. We will BE FIERCE, living our core values…

We will be Fearless
We will work and play with Integrity
We will give our very best Effort
We will respect one another, ourselves and our opponents
We will demonstrate a Commitment to this vision or plan
We will build Excitement for Daemen College

Our resources will be defined, allocated, and prioritized to maximize a championship-caliber student-athlete experience. We will continue to prioritize diversity and inclusion and plan to continue our collaboration with both our campus and local community.  We have already taken action on several of the objectives and priorities listed in our plan, and our staff remains committed to meeting and exceeding our goals so that we may realize sustained success. We encourage everyone to check out our vision to achieve success when it becomes fully available. 

Aligned with our new strategic vision, both of our basketball programs and our women's bowling team are headed to their respective conference championship events in the very near future.  We will be hosting quite a few games here in Lumsden Gymnasium, including the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball East Regional which is slated for March 12-15. We are grateful for the opportunity the NCAA has given us to host this prestigious event which will put our college and community into a national focus. 

Thank you for your continued support and for this opportunity to keep you informed about the development of Daemen's Division of Athletics. GO WILDCATS!