August 2010
The 2010 Leatherneck Football team
has arrived on-campus, generally signaling the end of summer for most us here
in Western Hall. Dr. Eric Johnson's
Leatherneck Men's Soccer team (2009 NCAA College Cup participant) will be here
later next week, as will Kym McKay's 2010 Volleyball team and Tony Guinn's
Women's Soccer squad. Many of our
coaches and staff are also returning from much needed vacations, including
myself. My family and I enjoyed
our annual trek north to Legend Lake in Keshena, Wisconsin. All in all I enjoyed our vacation,
despite a scary combination of 5-year olds, speedboats, and fish-hooks. The 7-hour drive is a grind, but
certainly worth it.
The 2009-10 academic year is
behind us. We all know there were
some bumps and obstacles, but those are in the past and the prospects for a
successful 2010-11 academic year offers all of us the opportunity for newness
and a fresh start, and hopefully we can celebrate more academic and athletic
successes.
Friday was the first official day
of practice for the 2010 Leatherneck Football Team. Vice-President Garry Johnson and I watched part of practice. There were also a few community members
out there too. Two things
impressed me right away: 1) the
speed of our skill guys and 2) the size and depth of our linemen. The D-backs and wide-outs also have
some impressive size. The entire
team looked sharp and their hustle between drills was refreshing. The coaches were enthusiastic and everything
was very organized... the whole team was really focused. There were some noticeable and welcome
changes as well in terms of organization and operation.
As I mentioned in previous
writings, we have had some staff changes during the summer months, and as with
most other Division I programs across the country, staff turnover is expected. New hires include: David Beauchem as our Head Men's and
Women's Track & Field Coach, Renetta Seiler as assistant track coach, Chris
Kane as our Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach, Eric Lazowksi as our assistant
volleyball coach, Corey Burke as an assistant on our equipment staff, and
recently we hired Sean McDonough (not the ESPN Broadcaster) as our Assistant
AD. Sean will be responsible for
our external affairs area, including his most important job... fund-raising. Sean is "fired-up" about coming to
Macomb and be assured he will hit the ground running.
Western Hall is beginning to fill
with excitement and enthusiasm.
Our coaches and staff are energized. I guess this is natural with the beginning of a new school
year. But, this enthusiasm is also
on campus and in the community as well.
I have had many people in the community comment to me about their
anticipation and excitement for 2010-11 as well. Whatever it is, let's take
advantage of it and keep it growing.
Right now our primary focus is renewing season football tickets and
selling new tickets. Brock Wissmiller and Alicia English have done a
great job. They have been on the
road, knocking on doors and making phone calls offering sponsorships and
advertising opportunities to area businesses. We have some new ticket options
that are much more fan-friendly, providing purchase flexibility. Brock has been
very pleased with the response to ticket sales and sponsorships, but he is more
impressed by the enthusiasm that is quietly building for the 2010 Leatherneck Football
team. We have great fans and loyal supporters, and there is no doubt Hanson
Field will once again be filled to near capacity. The 2010 schedule is very
attractive with six home games. For more information regarding ticket sales, please
call 309-298-1190 or log on to www.GoLeathernecks.com.
One final note, the 21st
Annual Purple and Gold Gala and Auction
is scheduled for Saturday, August 28, 2010. Western Hall will once again be
filled with loyal Leathernecks, ready to celebrate and kick-off the beginning
of a new academic year and athletic year. The Purple and Gold Gala and
Auction is the social event of the year for the University and the Macomb
Community. Our committee, lead by John "JB" Biernbaum and Jerry
"Hall of Famer" Cremer, has done a great job planning this year's
event. Many new auction items are being added. If you are interested in
making a donation (cash or item), please contact our office. Tickets can
be purchased on the www.GoLeathernecks.com
website.
Thanks again for reading. If
you ever have any questions or want to know more, please check out our website www.GoLeathernecks.com.
I will end with a quote Dwaine Roche has made famous: "There are no
former Leathernecks. Once a Leatherneck, always a Leatherneck."
June 2010
The 2009-10 academic year has been completed now for
about 4 weeks, and with that so ended all Leatherneck sports for the
year as well. Since my last writing,
there has been a whirlwind of activity within Western Hall.
First, I extend personal and professional congratulations
to Dwaine Roche who will be retiring at the end of the month. Dwaine has enjoyed a storied career with our
department, serving the Leathernecks since 1986. He is undoubtedly the most recognizable of
all Leathernecks and his voice is also well-known as he has been the public
address announcer for football and basketball games for many years. He has also been directly influential in the
many facility improvements in addition to providing history, insight, and
leadership during his tenure. It is
comforting to know Dwaine will still remain a member of our community and we
can count on him to regularly attend many athletic events cheering on the
Leathernecks.
Second, as a result of Dwaine's retirement we have
recently completed interviews for his replacement. We had a very impressive candidate pool and
I'm confident we will find the right person.
We also have some other positions to fill. Michael Hunt, Head Men's and Women's Tennis
coach has resigned and returned to his family in Texas. Matt Morris, Head Track and Field Coach has
moved to Montana. Both Michael and Matt
provided our teams and student-athletes with wonderful experiences and both
programs enjoyed much academic and athletic success. We are in the hiring process for both of these
positions, and expect announcements sometime near the end of June.
Once again, our student-athletes performed in the
classroom. Our overall student-athlete
GPA for the Spring 2010 semester was 3.19... the highest it has ever been and
for the third consecutive semester, above the 3.00 GPA threshold. We had some
stand-out individual student-athlete performances (64 with perfect 4.00 GPA's) and
some very impressive team results. Kym
McKay's volleyball team and Matt Morris' Cross Country team have once again led
the way. Some other teams had
impressive results as well, most notably Men's Track, Men's Golf, Baseball,
along with a relative newcomer to the high GPA team score, Mark Hendrickson's
football team with a 2.98 GPA. Overall
our student-athletes and coaches have grasped the concept of Academic
Excellence and they have responded to our challenge for an academic behavioral
shift.
One topic that may have drawn your attention is the Big
Ten's addition of Nebraska and Colorado's move to the Pac-10. Based on the information I have learned over
the past several weeks and recent days... stay tuned as there will be more movement
and conference realignments. At this
point, I don't anticipate the trickle down to have an impact on either the
Summit League or the MVFC, but who knows. Here at Western, we are a proud charter member of both our conferences
(the only remaining original member of the Summit League) and we enjoy a very
healthy and competitive respect for all our membership colleagues. We will always want to compete at the highest
possible level, and to provide the very best possible NCAA Division I
experience to our student-athletes, and that includes competing for conference
championships and representing Western Illinois University in post-season
competition. Despite difficult economic
times, we are doing everything possible to meet these expectations, and we will
continue to be prudent and monitor the intercollegiate athletics landscape.
Looking ahead, between now and September, our primary
focus will be renewing season football tickets and selling new tickets. Brock Wissmiller, our Director of Marketing
and Promotions, has been on the road, knocking on doors and making phone calls offering
sponsorships and advertising opportunities to area businesses. We have some new ticket options that are much
more fan-friendly, providing purchase flexibility. Brock has been very pleased with the response
to ticket sales and sponsorships, but he is more impressed by the enthusiasm
that is quietly building for the 2010 Leatherneck football team. We have great fans and loyal supporters, and
there is no doubt Hanson Field will once again be filled to near capacity. The 2010 schedule is very attractive with six
home games. For more information
regarding ticket sales, please call 309-298-1190 or log-on to www.goleathernecks.com.
One final note, the 21st Annual Purple and
Gold Gala and Auction is scheduled for Saturday, August 28, 2010. Western Hall will once again be filled with
loyal Leathernecks, ready to celebrate and kick-off the beginning of a new
academic year and athletic year. The
Purple and Gold Gala and Auction is the social event of the year for the
University and the Macomb Community. Our
committee, lead by John "JB" Biernbaum and Jerry "Hall of Famer" Cremer, has
done a great job planning this year's event. Many new auction items are being added
If you are interested in making a donation (cash or item), please
contact our office.
Thanks again for reading. If you ever have any questions or want to know more, please check-out
our website www.goleathernecks .com.
I will end with a quote Dwaine Roche has made
famous: "There are no former
Leathernecks. Once a Leatherneck, always
a Leatherneck".
Have a safe and enjoyable summer.
April 2010
Over the past several months, I have been encouraged to
start my own blog. Considering
that as Director of Athletics, I do not have my own Facebook page nor do I have
a Twitter account, several folks external to the University suggested the blog
as a communication vehicle beyond the traditional press release. So, as I join the multi-media age, this
entry will be the first, in what I anticipate being a monthly blog about some
of the behind the scenes activities within the Leatherneck Athletics
Department.
As football spring practice concluded last weekend with the
annual Bruce Craddock Spring Game, many folks have asked me about the status of
our team. In short, I could not be
more pleased. I watched several
practices and watched the spring game as well. The intensity and the enthusiasm from players and coaches were
very, very impressive. In fact,
many fans who attended the spring game echoed that same thought. Although the defense was intentionally
"vanilla", there were some very impressive individual plays. Under Tom Casey's leadership, the
defense should be steady again this year.
On the offensive side, there were some new twists and wrinkles that were
a welcome sight, but the most welcome sight was the return of Matt Barr at
quarterback. The other noticeable
change offensively was the addition of Doug Ruse as our new Offensive
Coordinator. Doug arrived in early
March and his impact has been immediate and well received by the players. This coaching staff really has
the attention of the team. The
team is truly focused, committed, disciplined and eager to learn the system and
ultimately win a MVFC Championship.
The coaching staff did a great job recruiting some mid-year transfers
and there will also be some immediate impact players arriving in the fall. Also, kudos to Patrick Stoudamire who recently signed a free agent
contract with the 49ers.
Obviously the 2010 Football Season is very important to
us, the University, and the Macomb community. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that we must get back to the
winning ways we enjoyed seven years ago, which by most measures is a conference
championship and the NCAA Playoffs.
Two things are critical to make that a reality. First, we need great players. Our recruiting philosophy is much more
aggressive and more importantly the efforts of the coaches have been more
aggressive as well. We have some
immediate impact players coming into our program. The second critical piece is having a "home field"
advantage. Again, we have not
enjoyed huge fan attendance during the past six seasons, but that is a "chicken
and egg" scenario. Does winning
beget fan attendance or does fan attendance create winning? Truth is, right now here at Western it doesn't matter, as we
need both for the 2010 season. Our
players and coaches will give our fans something to cheer about!
I know these are difficult economic times, yet at the
same time our department is dependent on external based income sources,
including ticket sales. Over the
past six years, our football ticket sales have been steadily declining. Just last week our marketing staff
developed the 2010 Leatherneck Season Football Ticket Brochure. These brochures are now available
around town. One noticeable change
is that we have not raised ticket prices.
In fact, with six home games this year, the season ticket price remains
the same as last year (only five homes games in 2009). Essentially if you buy season tickets,
you will get one game free in 2010.
There are some fan friendly unique ticket purchase options this year as
well. These mini-plans are very
flexible, and the new Ticket Exchange Program will ensure your tickets are
always used. We still have the Business
Backs the Leathernecks packages for our local business owners. Ticket information is available on our
website: www.goleathernecks.com or call
309-298-1190. I know our players and coaches will appreciate your support.
Finally, congratulations to our seniors who will be
graduating this May. Many very
positive things happened during their four years here at Western and we are
very grateful for all their contributions as student-athletes. We wish them all the best as they
become proud Leatherneck alums of Western.
Also, save the date for the annual Leatherneck Golf
Classic on Friday, June 11. For
more information, call 309-298-1190.
Thanks for reading my first blog. Again, I expect this to be a monthly endeavor,
so stay tuned, and remember....... "It's always a great day to be a Leatherneck".
Courtesy: Western Illinois University
