Dear Tigers,
 
What an outstanding weekend for Towson Athletics!  I want to thank everyone who was a part of our many events on campus from the women’s lacrosse CAA regular-season championship, to TIGER BOWL II and the Gridiron Gala, the Men’s Soccer Alumni match and the Swimming/Diving end of the season event at the Auburn House Pavilion.  When campus is alive with this level of enthusiasm it lifts every member of our community to a higher place.

No group is flying higher over the past week than our Tiger Club as we celebrated our 1,500th member of the year when Karl H. Nieberlein (‘95) signed on as a new stakeholder with Towson Athletics. On the year our fundraising is up 40% over 2010-11 totals, and we still have two months left to go before we close the books on 2011-12.  Every member of our Athletics Family has contributed to this effort, as success in the classroom and on the fields and courts creates a sense of pride in the heart of every Towson alumnus.  Every day, Tigers EXPECT SUCCESS.

One area where we are seeing a rush in involvement is with our former student-athletes and the newly formed letterwinners club, the T-CLUB.  This new organization has over 610 former student-athletes giving back, as we are well on our way to doubling last year's total of 374 members. 

I am proud to announce that the men's swimming and diving alumni rose to the top again this year in capturing our T-Club Alumni-Athlete Challenge crown for the second straight year.  The men's soccer and the women’s gymnastics teams followed in second and third place, respectively.  In total, the challenge welcomed in 360 former student-athlete donors totaling over $48,000.

It is private support of the Tigers that will help push us to the top of the CAA and we thank everyone who has helped make this the best year ever in terms of Towson Athletics fundraising. Special thanks go out to our Tiger Club Executive Board and the leadership of Chair Don Fry and Vice Chair Nancy Palmer who have led the reformation of this group into one of action and results. I look forward to meeting with the board again in early May and having new Towson University President Maravene Loeschke address the group to share her vision for Towson and Athletics’ role in our 2016 strategic goals.

One summertime charge that I will give to our board as a whole, and to our three subcommittees (capital planning, competitive success and strategic planning) is to assist our Athletics Leadership Team with ways that we can meet the many challenges ahead. State Funding for Higher Education is under fire from our elected leaders and we must be proactive in our planning not only for 2012-13, but for the next decade ahead. Our collective goal is to fully fund as many programs as we can with the NCAA maximum number of scholarships, which will increase our overall competitiveness and increase the quality of the student-athlete experience across the board. We have to examine our current model of operation and chart our course for the next 10 years so that we are compliant with all areas of NCAA and CAA rules, along with our constitutional responsibilities as a public institution.

The winds of change are blowing through college athletics at a pace that no one could have anticipated even two years ago.  NCAA President Mark Emmert has promised reform and a streamlining of the weighty rules manual that governs our every move as NCAA member institutions. I encourage you to keep abreast of these changes as everyone involved with college sports will be impacted from the student-athletes, the coaches and staff to our many fans. My hope is that the well-being of all of the student-athletes is placed at the top of the list of priorities, and not just the concern for a select group of participants. I was deeply troubled that during our recent NCAA Convention that a proposal was put forth to provide an additional $2,000 annually to only the student-athletes who receive a FULL scholarship. This does not seem to be a fair answer to the question of student-athlete welfare, but merely a quick response to a much deeper issue. My hope is that the Presidential leaders who advise the NCAA will look deeper into this issue and will seek a broad-based solution as opposed to what is currently on the table.

As we move back to the field this weekend head coach Sonia Lamonica and the women’s lacrosse team will take the top seed and their Top 20 national ranking into the CAA Tournament, which will be held on the Towson Campus.  The action begins at Noon on Friday at the Tiger Soccer Complex. Due to a change in the NCAA women’s lacrosse postseason structure, the dates of the CAA Tournament had to be moved up a week, which put the league championship event in conflict with TIGERFEST on the TU campus.  As such, the tournament will move to the natural grass pitch, which is looking magnificent due to the outstanding work that is being put in by our facilities and operations staff, led by Tom Mandato and Agronomist Shawn Mahonski.

As we turn the calendar to May in the coming days we look ahead to the CAA Championships in Track & Field, Softball, Baseball and Men’s Lacrosse. The men’s lacrosse tournament begins on May 2 at the home fields of the top two seeds. Towson has already doubled its win total from a year ago and with a win this Saturday at St. Joseph’s, our Tigers, under first-year head coach Shawn Nadelen, can earn a return to the CAA Tournament and a first-round matchup with regular-season champion UMASS.  That game will be played in Amherst, Mass.  Be sure to check www.TowsonTigers.com for the latest information on all of our teams and their postseason schedules.

As the summer months are quickly approaching be sure to mark your calendar for this year’s Hall of Fame Black and Gold Invitational presented by Marlow Sports.  This golf event will be held on Friday, June 29 at Towson Golf & Country Club with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Cost is $250 per person and includes a round of golf, green fees, golf carts use, driving range use, breakfast, lunch and a gift bag.  Each player will have the chance to interact with coaches and staff of Towson Athletics stationed throughout the course.  All Tiger fans are welcome to register by CLICKING HERE.

With Black & Gold Pride...

Mike Waddell

Director of Athletics