Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Now What?

   

                                                                                                                         

The hiring of Santa Clara's next Athletic Director will tell Bronco season ticket holders, fans, alums and students all they need to know about the trajectory and future of Athletics and, in particular, Men's Basketball.  

When Dr. Renee Baumgartner was hired nearly nine years ago as Santa Clara's Athletics Director, the selection was met with great optimism and skepticism.  Skeptics didn't feel she had the "creds" and optimists believed her past stops at bigger name schools and energy would help take Athletics, especially Men's Basketball, to another level.  

Renee's hiring came on the heels of the 2015 SCU President's Commission on Athletics which declared, among other goals, that it was their intent to achieve and maintain a National Reputation in Men's Basketball.  Her first major move was to hire Coach Herb Sendek as Men's Basketball coach who came from stints at N.C. State and Arizona State.  Again, the idea was to take us to another level to rival Gonzaga who has dominated the WCC for the past 25 years.

Fast forward to now.  Four recent 20 win seasons, two NIT's, and back to back NBA 1st round draft picks and we are definitely at another level; a winning level in Men's Basketball.  

The question has to be asked, is this the level we aspire to?  Can we build off the successes of Renee and Coach Sendek and become a legit "national" level program to match our national level facilities, or are we satisfied with winning and settling for third in the WCC and our "mid-major" label?  

Due to the changing NCAA landscape, this may be the biggest decision in Santa Clara history regarding Athletics that Dr. Sullivan and the Trustees will have to make.  In the past, the University has not compromised building out our Academic facilities or hiring the best Professorial talent.  IMHO, until recently, Athletics has not been a strategic part of the mission on the Mission campus.  

Other small religious based Universities figured out 25+ years ago that using Athletics and, in particular, Men's Basketball as a strategic weapon that built National recognition and Endowments that funded key aspects of their Academic and facility needs.  Witness the successes of Villanova, Marquette, Xavier, and of course, Gonzaga.

The challenge will only get more expensive and harder as transfer portals, NIL pay for play, and the recent $2.8 billion NCAA legal settlement with the Power Conferences will change the landscape of the NCAA.  You're talking about perhaps the most significant changes since Title IX was adopted in 1972.

We've been down this road before and punted until 2015-16.  

The choices and financials associated with becoming truly National are equally daunting.  One choice is to pack it in, go down to non-scholarship Division 3, like Chapman or Lewis and Clark, and have athletics be more like intercollegiate intramurals; an extracurricular activity at minimal cost.  BTW, there are more schools in Division 3, (434) than in Division 1, (352).   With the legal settlement mentioned above, this will be an option as the cost of Division 1 will rise dramatically as athletes will have to be compensated by the Universities and/or NIL corporate contracts.  

Another choice is to invest.  Make the commitment to actually become national rather than just buzz words.  Why settle for mid-level in Men's Basketball?  The optics and financial payoff of success are enormous.  

Even with the recent improvements, much will need to change.  First, and foremost, is hiring a "been there, done that" Athletics Director who has the mandate and funding from the Trustees to get to National.  National means no less than a top 40 and preferably a top 25 ranking.  These are NCAA invite worthy rankings.  

Following that, staff, facilities, marketing, fundraising, both community and alum outreach,  fan experience and much more will need upgrades.  Our basketball schedule will need to continue the upward competitive level from last season.  This cannot be a "words only" get to National like the 2015 declaration from the Commission on Athletics.  

The search committee is nearly in place.  The "draft" board of candidates will follow and hopefully by end of summer we might know where SCU Athletics and Men's Basketball are headed.  

For season ticket holders and fans, we hope we don't settle for less than we can become.  So, now what?