I know it's been over a month since the ball dropped, but with this being my first article of 2006 I thought I'd share with you my New Years' resolution. It's simple: have a more positive outlook on Tufts sports.
Yes, I, like many of you out there, get jealous when my friends attending schools such as Michigan, Maryland, or even Montana compare AP polls and basketball brackets. Of all our sports, sailing is the only one where we can be compared to all schools regardless of division. And let's face it, unless your friends are named Chip, Kip, and August IV, the fact that our co-ed single-handed team is nasty won't have much pull in a sports argument.
To some degree, the sports fan attending a Div. III school doesn't think he has much to cheer about. And in some ways he is right. A Div. III school like Tufts simply does not have the revenue, resources or need to recruit players or promote their program like a Div. I school. The emphasis on sports in a major Div. I program is exponentially greater. Bigger schools rely on their athletic programs to bring in millions each year from merchandising and television contracts, as well as playing bonuses accrued from bowl games and post-season tournaments.
And that's why the comparisons are unfair. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take pride in your Jumbos. Why? Well to put it plainly, we are good. In case you don't religiously read the back page of the Daily, you may have just missed the best semester athletically that Tufts has had in a while.
First and foremost is the success of the women's soccer team. The Jumbo squad amassed an impressive resume this year that included a NESCAC regular-season championship, First Team All-American honors for senior Ariel Samuelson, and a trip to the NCAA final four that included a sweet victory against rival Bates.
Then there's the women's volleyball team, which posted its best record ever while advancing all the way to the Sweet 16. And this year's success should be only a taste of what is to come because 10 of the 14 members are underclassmen.
Our coed sailing team finished the year ranked ninth in the country, eight spots ahead of the U. S. Naval Academy (although I don't know whether that ranking makes me proud of Tufts athletics or scared for the future of our country).
In women's cross country, the final poll placed Tufts in the top 10 nationally and led to a team appearance in the NCAA Championships for only the second time in its history.
One of the other reasons why Tufts sports sometimes does not get the credit it deserves is that the more visible and traditional athletic teams (i.e. men's football and soccer) did not have particularly good fall seasons. But don't worry, Jumbo men, you can take solace in the fact that although men's teams did not have as much across-the-board success, they boast the most successful team of the first semester: men's cross country.
As far as accomplishments, the men's XC team rarely missed a step all year, taking home both the NESCAC and New England Div. III championship belts. Then they finished the season with the best showing at the NCAA meet ever for a Tufts team. The Jumbos finished fifth in the country thanks in large part to junior All-American Joshua Kennedy's 22nd-place finish.
Take a step back and read all of these accomplishments again. The list is quite impressive. But was this success an aberration?
Actually, that couldn't be farther from the truth. The Tufts athletic department is much more than one successful season. The current men's basketball team, with a record currently standing at a blistering 19-5 and a third seed in the NESCAC postseason tournament, is proof enough.
In reality, Tufts athletics as a whole has consistently been improving for a few years now due to the development of successful athletic programs, not just seasons. Some of the credit for this success must be attributed to the man pulling the strings - Jumbo-for-life Athletic Director Bill Gehling.
Under Gehling's tenure, Jumbo teams have excelled across the board, with storied programs, such as softball and women's soccer, continuing their success and others, like women's volleyball, making the leap to one of the country's elite.
Gehling has helped to shape these programs by hiring a mix of both Tufts alumni (Cora Thompson - women's volleyball, Martha Whiting - women's soccer) and imported talent (Ethan Barron - mens' XC and track and field, Tina McDavitt - field hockey) to fill head coaching positions. He gets bonus points for prying women's cross country and track and field coach Kristen Morwick from Williams, where she was the women's cross country head coach.
While Gehling is proud of Tufts athletics, he is quick to steer the praise towards the coaches and the players.
"We recruit coaches who understand that Tufts students are different, that we are trying to educate the whole person here," Gehling said.
Although he likes talking about Tufts' athletes' success on the field, the conversation inevitably drifts to what they do off the field, and he quickly points out that not only are they terrific athletes but also good students, always ranking high nationally in GPA.
Gehling beams when he relays the story of the women's soccer team's trip to Oneonta in the NCAA tournament. But it's not because it punched its final four ticket there after a thrilling penalty shootout against Oneonta State. No, he is most proud of his players for their conduct off the field, which moved the Oneonta State AD to tell Gehling that they were "the classiest bunch" he had ever seen.
In a world where off-the-field news about an athlete all too regularly includes phrases like "stolen laptops," "academic ineligibility," and "boosters," it's refreshing to hear the other side of the coin.
And that's another reason why you should be proud of Tufts sports. That's why Gehling is in no rush to test the waters of Div. I athletics. He knows that with greater success comes a greater cost, a cost that he believes is too high to pay. Tufts doesn't make that compromise. Gehling emphasizes the importance of development both on and, maybe more importantly, off the field. That is his true barometer of success.
But then again, a win here and there doesn't hurt either.
