Way back in September, in my very first column of the year, I wrote about how not-newsworthy Loyola sports was at the time. "There's just nothing to talk about," I mused, not knowing that eight months later I'd be sitting here, singing the same old tune. I thought that by now, things would have changed, and we would have something to spark small talk for those awkward moments in Halas.
Alas, it was not to be. Just as I predicted, the women's volleyball team scuffled from the beginning to the end of its season. Men's basketball waded through its first campaign without graduated stars Blake Schilb and Majak Kou. (They did have their moments though. I'll never forget that shot Tracy hit the game after Anthony Smith died.) Men's volleyball stumbled to mediocrity with so many young players on the floor (their words, not mine, although I did call it way back when). At best, our sports (aside from the soccer team) danced on the line between pitiful and insignificant, teetering between being sad and being a joke.
Yes, the biggest story by far this year has been our program's utter failure to grow and develop, staying mired in the deep pit of quicksand that is our reputation. It disgusts me, a point I've tried to make all year through this column. This should be a time in our athletics history that we as a school could point to and be proud of. After all, some of the best individual athletes in Loyola history have been competing in maroon and gold during the past five years. Women's soccer forward Cynthia Morote-Ariza (broke Loyola record for goals and points in a season), men's soccer forward Michael Ferguson (third team All-America) and golfer Armando Favela are all stars coming into their own. Toss in Schilb and a bevy of graduated men's volleyball players and you'll see that we've had some really great athletes representing us.
But again, our teams continue to come up short, and now - more than ever - it's time for change.
For one, our coaches need to be put on the hot seat. I'm not saying fire them or anything like that, but you'd be surprised how a little pressure can go a long way in speeding up the development process. All of a sudden, players will be making every free throw and converting every kill. Now, for all I know, this could already be taking place in the cramped offices of Alumni Gym, and I hope that it is. I just don't get any sense of urgency where there needs to be, and turning up the heat on their job security might change that a little bit.
Next, we need to find a place for our golfers to practice when the weather doesn't allow them to go outside. You're telling me that there's not a single indoor golf range we can bus the golfers to when it's cold outside? The Partner Indoor Golf Center on Irving Park Road would be perfect, and the commute is not even 30 minutes driving. I mean, for Christ's sake, they practice in a freakin closet, an embarrassment for a school that thinks it's Division I. Pony up the money and get them the facilities they deserve.
These are ideas off the top of my head that really wouldn't take any effort to implement and would give the impression that our school cared about the development of the athletics program. I know everybody is waiting for the expansion of the Gentile Center to come and save us, but I don't buy it. Our problems are just as much systematic as they are infrastructure, and a couple of new buildings won't give Loyola athletics a new identity.
Besides, it's going to take a while for that monstrosity to go up, and I was hoping I'd have something to talk about before then.
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