Spring 2009 - Issue 5

The Silversword: Home > Sports > CUH athletes frustrated with losing and administration

CUH athletes frustrated with losing and administration

By Megan Kamehiro
Chaminade Silversword

172-523 record in five years.

The Chaminade University athletic department consists of 10 sports and only two fully funded programs. With no facilities of its own, Chaminade pays to use Saint Louis High School’s soccer field and gymnasium and has off-campus “home” games for tennis and softball.

With these types of characteristics describing an athletic department, the frustration of the student-athletes, as well as the entire athletic department are inevitable.

“It does get frustrating for everybody at times,” said athletic director Bill Villa. “You don’t always want to be on the losing end of a competitive battle.”

Frustration is evident in the athletes as they show up daily to put in the hours to prepare for games and represent a program that rarely sees victory.

“Our administration is straight lazy if they don’t realize there is something wrong with our program,” said a softball player who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering her coach and athletic director. “They need to step up and do their jobs better and help us get out of this slump our school is in.”

This slump has sank Chaminade University to the bottom of the standings in most of the sports competed in the PacWest Conference. The student athletes at Chaminade face the difficulty of early-morning practices because they do not have priority on using the facilities. After working hard at practice, their day has just begun as athletes head to classes for the day.

“There’s no facilities, no benefits for the athletes and no money in the system,” said an unnamed women’s basketball player. “I think if we had more facilities like locker rooms, showers, our own gym or field, more people would be interested in Chaminade, and we’d be able to recruit more athletes and have an easier time getting practices in.”

The lack of facilities comes from the lack of funding. Chaminade athletics only can afford to fully fund two teams--men’s basketball and women’s volleyball (the two teams with the best records over the past five years). Men’s basketball is the only team with a winning record 68-47.

Over the last 5 years, the men’s soccer team has been 7-76-5 and the women’s soccer team finished 4-78. The softball team has been 52-143.

“I think that outside of a few sports, our athletic department needs some serious funding,” said an anonymous cross-country athlete. “Most of the athletic teams would do a lot better with more money for recruiting.”

The issues of the athletic department are no secret to the athletes, but still, they show up, compete and represent the Silverswords. This positive attitude despite losing records is the type of attitude that separates Chaminade from the rest of the conference.

Where many would give up, the Silverswords see the potential to build the program into a competitive threat in the PacWest.

“Taking a look at Chaminade athletics from outside, you can see that there is a lot to be desired, especially in terms of facilities,” said Kelly Costello, a senior guard for the women’s basketball team (2-99 in five years). “However, what most people don’t realize is there are a lot of people working behind the scenes to improve athletics and to make sure we are constantly striving to be better.”

Behind the scenes, Villa and the athletic department is working in the second year of a five-year plan designed to improve the conditions of the athletic department and make Chaminade more competitive.

Included in this plan is a $2 million project to build locker rooms for the athletes. The plan also includes getting sponsors for home games and getting more money for student-athlete scholarships, operational expenses and increased travel costs, as the PacWest conference will expand to 14 teams.

“I think one of the biggest things we did within our athletic program that we needed badly in these first few years was to get the proper staffing within our program,” Villa said. “Hiring a full-time compliance officer, that was huge. We need that and that’s proven to be an outstanding move for us.”

Wendy Wilson, the school’s compliance coordinator, helps the coaches and athletes understand the NCAA rules for a Division II University. She makes sure all areas of the university, including financial aid, admissions and enrollment, is aware of the rules and following it.

The athletic department also hired a second full-time athletic trainer, something Villa felt was very important. By hiring another trainer, Chaminade is able to provide better support and coverage over games for their athletes. The addition of sports information director, Maurice Maggiolino, helps promote the Silverswords with an improved website and better coverage of the games.

The steps toward improving the athletic department at Chaminade are beginning to take place behind the scenes. After laying the foundation, the Sliverswords hope to see the program become more competitive in their conference.

“It’s very difficult because you’re gauged, in athletics you’re gauged by your won-loss record,” Villa said. “That’s the level of the bar and so if your record is not good, it does get depressing for the people involved. But again, they keep coming back and they keep trying.

It’s a progression. We wish we could do everything at once but we’re progressing.”