Commodore Nation, September 2012

September 2012

GEARING UP FOR FALL

NEW FACES

inside:

SUMMER UPGRADES

WILD DOGS

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N 1vucommodores.com

2 Compliance Corner Connect with the Commodores

3 National Commodore Club Fiscal year overview

7 Inside McGugin By the numbers; September calendar

9 2012 Fall Preview 9 No. 1 question facing fall teams 11 Top returning players 12 Sean Spencer’s “Wild Dogs” D-line 15 Men’s golf coach Scott Limbaugh

16 Facility Improvements Upgrades from Dudley Field to McGugin

18 Q. & A.D. David Williams’ question-and-answer

21 Bowling in Europe John Williamson’s squad visits France, Italy

23 It’s My Turn Rod Williamson’s monthly column

24 My Game Soccer senior Dana Schwartz

table of contents

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Editorial

Publisher: Vanderbilt University

Editor-in-Chief: Chris Weinman

Director of Communications: Rod Williamson

Designers: Jeremy Teaford

Chris Weinman

Digital Image Specialist: Julie Luckett Turner

VU Photography: Daniel Dubois

Steve Green

Joe Howell

Jenny Mandeville

Anne Rayner

John Russell

Susan Urmy

Contributors: Brandon Barca

Andy Boggs

Larry Leathers George Midgett

Kyle Parkinson

Emily Sane

Ryan Schulz

Jennifer Stevens

Administrative

Chancellor: Nicholas S. Zeppos

Vice Chancellor for University Affairs: David Williams II

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs: Beth Fortune

Vanderbilt University Student Athletics’ Mission StatementWe prepare student-athletes to become leaders and champions in life by placing the highest values on integrity, character, sportsmanship and victory.

Vanderbilt University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action university.

ON THE COVER: Work continues at Hawkins Field as fall sports begin to crank up. Photo by Joe Howell, VU Photography.

POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to National Commodore Club, 2601 Jess Neely Drive, Nashville, TN 37212.

SUBSCRIPTION: To subscribe, contact Chris Weinman by e-mail at [email protected]

ADVERTISEMENT: To advertise with Commodore Nation, please contact Vanderbilt IMG Sports & Entertainment Properties.Jeff Miller, general manager 615/322-4468; [email protected]

Commodore Nation is printed using (10% post-consumer) recycled paper.

Compliance questions? Please contact:

Candice Lee George MidgettDirector of Compliance Compliance Coordinator615/322-7992 615/[email protected] [email protected]

John Peach Andrew TurnerCompliance Coordinator Recruiting/Compliance Coordinator615/343-1060 615/[email protected] [email protected]

C O M P L I A N C E

CORNERThe Vanderbilt Athletic Compliance Office would like to thank everyone who reads Compliance Corner. We’re glad to be a resource for you. In order to better serve you, we’d like to extend the opportunity for you to submit topics to be covered in this section.

Please contact us by email at [email protected] or on our Twitter or Facebook pages. We look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you again for your time, and GO ’DORES!

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Dear Commodore supporters,

Thank you for your gift to the National Commodore Club this past fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2012. Your support during this exciting time in the history of Vanderbilt Athletics was reflected by the number of NCC members who joined and renewed and the number of gifts received -both of which were the highest since 1994.

Vanderbilt’s presence and support for Athletics continue to grow. Our 5,812 NCC members are currently represented in 49 states and four countries. Thank you for spreading the NCC message to your friends and family across the country and world.

We are pleased to welcome our 1,480 new NCC members and encourage you to contact us if we can provide any assistance. You may call, email or drop by our office in the McGugin Center.

We thank our members who supported Athletics. Gifts totaling $14.3 million were made to Vanderbilt Athletics this past fiscal year. This amount included $3.2 million in annual giving that helped provide scholarships for our talented student-athletes.

We thank our members who took their giving to the next level through individual sport gifts. By generously providing our teams with more than $500,000 collectively through restricted gifts, we helped our teams compete at the next level.

We thank our members who increased their giving to the top NCC levels. We currently have 48 members at the Admiral level or above, an increase of four new donors from the previous fiscal year.

We thank our members who have endowed scholarships. This past fiscal year we had another scholarship funded, bringing our number of endowments to 66. I know how grateful each and every scholarship recipient was to have the opportunity to compete.

We thank our members for being an integral part of the Commodore family, and we look forward to sharing future successes with you.

Thank you again for your support. Go ’Dores!

Mark CarterAssociate Director of Athletics,Executive Director of the National Commodore Club and Athletics Development

Overview

Your support during this exciting time in the history of Vanderbilt Athletics was reflected by the number of NCC members who joined and renewed and the number of gifts received-both of which were the highest since 1994.

2012 Fiscal Year

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N 3

on the best football parking

Tailgate before the 2012 home football games

We invite NCC members and their guests to join us at the NCC andNCC GridIron Club pregame tailgates on the lawn outside Gate 2 (directly off Jess Neely Drive). All tailgates will kick off three (3) hours before each home game and include food, soft drinks and beer. A registration email will be sent prior to every home game with event details. For more information, call Kendal Duncan at (615) 343-4067.

Anchor down

Lot 1

Lot 1A

$3,000+

$1,500-$2,999

Lot 2 $500-$1,499

Lot 3

Lot 4

Lot 71

$250-$499

$150-$249

Contact the NCC at (615) 322-4114 or [email protected]. One (1) priority parking pass will be issued per NCC membership.

Reserve your priority parking spot today!

A donation to the NCC is required at these levels for priority parking.

National Commodore Club priority football parking is your best option for Commodore game days. Enjoy the tailgating fun before the game and then a short walk to Vanderbilt Stadium for the game. You must have an NCC-issued pass to park in one of the priority lots on football game days.

$150 (Disabled)

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Vanderbilt Football

ANCHOR DOWNfor the rise of

The NCC GridIron Club allows Commodore fans to be key contributors and have more access to the Vanderbilt Football program. By joining the NCC GridIron Club, you can help the program tackle strategic projects that will directly impact the rise of Vanderbilt Football.

2012-13 GridIron giving levels and benefits*

*Benefits vary by level.

*Some benefits include

*NCC and NCC GridIron

*Club pregame tailgate

*invitation, GridIron gift,

*and fall and spring meal

*with Coach Franklin.

Black $150

Gold $500

Dore $1,000

Star V $2,500

Anchor $10,000 and above

NCC GridIron Club

(615) 322-4114NationalCommodoreClub.com

[email protected] O M M O D O R E N AT I O N 5

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 26


THENUMBERS7 Commodore runners that finished in the Top 25 of the 2011 SEC Women’s Cross Country Championships in Knoxville, including five student-athletes that return for this year’s event at Nashville’s Percy Warner Park— Liz Anderson, Jordan White, Kristen Smith, Grace Orders and Amira Joseph.

18 Southeastern Conference games for the men’s basketball team for the first time this season, including home-and-home series with Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn and Tennessee

3,244 career rushing yards combined for senior Zac Stacy and redshirt-junior Warren Norman. Stacy was named to the Maxwell Award watch list, while Norman was mentioned on a preseason list for the Paul Hornung Award.

89,500 square feet of synthetic turf installed on Dudley Field by Shaw Sportexe this summer. The Legion 46 playing surface features a combination of high-performance monofilament fiber and durable slit film fiber.

• Vanderbilt Athletics, IMG College and Clear Channel Media & Entertainment recently announced a deal to broadcast all Commodore football and men’s basketball games on a strong flagship, NewsRadio 1510 WLAC. The 50,000-watt station can be heard from southern Canadian provinces to the Gulf of Mexico at night.

• Vanderbilt will celebrate College Colors Day on Thursday, Aug. 30 when the football team opens the 2012 season. The annual promotion—organized by NCAA Football and The Collegiate Licensing Company—encourages fans to wear their favorite school colors all day. Vanderbilt fans are asked to WEAR BLACK in support of the team’s black-out game against South Carolina. Players will be wearing their all-black uniforms for the game.

• Head Coach Tim Corbin hired Travis Jewett as Vanderbilt baseball’s hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. Jewett comes to Nashville after an impressive stint as Arizona State’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the past three seasons. His resume also includes success at Gonzaga and Washington State.IN

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FB = Football; MG = Men’s Golf; WG = Women’s Golf; WS = Women’s Soccer; XC = Cross CountryHOME / AWAY

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XCThe cross country squads host the Commodore Classic on Saturday morning, Sept. 15. The meet previews the 2012 SEC Championship, scheduled for Oct. 26 at Percy Warner Park.

MRThe men’s and women’s golf teams welcome some of the nation’s best competition to Franklin for the Mason Rudolph Championships, Sept. 21-23, at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.

FBFootball’s lone September home game pits the ‘Dores against Presbyterian. An official Employee Celebration event, the game will be preceded by a free tailgate for all VU faculty and staff.

WSHead Coach Derek Greene’s women’s soccer team plays host to its first SEC home weekend when Alabama (Sept. 28) and South Carolina (Sept. 30) visit the VU Soccer Complex.

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What is the No. 1 question facing each of Vanderbilt’s fall sports?

Derek Greene is excited about his second year leading the soccer team: “When you have a young group like we do—we have roughly 20 freshmen and sophomores on our team—you’re not exactly sure what to expect and you don’t know the mentality of your team coming in. But this team is showing great maturity. We’re getting great leadership from several veteran players and our effort is exactly where we want it to be. We’re excited about what we’re going to see going forward.”

Fall Preview

Men’s Golf Football

Women’s Cross Country

What is your message in year one?

Scott Limbaugh: “I just want to tell them how excited I am to be their head coach, about coaching this year’s team, and about them representing Vander-bilt University. My job as a coach is to make these guys do more than they ever thought they could do, and I believe in a process that will allow them to maximize their ability.”

Women’s Soccer

How do you replace a two-time SEC Player of the Year in Marina Alex?

Greg Allen: “I have no doubt that Lauren Stratton—who was also an All-American in 2012—will play confidently as our No. 1, but the key is consistently putting up a good fourth and fifth score. Everyone in our league has good players one through three, so your fourth and fifth scores become that much more important.”

How is the men’s program progressing?

Steve Keith: “It’s more of a long-term development on this side and they’ll still need another year, but I love their energy and excitement and they’re super sharp kids. We’ve got three good sophomores that are absolutely going to be the core of this team.”

How does last year’s success help this year’s squad?

Steve Keith: “You don’t want to not use last year as motivation, but every year you’ve got a new dynamic and new chemistry and you’ve got to redefine your team. We’ve got four senior leaders and they have been very active this summer. It’s a new year. It’s a chance for them to put a new mark on something they’ve just started to build.”

How will year two be different?

James Franklin: “Last year we thought we could do some good things. I thought I had a good plan, that it was detailed and organized. This year we believe. That’s the difference. Last year, we thought we could do some nice things; this year, the team believes we’re going to do some really good things.”

Women’s Golf

Men’s Cross Country

#1 QUESTION

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“What’s amazing about Zac is as good of a player as he is, he’s a better person. I couldn’t be more pleased with his develop-ment, how he comes to work every single day with a blue-collar mentality. I think Zac has a chance to have a really, really good year for us, and we need him to. And getting Warren Norman back, former SEC Rookie of the Year, creates more depth for us.”

— James Franklin

“Cherrelle really developed and came into her own last year as we got into SEC play. She gives us a true ball winner. You have to have that player that can win tackles, win balls in the air, and is just a fearless person battling for your team and giving energy. Cherrelle also has improved on the ball this preseason. We’re expecting big things from her.”

— Derek Greene

“John Ewing had one of the best seasons we’ve had last fall and we’ll really rely on him this year. Andrew Fix is going to have to transition up to five-mile cross country (from three-mile in high school), while Nick French will have a little bit easier time to jump up and contribute. For guys, you really don’t expect to see freshman lead your team because of the transition.”

— Steve Keith

“Liz Anderson has the best returning per-formance, but Jordan White as a fifth year senior is big. Every year, she’s driven the train. She’s been the one that everyone has focused around to get into a good position and she’ll work that early-to-middle of the race. Our biggest impact newcomer will probably be Lily Williams. She’s got all the tools.” — Steve Keith

John EwingCherrelle Jarrett

Jordan White

Zac Stacy

Hunter Stewart

Lauren Stratton

The names and faces you should know as fall sports’ seasons kick off.

“‘Stratty’ had a great fall last year and a solid spring in being named a first-team All-American, but I think she’s ready for a big year on the course and to take on the challenge of being one of our team leaders off of it. She undoubtedly has the talent and the mental make up to be one the of the nation’s top collegiate golfers this season.” — Greg Allen

Fall Preview

#1 RETURNER

“We’ve had some guys who’ve played well this summer. Hunter Stewart, who had a good freshman season, and Zach Jaworksi, who we’re extremely excited about as an incoming freshman, qualified for the U.S. Amateur, the pinnacle of ama-teur golf. They earned it at tough qualifiers and have shown that they‘re ready to play golf at a high level.”

— Scott Limbaugh

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“African wild dogs hunt in formidable, cooperative packs of 6 to 20 (or more) animals…. Packs hunt antelopes and will also tackle much larger prey, such as wildebeests….” — NationalGeographic.com

T he lights go dark in a meeting room inside the McGugin Center, and there is silence. Soon the screen flickers to life. A

camera quickly pans across a dusty landscape, and the hunt is on.

Through miles of open plains, the predators pursue their prey relentlessly. Eventually, the quarry succumbs to the pack, and a loud roar erupts from the assembled group of men.

Thus begins a meeting for football coach Sean Spen-cer and his group of defen-sive linemen. Known as the “Wild Dogs,” the unit has taken on the pack mentality of the famed hunters of sub-Saharan Africa. Spencer sometimes screens National Geographic footage during his position meetings.

“We’ll show it to them, and they’ll sit in there and they’ll

be all fired up about it,” Spencer said. “With any group, you need them to buy into a psychology. We have that. In practice, when they’re wilted and they’re tired, I tell them, ‘I gotta see those dogs come out.’ And they start barking. It has nothing to do with being a Commodore, but everything to do with the way I want them to practice as a team and compete as a team.”

That team approach values the whole over the individual, and Spencer’s group embraces collective success over personal accolades. But everyone gets a chance to produce.

“(The wild dogs) attack in groups, which I try to get my guys to understand: this is how we’ve got to attack,” Spencer said. “We rotate nine or 10 guys into the game, so everyone’s gonna get

their shot of getting to the quarterback and making plays.”

Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop calls Spen-cer’s rotation of players “as sophisticated as anyone I’ve ever been around.”

The result is two-fold: the unit stays fresh for a full 60 minutes, wearing down its opposing group, and the individual members feel a sense of accomplishment regardless of which players

“Wild Dogs,” painted by Haley Rossow, hangs in coach Spencer’s office. Players (clockwise from left, posed): Colt Nichter, Walker May, Johnell Thomas, Rob Lohr.


happen to be on the field for a given play.“You go in for four or five plays, give every-

thing you’ve got, then you’re off for four or five more,” senior end Walker May said. “Once you get that rotation going, you know you’re going to be fresh. And if you wear down the other guy enough, you’re going to win.”

“I believe that our defense is based on us hav-ing interchangeable parts,” senior end Johnell Thomas said. “If I need a break, we’ve worked together long enough to trust that the person behind me is just as good, and we’re all working together toward the one common goal.”

So when you come to the sideline and your replacement gets to the quarterback on the next snap?

“It’s the greatest feeling,” May said. “Because that’s my brother, and he’s made a sack, and that’s the goal. That’s what we want.”

“In some places, they’d look at that and say, ‘I should have made that play. That could’ve been mine.’” tackle Rob Lohr added. “But with our team, you’re always behind your guy. If he makes a big play, it looks good on all of you and you can cel-ebrate it together.”

Spencer’s team-first mentality helped the line anchor a Commodore defense that ranked 18th in the nation in total defense last year. The group graduated veteran T.J. Greenstone at tackle and NFL Draft pick Tim Fugger at end, but Spencer is confident that younger players who logged valuable time last season are poised to step into even bigger roles.

“No one rises to low expectations,” Spencer said. “And my expectation for that group is that we’re even better than we were last year.”

Even with the undeniable strides the unit made on the field, Spencer is proudest about the way the group has adopted his family mind-set. He remembers a closed-door meeting with a defensive end that was being replaced on the

first-team unit.“When you call a guy in

that’s a starter, and you say, ‘This guy’s outplaying you. I’m gonna play you, but I think he deserves to start.’ And the guy just gets up and says, ‘No problem. We work as a unit. I’m fine.’ That’s when you know you did something special in that room. It’s selfless, but you also know that guy is going to compete and try to earn that starting spot again.” n

Fall Preview

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F reuqent flier miles? Hotel rewards? Rental car perks? In just over a month,

Head Men’s Golf Coach Scott Limbaugh has been racking up points on all of his newly minted Vanderbilt accounts.

Hired at the end of June, Limbaugh quickly took to the road to begin recruit-ing, a process he calls the “life-blood” of a successful program. Limbaugh’s goal is to load Vanderbilt’s lineup with student-athletes that possess elite level talent to compete in the Southeastern Conference and the academic chops to excel at a Top 20 university.

“My mission is to recruit players that we can win championships with, and win them with class,” Limbaugh said. “But you don’t want to recruit the wrong kind of kid that doesn’t want to do things your way. So part of the process is learning who they are, where they’re from. They have to be able to win in the classroom and on the golf course. What excited me the most about Vanderbilt from the get-go is that it’s truly the best of both worlds. You get the best in the classroom and the best conference in the country, so it’s completely a win-win situation.”

In his first month as a Commodore, Limbaugh wore out the recruiting trail. Stops he made included Atlanta, the Ten-nessee State Junior Championship in Chattanooga, Montgomery, Ala. (where he commuted back and forth to his for-mer home in Tuscaloosa to finalize its sale), the United States Junior Champion-ships in New Hampshire, and an interna-

tional trip to Austria and Germany.Along with his recruiting schedule,

Limbaugh has taken time to make in-roads with his current Commodore stu-dent-athletes, many of whom he would not officially meet until August. Limbaugh views the interaction with his players while not on the course as particularly important in a sport where athletes have worked with swing instructors for years.

“They’ve all got their own teachers,” Limbaugh said. “I’m a coach. I think any players that have ever played for me would tell you I’m a motivator.”

Through phone calls, text messages and social media, Limbaugh has stayed engaged in the summer training habits of his new squad. When rising senior Will Snipes sent a text to Limbaugh about playing a summer event, the coach quickly responded with encouragement.

“Needless to say, it got me pumped up,” Snipes said. “I shared that with some of the other guys. He always seems to be sending stuff to get guys fired up, whether it’s a quote of the week or stay-ing on guys to keep them playing.”

Limbaugh brought a serious track record of success with him to Nashville. He was named the head coach of his alma mater, Huntingdon College, at age 24. Three years later, Limbaugh was hired to Alabama as the recruiting coordinator and assistant coach. The Crimson Tide advanced to four NCAA Championships and claimed 20 team tournament titles during his five-year tenure. n

Introducing SCOTT LIMBAUGH

Fall Preview

vucommodores.com

2012 Mason Rudolph ChampionshipsVanderbilt Legends Club • Franklin, Tenn.

Sept. 21-23, 2012

Coach Limbaugh (top) and assistant Dusty Smith (with visored Hunter Stewart, above) have been hard at work this summer.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 216

I f summer is supposed to be a quiet time around collegiate athletic departments, no one told the numerous construction crews who have spent the better part of three months making improvements

to nearly all of the facilities located around Jess Neely Drive. Vanderbilt Stadium, Memorial Gymnasium, Hawkins Field and the

McGugin Center all have received substantial upgrades during the off-season. And while the public will first enjoy the benefits of an enhanced football gameday experience, Head Coach James Franklin is quick to point out that the entire department is moving forward.

“It’s amazing what we’ve been able to get done here in 18 months. Not just the football program, but the whole athletic department,” Franklin said from the new Olympic Sport meeting room on the sec-ond floor of the McGugin Center. “A year ago, we would be outside on the roof. Now we have these new meeting rooms, new locker rooms downstairs, turf on the field, lights, and we’re breaking ground on a $31 million dollar multipurpose facility soon. It’s exciting.”

The second-floor expansion of the McGugin Center allowed for extra meeting space upstairs—including an auditorium with stadium seating and room for the 100-plus member football team—and also afforded Olympic sport teams with larger locker room facilities on the first floor. Soccer and cross country were the first to test out their expanded digs, but other coaches already realize their value as well.

“The locker room will be among the best in Division I lacrosse, and the meeting space is just as critical to our success,” Head Lacrosse Coach Cathy Swezey said. “Vanderbilt’s commitment to athletics is evident in all that is going on. We could not be more excited.”

Other updates included a complete overhaul of the Hendrix Room, chef Majid Noori’s training table; impressive new video boards hang-ing over Ingram Court; an advanced turf system at Hawkins Field that will allow Coach Tim Corbin’s squad to practice outdoors year-round; and new, larger bridges at Percy Warner Park that make the cross country course better suited to host the SEC meet next month. n

Bright Lights, Big CityVanderbilt Stadium is now HD-ready thanks to the installation of a new, more powerful lighting system throughout the complex.

A Field for All SeasonsShaw Sportexe installed its Legion 46 turf on Dudley Field this summer, giving Vanderbilt Stadium the flexibility to be used year-round in all weather, and for a variety of events.

Berm, Baby, BermA natural grass seating area has been installed beneath the new video board in the north end zone, adding room for 500 fans to relax on the hillside while they watch the Commodores.

Big Screen TVStretching nearly halfway across the end zone, the new video board measures 71 feet across by 40 feet high—for a total viewing area more than six times larger than the previous board.

ATHLETIC FACILITYIMPROVEMENTS

Vanderbilt Stadium


The expanded second floor of the McGugin Center includes brand new conference rooms, a 100-plus seat classroom auditorium and numerous meeting rooms. Below, the locker rooms for nearly all of Vanderbilt’s Olympic sport programs were expanded and enhanced.

Conference Room

Football Auditorium

Meeting Rooms

Locker Rooms


S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 218

COMMODORE NATION: You make it a point to emphasize the future, not the present, when assessing the status of Vanderbilt athletics. What is your vision?

DAVID WILLIAMS: I look at how we are doing and what we need to be doing; learn from the past, live in the present and focus upon the future. I ask, “What do we need to be doing to be a player in this 14-team Southeastern Conference or the 250-some institutions playing Division I athletics?” We must continue the good things we traditionally do but we must real-ize this is a changing environment and standing still is falling behind. Here are some priorities:

• We need to be sure that we have the facilities to make our athletic performances better, the fan experience more enjoyable and entice the nation’s best high school student-athletes to want to become Commodores. I believe we have to do more to improve facilities to help our student-athletes stay fit and rehabilitate quickly. There is technology to even predict and access potential injuries and help prevent them; we need to be a leader here.

• We have to ask ourselves how long we are content having the 14th best football stadium in a 14-member conference. We know where we stand and it’s up to us to do something about it. This doesn’t mean we need to add a lot of seats but we do need to make some moves to make the stadium more comfortable and inviting.

• We need to look at the sports we sponsor and consider whether we can and should add more and if so, which sports they should be? Adding sports will not only provide more opportunities, but we are at a handicap with just 16 going toward the Director’s Cup standings.

• We are analyzing how we are prepare our student-athletes for their future endeavors. Yes, they are getting a world-class education in the classroom, but I also believe our student-athletes are giving a lot of their time and we should investigate what we can do to better prepare them for their specific career callings. For instance, how can we prepare the student that wants to continue their sport professionally? What about life-skill training? Should we look into taking small groups to specific places beyond our Study Abroad initiatives? We can talk to 325 student-athletes much easier than we can 1,500 freshmen or 6,000 undergraduates.... Of course, all of this costs money!

CN: When you speak internally about our department you tend to refer to the programs themselves rather than the individuals inside those programs. Can you explain the difference?

WILLIAMS: You want to get into the mindset that it is not about individuals but rather it’s about the process, the entity. If we all disappeared tomorrow the foundation of what have laid will carry on through our successors. While we have some spectac-ular individuals, our success is not tied solely to those individu-als. The other day I made this point in a meeting by asking who is the CEO of Coca-Cola. Nobody knew, of course. The point being it’s about Coca-Cola, not an individual. We don’t even know when they change leadership, it keeps on going.

Q&A.D. Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletics Director David Williams discusses a wide variety of topics in this month’s Q&A session with Commodore Nation.

McGugin Center Hendrix Room

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 218


CN: What grade would you give the progress Commodore athletics has made in recent years?

WILLIAMS: My law students might say I’m an easy grader but in athletics I am a much tougher grader. I’d give us a “B” in prog-ress. Our progress has been good by normal standards and if you were to factor our obstacles to some of the progress the grade would clearly be an “A” in my view. Our culture of medioc-rity had been an issue, there was a time when the university was not united behind athletics and the expectations were too low. Looking back the challenges were monumental and when I think of the things we’ve accomplished we’ve done a good job. But we have a lot more to do.

CN: You’ve told the staff there is a golden opportunity for Vander-bilt athletics right now, can you elaborate?

WILLIAMS: All the stars are aligned and everybody is on board. We have good coaches and a good support staff. We are an attractive university in a great city. Our central administration supports us fully (did you realize that three members of our cen-tral administration played collegiate sports?) and we have good relationships with our faculty and staff. Also, in regards to the budget, the flow of revenue is a bit more predictable and that is a big help. We’re at a point where 99% of us want to bust through that ceiling and be great and with the steady progress we’ve shown and trust we’ve earned since 2003, the university recog-nizes that athletics can be a real asset to the overall institution.

CN: What has been the impact of fund-raising to the many con-struction projects throughout the department (the widest scope of work in the department’s history)?

WILLIAMS: It’s simple; we wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done and wouldn’t be able to continue without outside financial assistance. It is critical. We have the golden opportu-nity to grab the brass ring but fund-raising is the engine that drives our chance. Stanford never has to worry about staying on top because all of its athletic scholarships are endowed. Think about what we could do if all of our athletic scholarships were endowed!

CN: These facilities are being improved without any external debt, right?

WILLIAMS: Correct.

CN: What can be said about the status of the Rec Center expan-sion which will include football’s indoor practice facility, the new running track and the many other varsity and recreational facili-ties?

WILLIAMS: We know the facility will cost about $31 million, half of it internal and half of it funded through outside giving. We’ve identified about 95% of the external funding at this time and are nearing the point where we can declare victory.

CN: Your son Nick is being recruited to play college soccer and we’ve heard you turn some of his campus visits into fact-finding trips for our department.

WILLIAMS: For the second time in five or six years I’m the parent of a child being recruited. It is fascinating as I get to see things in a different light. When my daughter Samantha was recruited in swimming, many of her options were at schools quite different than Vanderbilt, in terms of athletics; but with Nick, many of his options are similar. When I’m able to make one of his trips, I see facilities, different ways of doing things and I also see what influ-ences Nick or catches his mother’s eye. n

New Video Board at Memorial

Hawkins Field

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T he Vanderbilt bowling team is all about firsts, and this sum-mer the Commodores became the first varsity squad to compete abroad when they capped a 10-day trip through

Paris, Rome and Florence with a match against the Italian National Team. A number of the student-athletes shared their impressions from the trip with Commodore Nation:

“I’ve been dreaming about visiting Europe for as long as I can remember, and to top it off I got to go and compete with some of my favorite people on the planet, my teammates. Vanderbilt made one of my dreams a reality and I’m so humbled and thankful for the opportunity to travel and compete internationally.”— Courtney Morgan

“My favorite part of the trip, besides bowling against the Italians, was visiting Paris. The city was everything I could have ever imagined. The art at the Louvre—like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo—was beautiful and an experience I will never forget. The entire city is flow-ing with creativity.”— Jessica Earnest

“From bowling the Italian National Team to traveling back in time to the ancient ruins of Rome, my experience in Europe is one I will never forget. And to get to experience this with my closest friends (my teammates) makes it all the better.”— Natalie Goodman

“Traveling to Europe with my teammates was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that I will forever cherish. The hospitality displayed by the Italian National Team accentuated an already outstanding cultural experience and left a lasting impression.”— Nicole Mosesso

Top: Liz Saffold, Nicole Mosesso, Nicole Chanin, Rebeca Reguero and Natalie Goodman at the Spanish Steps in Rome; Left: Kim Carper, Sarah O’Brien and Reguero on top of the Eiffel Tower; Page 1: Team at the Coliseum in Rome.

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It’s My Turn

A journey and not a destination

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

— Winston Churchill

O n a summer’s walk down Jess Neely Drive we looked to our right and saw the pampered Hawkins Field turf in large piles and being hauled away so that a state-of-the-art synthetic

turf could be applied.We continued on to Vanderbilt Stadium, down through the tun-

nel and gazed at the awesome sight before us. The gridiron’s sports turf had been completely installed, the end zones crisply painted; the outdated Jumbotron was going down in favor of one of the fin-est in college athletics and a towering crane had been maneuvered so that high-powered lighting could be installed that will brighten and enhance the quality of reception during our nationally televised Southeastern Conference battles.

Upon exiting the stadium we looked upon a beehive of activity in and around McGugin Center, where finishing touches were being applied to a multi-million dollar array of much-needed meeting and locker rooms that will impact all teams. All projects came in on schedule and at or under budget.

In nearby Memorial Gymnasium, a fantastic new video board awaits magical nights, eager to flash its stuff this winter. South of McGugin Center, the much publicized $31 million multi-purpose facility soon will include a superb running track, 100-yard turfed field, new bowling lanes and improved recreation facilities. Not far behind are classy facility upgrades at Vanderbilt Legends Club to boost the golf programs.

This dazzling array of enhancements elicits differing reaction from Commodore generations. The old guard shakes its head, wondering if it’s dreaming since progress used to come at glacier speed. We refer to the mid-1990’s when Vanderbilt Stadium, refurbished in 1982, was commonly referred to as “the new stadium.”

New generation Commodores carry less historical baggage and simply see the new digs as tangible evidence that Vanderbilt Uni-versity is planning for athletic success comparable to its tradition of academic excellence.

There are several points to keep in mind as we travel on this path-way of progress. First, none of this could have happened without the generosity and enthusiasm of our alumni and friends. Our guess is less than three dozen families made nearly everything possible for tens of thousands to enjoy. (Note: those mumbling about unused prime parking spaces as they walk to enjoy the giant Jumbotron and spiffy upgrades might keep this in mind.)

Secondly, we are not in an arms race to build the biggest. Our objective is to have what enables our student-athletes to develop and our fans to enjoy.

Finally, if you were paying attention the past few years, these magnificent additions should not be all that surprising. Our admin-istration, headed by Chancellor Zeppos and Vice Chancellor/Athletic Director David Williams, have repeatedly referred to a commitment to excellence. We want to become the collegiate model of athletic and academic excellence. Some might snicker but that group is shrinking faster than a Southern flower garden in August heat.

Yet, as Churchill understood, progress is a journey, not a destina-tion. You never actually arrive because what stands still falls behind. That is why you will not hear us talk in terms of “arriving” because we realize there are miles to go before we sleep. That should not keep us from momentarily stepping back in awe and admiration to celebrate what has been accomplished so far. It is inspiring! n

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DanaSchwartz

Nashville native Dana Schwartz, a senior on the women’s soccer team, studied in London this summer for Maymester....

Commodore Nation: What was London like during the build-up to the Olympics?Dana Schwartz: It was a very exciting time. Not only was the city preparing for the Olym-pics, but it was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. CN: Did you see the Queen?Schwartz: From a distance. She was sailing down the Thames River with Kate [Middleton] and [Prince] William, and a bunch of other people who I didn’t know, but everyone around was excited about.CN: Did anything surprise you about London?Schwartz: I had never been before and really hadn’t heard much about it.... I didn’t know about these red busses that are constantly driving around the city. CN: The double-decker busses?Schwartz: Yes. They are more popular than cars, it seems. They’re all over the place. I didn’t know about those busses, but I did get to ride them. The tube was also an experience, which is their subway.

The main shocker for me, though, was the weather. I knew they had bad weather, but I wasn’t prepared for 40s and 50s in the summer time. I didn’t pack for that.CN: Which was worse—London’s 40s in May or Nashville’s 109 in July?Schwartz: I’ll take 109 over 40 in the summer. It’s supposed to be hot in the summer. I got up before class every single morning to run (in London), and I had to wear leggings and long sleeves. It was freezing outside.CN: What was the biggest highlight of the trip?Schwartz: Seeing an English Premier League game. I saw Chelsea’s last home game (against Blackburn). That was just a few tube stops away from where I was staying. I was so glad I got to see that. n

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Commodore Nation, September 2012

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