From The AD's Desk - March 2010

“From the AD’s Desk”

A monthly column from Temple University Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw

March 2010

As you may know, Temple honored 35 of our former men’s basketball greats at our home finale vs. George Washington on March 6. Included in the celebration was our former head man, legendary Hall of Fame coach John Chaney.

Among many other accomplishments, Coach Chaney is known for his famous saying “Winning is an Attitude,” which inspired a 1990 book of the same title co-authored by Steve Wartenberg.

Winning is an attitude. How utterly simple, prophetic and true that phrase is. During the course of our fall and winter sports seasons, your Owls have won and won often. From individual accolades to team achievement, 2009-10 has been a banner year for Temple Athletics. It’s hard to even narrow down our success to a few highlights, although most will point to our breakthrough 9-4 football season including our first bowl game in 30 years, our Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship appearance in women’s basketball and our Top 25 men’s basketball season with (thus far) A-10 regular season and Big 5 championships in hand.

Winning is an attitude. But what kind of attitude, and who is responsible for it? Success in collegiate athletics generally is the result of three groups – student athletes and coaches; administration; and donors – pulling equal weight.

Temple’s more than 550 student-athletes and coaches are the epitome of positive attitude. They are prideful of themselves, each other and their goals. For every obstacle that can sometimes face a student-athlete at a land-locked urban university where some of our facilities are off the Main Campus, our Owls persevere with grit and grace. Despite being located in a “pro sports town,” Temple’s coaches manage to carve a niche for their programs and develop a following.

How about our administration? I remain very proud of my senior staff members and their respective teams for their commitment to Comprehensive Excellence in all that we do. On behalf of our staff, we are grateful that Temple’s university leadership and Trustees support Athletics so fully both in word and deed. Very few universities financially and emotionally support their athletics programs as fully as Temple supports our efforts.

Our student-athletes, coaches and administration all have a role in our current success, but we share one common attitude: WINNING THE RIGHT WAY. Many of you are longtime donors and friends; you bought the Temple Athletics stock when it was low. As we’ve shown continuous improvement, please know that our focus is on our foundation: building an athletics program made of stone, not straw. We are achieving academically because of hard work and long hours, not cutting corners. We are serving our community because it is the right thing to do, not because it looks good. Winning is a by-product of our commitment to doing things the right way and satisfying our Core Values, most notably accountability, service and excellence.

So, how about your attitude? Are you proud of the momentum in our total athletics program? Are you invested in our success? Can you invest more in our success? Friends, we have the opportunity to be successful not just in cycles, but with consistency. In all ways you can measure success, we can turn the corner for good. As you know, it takes donors and dollars to help achieve our vision.

This fiscal year (ending June 30), our most critical need remains Unrestricted support of our athletics program. While many of you choose to designate your giving to specific team(s), Unrestricted gifts allow us to fulfill the areas of greatest need … fund special opportunities like a football bowl game … and respond to unforeseen crises such as recent weather-related damage to several rowing shells. Our athletics development total goal this year is $2,000,000 and to date, we have raised over $1.1M.

I hope you’ll demonstrate your winning attitude and do two things right now:

Make a gift of any amount to the Temple Owl Club online … it takes less than five minutes! Join our “2,500 for 25” initiative and be part of our 2,500-donor goal during the 25^th anniversary of the Owl Club.
Share this online giving link with every fellow Owl you know should be involved with our program and encourage them to join you in support of our student-athletes: www.MyOwlSpace.com/owlclub.

Winning is an attitude!

As always, we are thankful for the broad participation of our alumni, fans and friends. With your continued loyalty, we shall achieve. Go Owls!

Upcoming Events

March 12-14: Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament – Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Fran Dunphy and the Owls aim for their third consecutive conference tournament championship where March Madness begins – Atlantic City. All-session tickets are available now from the Temple ticket office. Your fan and alumni headquarters is Bally’s Atlantic City, offering special Temple room rates and packages as well as hosting our pre-game receptions two hours prior to each Temple game’s tipoff. All pre-game receptions will take place in the Garden Room (6^th floor).

April 7: Athletics Planned Giving Seminar – Do you have a philanthropic dream for Temple Athletics? Do you want to learn how you can help preserve our legacy? Do you want to make “the ultimate gift” but don’t know how to start? Join us April 7 at 6 p.m. in the Fox Gittis Room at Liacouras Center for a no obligation seminar hosted by Athletics and Phil O’ Connell, Temple’s executive director of planned giving. You’ll learn about two simple vehicles – bequests and annuities – which anyone can use to help further our vision. This meeting will be brief and fun!

April 17: Cherry & White Day – Temple’s popular spring athletics festival again will take place on Main Campus (with the exception of soccer alumni events to be held at the Ambler Athletics Complex). This day is highlighted by the Basketball Alumni Game at 11:30 a.m. and the Football Scrimmage at 2 p.m., Xtra Point Club members and their guests are invited to watch the Spring Football Scrimmage from the Edberg-Olson Hall balcony following a private lunch and remarks by Coach Al Golden at 1 p.m.

April 20: Temple Basketball Banquet – Alumni, fans and friends are invited to celebrate the Owls’ successful men’s and women’s basketball seasons at the Great Court in Mitten Hall at 6 p.m. Cost is only $65 adults/$45 young professionals/$30 children under 12. Register online today or contact the Temple Owl Club at (215) 204-CLUB to RSVP.

April 28: Breakfast of Champions – Have your Wheaties with the Owls! Join us for this popular tribute to Temple’s academically achieving student-athletes at 7 a.m. in the Liacouras Center. Numerous academic awards will be presented and the “Student” in student-athlete is on full display! Sponsor an individual student-athlete for $25 each or a group of 10 for just $250; all sponsorships are fully tax-deductible and are eligible for Owl Club giving credit. Contact the Owl Club at (215) 204-CLUB to sponsor the Owls today!

Make a contribution to the Temple Owl Club now!

Reserve 2010 Temple Football Season Tickets now!

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Temple University Athletics

From The AD's Desk - March 2010