Success breeds success for local university athletics

Let’s see.

Saint Peter’s University, a Jesuit University, in Jersey City, New Jersey, with an enrollment of 2,355 and a yearly cost of $38,760 per student, can reach the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament, and the Jesuit university in New Orleans can’t be Division I?

Fifty years ago, Loyola University New Orleans made a myopic decision not just to drop out of Division I competition but also to drop athletics, period.

Twenty years later, the school brought athletics back. And, this past year in the major sports, the success was resounding.

The Loyola men’s basketball team won the championship of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) this month in Kansas City. The team set a school record for victories with 37 against only one loss.

The women’s basketball team reached the NAIA tournament for the ninth consecutive season.

And, the baseball team hosted an NAIA regional last spring.

There’s no question that athletic success is a good financial decision.

The University of New Orleans, a school that nearly dropped its athletics to non-scholarship Division III, is now seriously considering adding football.

UNO’s league, the Southland, is all in on the potential move. And, so is UNO director of athletics Tim Duncan.

In a recent conversation with a reporter, Duncan noted that urban schools who have added football to their athletics profile had, on average, a 37% increase in enrollment.

UNO, an excellent (and affordable) school, sees football as a chance to increase its enrollment, one that was halved after Hurricane Katrina.

In the 1990s, Butler University in Indianapolis made an investment in its men’s basketball program. In 2010 and 2011, the school made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game. Its endowment grew by $100 million, including a $25 million gift in 2016 by a family with no ties to the school.

George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth and Loyola-Chicago also received millions of free publicity with their success in the NCAA Tournament.

Several years ago, my wife and I and a friend were having dinner at a local Uptown eatery. A Loyola school official sat down to chat.

Their story was an unsettling one. Not one student from that year’s current senior class at Jesuit high school had declared for Loyola. This spring, Loyola has increased its profile in the New Orleans area exponentially.

Head coach Stacy Hollowell, and team stars Zach Wrightsil and Myles Burns, are featured prominently in local TV stories.

Loyola University may have reached a tipping point in the school’s athletics success. We will soon find out if the board that runs the university agrees.

Ed Daniels is sports director at ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at ed@nextstar.tv.