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Playing for National Championships
In his first four years as head football coach (2008-2012), Jim Collins led the Cardinals to a 35-20 record with two post-season playoff appearances.
Playing for National Championships
Generally SVSU varsity athletic programs have enjoyed success since 2007.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams, for instance, have become competitive in the GLIAC. Prior to the 2007-2008 season, the university hired Frankie Smith, formerly a successful high school coach in West Virginia and assistant coach at Miami University of Ohio, to take the reins of the men’s basketball team. After two losing seasons, Smith led the team in 2009-2010 to its first winning campaign (16-12 overall) in seven years. The season also marked the first winning season in the GLIAC (13-9 in the conference) since the 19971998 season. The GLIAC named Smith its 2010 “Coach of the Year” and guard Chris Webb was named “Freshman of the Year.”13 Webb would go on to a stellar career, being named first team all-GLIAC following his senior season (2012-13), while Smith left SVSU after the 2011-2012 season to return home to West Virginia and be closer to his family, and the university hired Randy Baruth as his replacement. Since the winning season of 2009-2010 the men’s team generally lost more games than it won, but its performance within the conference had improved when compared with the previous decade.
The women’s team, by contrast, struggled. Head coach Vonnie Kilmer left in 2008 after compiling a record of 35-72 over four seasons. Three coaches, Shannon Baugh, Joe Zinni and Jamie Pewinski, led the team during the four seasons from 2008 through 2012, guiding it to an overall 24-82 record and only 16 wins within the conference. The team began a turn-
Jenny Bellsky
Charlie Richards
Kait Harris
around under Pewinski, who finished her collegiate career by playing one season at SVSU, completing her degree in 1999. Her team finished the 2012-2013 regular season with a 13-14 record, going 11-11 in the GLIAC for its first non-losing year in the conference since 1999. Center Emily Wendling combined strong post play with uncommon perimeter skills, leading to her selection as 2013 Freshman of the Year and a first team all-GLIAC performer.
For many other teams success was more the norm. For instance, in 2009 the university’s cheerleading team qualified for the National Cheerleaders Association collegiate nationals for the first time. And the men’s track team finished second that year at the postseason Midwest regional, advancing to the Division II national meet later that season where it finished 20th in the nation. Interim coach and SVSU graduate Jenny Bellsky earned the 2009 Midwest Region “Coach of the Year” honor. In 2010, runner Tony Filipek was the Midwest Region Track Athlete of the Year after finishing fourth in the nation in the 800-meter at the NCAA Division II indoor championships. Teammate and fellow All-American Charlie Richards finished seventh. An expansion to Ryder Center begun in 2013 will provide the track team with indoor training facilities and a 300-meter indoor track, scheduled for completion in 2014. What a dramatic change from the early days when the SVSU track team won NAIA national championships in 1982 and 1983 without any indoor track.14
After years of scuffling in the GLIAC cellar, coach Will Stanton and the volleyball team finally manufactured a successful year. In 2007, the Cardinals completed SVSU’s first 20win season, finishing with a 20-12 record and sixth place in the conference. In 2008, the team went 25-8 overall and finished third in the GLIAC with an 11-5 record. At the end of the year, the Cardinals were ranked nationally (24th) and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. Stanton earned American Volleyball Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” honors. Stanton’s Cardinals did even better the following year when the team finished 12-4 in the conference (22-10 overall) and earned a share of the program’s first GLIAC title. The team returned to the NCAA postseason, making it to the Midwest Region semifinals before losing to Lewis University. In recognition of her leadership, senior Kait Harris achieved 2009 GLIAC Volleyball “Player of the Year” status. In the three seasons following the remarkable 2008 and 2009 campaigns, the team enjoyed one more successful campaign in 2011, winning 15 matches in the GLIAC and finishing the season in third place.15
Walt Head’s baseball teams enjoyed successful seasons in 2007 and 2008, winning the GLIAC conference regular-season title in 2007 with a 21-7 record (34-14 overall). Following a losing campaign in 2009, the Cardinals remained around .500 through 2012 with an overall 73-73 record (54-46 in conference play).
For the softball team, however, this was a period of tremendous achievements coupled with a distracting scandal.
After years of disappointing finishes, first-year coach Everett Roper led the Cardinals to a winning 23-18 campaign in 2007. In 2008, the Cardinals won their first GLIAC championship since 1990, finishing the regular season with a 34-17 overall record. The Cardinals advanced to the NCAA Great Lakes regional postseason tournament, where they were eliminated with two consecutive losses. The next season the Cardinals did even better, finishing with a 39-11 record and an impressive 18-4 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals again won the
GLIAC championship and played in the NCAA postseason tournament, advancing to the final game of the Midwest super regional. There the Cardinals lost 12-3 to the University of Indianapolis. In the postseason coaches’ poll, the Cardinals were ranked 14th in the nation and senior outfielder Marsha Beaubien became the first Cardinals All-American in softball in 17 years. Beaubien led the GLIAC in batting average (.396), runs scored (45), slugging percentage (.649) and on-base percentage (.483). Perhaps most remarkably, Beaubien led the league with 40 stolen bases — which surpassed the total number of stolen bases for each of the other teams in the conference.16
Nov. 8, 2009, police arrested Roper and charged him with driving while under the influence of alcohol and possession of marijuana. Roper denied the charges but later pled guilty to a reduced charge of driving while impaired and served a 30-day University suspension at the beginning of the 2010 softball season. April 1 of that year, the university fired Roper, alleging that he had misused a University credit card while taking the team on a spring training trip to Florida. Roper had apparently lost some of the receipts for his purchases in Florida, and three of the charges for van rentals exceeded the university’s transactions limits. The termination was a controversial decision. The charges seemed minor when compared with scandals in higher profile collegiate athletics, prompting some to speculate if the dismissal was actually a belated reaction to Roper’s earlier arrest. Moreover, Roper enjoyed support from some of his players and their families as well as from many within the university. He had implemented a successful “academic game plan” designed to monitor his players’ success in the classroom. His team often sported the highest GPA among all SVSU athletic units. Nevertheless, coming on the heels of Awrey’s dismissal, Athletic Director Watson had signaled that the university would not permit any transgressions of NCAA or university rules.17
Following Roper’s dismissal, interim coach Tim Rousse guided the team to an appearance in the NCAA Midwest regional tournament. The next season under Rousse was a memorable one. The Cardinals won 42 games and made it to the 2011 NCAA Division II World Series, finishing the year ranked No. 6 in the nation. They rolled through the Midwest regional and super regional to make the championship tournament, the only unranked team to do so. They beat No. 25 C. W. Post and No. 2 North Georgia on the way to the Final Four before losing a double-header to the University of California – San Diego in the semifinals. Pitcher Jade Fulton led the way, finishing the year with a 31-11 record, five saves, and a 1.19 ERA. She also recorded a remarkable GLIAC season record 426 strikeouts. The GLIAC named Fulton Pitcher of the Year, and she ended the season a member of the National Fast-Pitch Coaches Association All-Midwest Region First Team and a Daktronics Honorable Mention All-American. Fulton finished her SVSU career third all-time in wins (with an overall record of 71-21) as well as the career leader in both saves, with 19, and strikeouts, with 907.18
The women’s tennis team experienced more struggles than success, but it has shown some promise in recent years. Coaching the team were Jim Teal (1998-2001), Pharrington Douglas (2002-2003) and Mike Major (2003-2010), who was named GLIAC Coach of the Year in 2010, but stepped down to focus on his appointment as director of career services, departing with a record of 48-84 overall and 21-54 in GLIAC play over eight seasons. Major