Hawk Nation

Magical March

A timeline of Men’s Basketball’s history-making three weeks as the Hawks won the America East championship and entered the national spotlight as first-time participants in March Madness.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28

5:02 p.m. — Less than 26 hours after defeating Binghamton, 77–60, in the opening round of the America East Championships, the fourthseeded Hawks take down fifthseeded Albany, 83–77, in the quarterfinals.

SATURDAY, MARCH 6

4:01 p.m. — The Hawks tip off at No. 2 seed Vermont looking to knock off the America East preseason favorite.

5:42 p.m. — Sophomore D.J. Mitchell gives Hartford a lead it would not relinquish in the semifinals of the America East Championship, with a three-pointer at the 18:42 mark of the second half.

6:21 p.m. — For the second time in as many seasons, the Hawks secure their spot in the America East championship game after pulling off a semifinal upset, defeating Vermont by a score of 71–65.

SATURDAY, MARCH 13

11:00 a.m. — Hartford tips off against UMass Lowell as the Hawks host their first-ever America East Championship Game on ESPN2.

12:47 p.m. — The final horn sounds, and the Hawks begin to celebrate after winning the program’s first-ever America East Championship with a 64–50 victory over UMass Lowell.

1:06 p.m. — History continues to be made when head coach John Gallagher cuts down the net for the first time in Hartford’s 37 years as a Division I program.

MONDAY, MARCH 15

11:31 a.m. — Graduate student Traci Carter, senior Austin Williams, junior Hunter Marks, and head coach John Gallagher get some camera time with the crew of CBS Sports Network.

TUESDAY, MARCH 16

3:00 p.m. — The Hawks enjoy team “field time” on Victory Field, the home of the Indianapolis Indians (Triple AAA of the Pittsburgh Pirates), which marks their first time out of the hotel (with the exception of team practices).

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17

7:23 a.m. — In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, head coach John Gallagher sports his green suit for his “Zoom” appearance on Fox 61’s Morning Show with Tim Lammers and Erika Arias.

8:42 a.m. — Hartford arrives at Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts and site of the Hawks’ first-ever NCAA Tournament game, for its fourth team practice since arriving in Indianapolis.

4:15 p.m. — The team heads to a parking garage on top of the Indiana Convention Center, to pose for a photo in front of the J.W. Marriott’s NCAA Tournament bracket, which went down in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest banner ever created.

5:06 p.m. — WHEELS UP! The Hawks board a chartered Boeing 737 and head to Indianapolis, the home of the entire 68-team NCAA Tournament.

7:16 p.m. — Greeted by a police escort consisting of three motorcycles, the Hawks touch down in Indianapolis and head to their home for the next week, the downtown J.W. Marriott.

8:05 p.m. — Members of the travel party gather in Hartford’s meeting room for their first team dinner in Indianapolis.

8:35 p.m. — Each member of the travel party takes the first of seven COVID-19 PCR tests before heading into quarantine for the next 21+ hours.

SUNDAY, MARCH 14

6:00 p.m. — With all negative results from the first COVID-19 PCR test received, the Hawks gather together in their meeting room for the first time since arriving in Indianapolis to watch the Selection Show on CBS.

6:24 p.m. — Hartford learns that it will meet regional top seed Baylor in its first-ever NCAA Tournament Game.

7:34 p.m. — The Hawks arrive at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis for their first official practice as America East Champions.

9:42 p.m. — Head coach John Gallagher makes his first of two national TV appearances, when he joins Adam Zucker, Wally Szczerbiak, Ryan Hollins, Gary Parrish, Chris Walker and Brent Stover on CBS Sports Network’s Bracket Breakdown.

6:15 p.m. — The Hawks enjoy a fantastic team meal in the hotel meeting room from St. Elmo Steak House, the oldest and one of the most well-known steak houses in Indianapolis.

THURSDAY, MARCH 18

1:38 p.m. — Hartford’s final practice in preparation for its NCAA Tournament game against Baylor concludes inside the Indianapolis Convention Center.

7:15 p.m. — Head coach John Gallagher joins Wally Szczerbiak, Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis, and

Greg Gumbel live, via Zoom, during truTV’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament’s First Four.

FRIDAY, MARCH 19

2:00 p.m. — After a police escort leads the bus from the J.W. Marriott to Lucas Oil Stadium, the Hawks make the journey through the tunnel to their team locker room.

3:02 p.m. — Head coach John Gallagher greets Hartford fans, who are allowed to cheer on the Hawks in person for the first time this season.

3:30 p.m. — Hartford officially makes its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance when the ball is tipped against eventual national champion Baylor.

3:35 p.m. — Sophomore Miroslav Stafl sinks a free throw for the Hawks’ firstever postseason points.

5:36 p.m. — With their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance officially in the books, the team shares a memorable moment from the court with the 300+ fans donning the scarlet and white, who made the trip to Indianapolis.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20

12:39 a.m. — The Hawks return to Connecticut, touching down at Bradley International Airport.

Screen Time

Hartford Athletics Adds Esports to Varsity Sports Lineup

We’ve done this entire program virtually up to this point. A lot of our team members are best friends—and they haven’t even met one another in person yet.

EVAN HOLLIDAY ’17, Manager of Collegiate Admission and Retention, CETA; Director of Esports

Offense or defense? That’s a common question posed to student-athletes— but not with the newest group of competitors on campus. Instead, a more relevant question might be “League of Legends or Super Smash Brothers Ultimate?”

Welcome to Esports at the University of Hartford, where traditional information like heights and positions are not listed on the official roster, but gamertags and academic majors are.

Last fall, the University of Hartford became the first school in the America East Conference to offer a varsity Esports program through its athletics department.

With over 175 Esports programs currently competing in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NAC), Esports is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. At UHart, the Esports program is coeducational and open to all students. In only its first full semester, a roster of more than 50 students with majors covering the full range of majors, from music management to biomedical engineering, has taken shape.

Peter Bateman Jr. ’23

It’s not only the actual competitors that are joining the Esports program; students are bringing their talents to help in other ways, including in the all-important areas of live and post production. These are critical areas in ensuring that the program has a streaming component that allows parents and others to view competitions on such venues as Twitch and You Tube.

By day, Evan Holliday ’17 is the manager of collegiate admission in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture. Little did he know when he approached the Department of Athletics last fall to explore how he could become involved in the Esports program that he would soon become the program’s director. It is a second job that consumes his evenings—but Holliday would have it no other way.

“We’ve done this entire program virtually up to this point,” he explains. There have been no in-person meetings and no in-person facility yet (a new Esports Arena will open within the Sports Center on campus later this year); it’s been an incredible effort to do this the way we have. A lot of our team members are best friends—and they haven’t even met one another in person yet.”

The 51 competitors on the team formed 11 teams that competed in eight different games during the spring semester. While there was a Super Smash Brothers club that existed on campus previously, there was no existing organizational structure in place for a competitive Esports program. Everything is being built from the ground up, but the potential is limitless.

“Esports is a tremendous equalizer,” Holliday explains, emphasizing that many of the top Esports programs are colleges and universities without big name recognition and or financial resources. “Esports is allowing universities at all resource levels to build programs that can compete at the highest level of the game. In one or two years, we want to be in a position where, in some or all of our games, we have created enough pedigree at the regional or even national level that we can draw the kind of talent that is going to other schools right now.”

Esports has been on a steady climb since 2014, Holliday explains. The pandemic has been an accelerant forcing a lot of schools who were on the fence about adding Esports to move forward. Still, the United States lags many parts of the world. “South Korea has a full-blown Esports scene with a complete league system across multiple games,” Holliday adds.

With Connecticut one of the first states to introduce Esports at the high school level, the University of Hartford is in a good position— geographically and otherwise—to see its program take off.

“We are building a program, which is about more than just saying we have teams and we win games,” Holliday emphasizes. “It is a culture. It is a positive atmosphere. It is an area where you can have 50 people be on the same page. I have been building this rapport with the students— and it is working. They are really seeing that we are building something and there is the opportunity for massive success.”

IN MEMORIAM

Remembering Jack Phelan (1954–2020)

The Hartford Hawks family mourns the loss of former head men’s basketball coach Jack Phelan, who died last summer at the age of 66. A native of West Hartford who starred at Northwest Catholic High School before attending St. Francis (Pa.) University, Phelan became the sixth head coach in program history in 1981.

Inducted into the University of Hartford’s Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame as a Pioneer in 2009, Phelan spent 11 seasons at the helm of the Hawks, piloting the program in its transition from Division II to Division I for the 1984–85 season. He was one of four coaches in program history to amass 100 career victories.

Phelan was in his 17th year as the director of athletics at Farmington (Conn.) High School at the time of his death.

UHart to Begin Process of Transitioning Athletics Model

After more than a year of analysis, the University of Hartford Board of Regents voted on May 6 to begin the multi-year process of transitioning the University’s intercollegiate athletics programs from Division I to Division III. The University will officially file its intent to move to Division III with the NCAA in January 2022. If approved, the University will work with the NCAA on the reclassification process, in preparation for active membership no later than September 1, 2025.

The Board determined that Division III’s approach to intercollegiate athletics better aligns with the University’s mission and goals of creating exceptional academic, co-curricular, and wellness experiences for all students.

hartford.edu/athletics-update