Leading Change
The Campaign for USD Torero Athletics Edition U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
S A N
D I E G O
Athletics Goal: $31.8 Million
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o reach our goal of achieving national prominence on our playing fields, Torero Athletics needs to ensure the long-term ability to fund the needs of our programs, now, and in the years to come.
Leading Change: The Campaign for USD has raised $247 million of its $300 million goal to date.
Current Use
$4M
Increasing the operating budgets for all of USD’s sports helps to attract even more outstanding student-athletes and assures that they are consistently competitive at the highest level. Torero Athletics has raised $19 million to date.
Endowment
$1M
Establishing an endowment to ensure long-term scholarship funding for USD’s most competitive sports helps us to continue to attract outstanding studentathletes and compete at the highest level. To achieve this goal, Torero Athletics needs to raise $1 million.
Capital Projects
$26.8M
Facilities to support USD’s golf, softball and tennis programs will help to make the dream of winning national championships a reality. Torero Athletics has raised $15 million toward this goal to date.
Leading Change: The Campaign for USD | Fall 2017
A Fresh Perspective A
ssociate Vice President for Athletics Bill McGillis may be relatively new to campus, having arrived in January 2017, but he’s definitely hit the ground running. “It’s a great feeling to be at the University of San Diego. This is a very special community,” he says. “I’m very fortunate. I’ve been blessed to work at five different and diverse institutions, but this is the pinnacle for me.” McGillis, who most recently served as the athletics director at the University of Southern Mississippi, replaces Ky Snyder, who was promoted to USD’s vice president of operations and chief operating officer. “When I think about the University of San Diego, I think about service, I think about faith and values, its caring environment and service and student-centered nature. USD is all about quality and excellence. Coming here was a values-based decision for me, pure and simple,” McGillis adds. Technically, his arrival at USD has been decades in the making. Thirty-two years ago, McGillis was a college student seeking a sports information internship; he sent a letter to Ted Gosen, USD’s associate director of athletics/media relations, who’s now in his 36th year on campus. “Ted responded that he’d love to have me, but that an opportunity wasn’t available at that time,” McGillis recalls with a laugh. “While it wasn’t my time then, it
is today. Today is our time.” McGillis says the combination of USD’s traditional values and being part of a new leadership team provides an exciting balance. “There’s great tradition here, a history of achievement and growth, and yet USD is a young university. It has a solid foundation and great things in place, and yet, with new leadership comes the opportunity for a fresh set of eyes, fresh perspective,” he says. “I’m looking forward to sharing President Harris’ vision for the university. Athletics is just a part of it. Sometimes, it’s a very visible part, but we’re just a part. I look forward to a really well-integrated athletics program that contributes to the mission of the university and building upon the great foundation that’s already in place.” McGillis says his model of an intercollegiate athletics program is “characterized by integrity, by academic achievement and success of its student-athletes, by a phenomenal studentathlete experience, by competitive success and by community engagement.” He sees all of it and more at USD — and there’s a great deal of potential in the “more” part. “With the help of the Torero Nation, I have every confidence that Torero Athletics can help to exceed the overall goal of raising $300 million for Leading Change: The Campaign for USD.” — Ryan T. Blystone
ATHLETICS
While Tyler Mariucci and Marcelline Lanoue are new to USD, both are veterans of winning university athletics programs. The pair, who were brought on board by Associate Vice President for Athletics Bill McGillis, have a wealth of experience from eight NCAA Division I institutions.
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ost recently, Mariucci was associate athletics director for sports administration and development for the University of Maryland. He’s now USD’s senior associate director of athletics for development. Lanoue comes from the University of Southern Mississippi, where she was the associate athletic director for development. She’s now USD senior associate director of athletics for external affairs. Naturally, sports played a part in their formative years. “Athletically, I probably peaked in eighth grade, but I did play sports all the way through,” jokes Mariucci. “I played football in college, and it was huge to be part of a team, to accomplish goals together and overcome defeat together. That was important to my growth as a person. That’s why I wanted to remain around sports and to work in sports and contribute to helping people have that same experience in their lives.” Lanoue started playing soccer in first grade. “They wanted me to play basketball because I’m fairly tall and was always one of the tallest in the class. But I fell in love with soccer. It was a really formative time of my life. Studies show that women in sports are so much more confident, and I really believe that’s true.” The son of former NFL coach Steve Mariucci, Tyler garnered life lessons from his time around NFL players. “I always aspired to be just like them, not only as players, but because they were also great
A lighthearted introduction to a pair of campus newcomers
people. Being around everyone who played the game at such a high level made a huge impact on my life, in a really special way.” That said, at the end of the day, spending time with his wife, Jennifer, and their 1-year-old son, Kyle, is his current favorite pastime. “He’s learning how to catch and to throw and to kick all kinds of balls, and he loves it. It’s so great to see; I can’t wait to see where that love of his will go in the future.” Both Lanoue and Mariucci have been given advice that resonates years later. For the former, words of wisdom from her mom still ring true. “She tells me all the time, ‘Continue to be humble and hungry. Don’t forget where you came from.’ She wants me to be grateful for where I came from, and to try to pass along any influence I can have on others in a good, positive way.” Mariucci follows a similar edict. “I aspire to be most like those who treat everybody with the same amount of respect and kindness, no matter who they are, or their position in life.” To read more, go to sandiego.edu/dynamic-duo.
C H R I S PA R K
Dynamic Duo
leadingchange.sandiego.edu
Lead by EXAMPLE
Tactical Skills
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enior Kristen Gengenbacher enters her final year at USD with experiences few collegiate athletes can relate to. For the second straight summer, she played for the USA Volleyball Women’s Collegiate National Team, competing in the Europe Tour in July 2017. After training and playing in exhibition matches for a week in Slovenia, Gengenbacher and Team USA played in the 13th Annual European Global Challenge in Croatia. “Our program is honored to have Kristen Gengenbacher select-
ed to play with the collegiate national team traveling to Europe this summer,” Head Women’s Volleyball Coach Jen Petrie says. “She’s worked tirelessly at her game, improved immensely over the past year and we can’t wait to see what her senior year has in store.” Gengenbacher, a Quincy, Illinois native, was one of 11 players selected after participating in open tryouts in March 2017 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. She is the fourth Torero to play for the Collegiate National Team in the past four seasons, joining Lauren Fuller (2017), Lauren Schad (2016) and Alaysia Brown (2014). A 5’9” setter, Gengenbacher has led the Toreros in assists in each of the past two seasons, helping USD reach as high as No. 5 in the nation in the fall of 2016. This was her second consecutive summer playing for the Collegiate National Team, which is part of USA Volleyball’s High Performance Pipeline and is widely considered as a tryout for the U.S. National Team.
An All-Time Record
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ach spring, the USD Athletic Department hosts the Sports Banquet, its flagship fundraising event to support Torero Athletics. The sold-out 2017 event, which was held inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion, was a huge success, with 275 participants breaking a record by raising more than $175,000. Funds raised at the annual Sports Banquet help to support all Torero Athletics programs. With a need to raise $2.5 million each year to provide our student-athletes with a top
Division I experience, the support of sponsors, guests, alumni and friends of USD Athletics is vital. For information about Sports Banquet 2018, call (619) 260-5917.
Seasons of Life
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ormer USD basketball star Johnny Dee ‘15 has a lot to be thankful for — a loving family, a strong faith in Christ and a four-year journey at USD that finished with him as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,046 career points. Dee looks back on his time as a Division I student-athlete as an incredible dream-come-true experience that he thanks God for. “USD taught me about hard work, sacrifice, and the importance of leadership,” he says. The four-year eligibility clock goes by fast, and seasons of life don’t last forever, so he wants to make the most of every day. Dee credits the structure and demand of being a college athlete with teaching him timemanagement skills that have allowed him to be effective and efficient with his daily tasks since graduating. And while he knows that records are meant to be broken, to him, what’s more important than his athletic success is how well he represents Christ, his family and the University of San Diego. “Since graduating with a
degree in business administration, I’ve played a year of professional basketball in Poland and spent time substitute teaching, coaching and volunteering in my church,” he says. “I’m currently trying to get back overseas to continue my basketball career, but if that doesn’t work out, I’m considering coaching, or will pursue whatever doors God calls me to walk through. Life is short and I hope to make an impact that goes beyond basketball and records.”
MAKE A GIFT NOW There are many ways to contribute to Leading Change: The Campaign for USD. Go online to learn more about how to give matching gifts, stocks, mutual funds, planned gifts, life insurance policies and much more. Office of Annual Giving (619) 260-4724 sandiego.edu/giving leadingchange.sandiego.edu