Letter from the AD
During the first few months that I’ve spent as a Husky, we’ve achieved a series of "firsts." In fact, if you’re here on the website reading this message, you’ve probably read about some of our outstanding achievements in recent months.
Indulge me in a recap, if you will, because several are worthy of another mention. To begin, NU achieved its highest ranking ever at 27th in the nation by the prestigious NACDA Directors’ Cup Division I standings. As you know, this ranking speaks to overall quality of our programs, but moreover, this placement speaks to the quality of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and staff.
For the first time in NU history, three Huskies teams – football, field hockey and men’s soccer – advanced to NCAA play this fall. With volleyball second in the America East, and women’s soccer gaining a first-time appearance in the conference playoffs, we’re in top competitive form, giving us reason for optimism for the upcoming seasons. The track and field program continues to excel with a number of recent record-setting individual performances.
Our accomplishments on the playing fields were paralleled by our student-athletes’ accomplishments in the classroom: Four student-athletes with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages, 60 student-athletes with GPAs above 3.5, and another 93 posting GPAs between 3.0-3.5. All told, 46 Huskies made the America East’s fall academic honor roll, and the cumulative GPA for all NU student-athletes was an impressive 2.85.
Given all this, some might argue the case that we’ve earned the right to rest on these laurels for a moment or two. But beyond the well-deserved recognition, now is the perfect time to propel the NU athletics program to the next level of success.
As a means of getting better acquainted with life at NU, I’ve been walking around the campus, and getting to know as many people as I can – from folks at the Curry Student Center, to the staff and patrons of the Marino Recreation Center and Matthews Arena, and the faculty and students who comprise the very core of our classroom and research experiences.
I’ve received a warm welcome at every turn, so first I’d like to thank the Northeastern community for that encouragement. The reception I’ve received points to a spirit and enthusiasm among the Huskies that one simply cannot find anywhere else.
Now that I’ve officially settled in, I’d like to share with you in broad strokes, what will become the focus of my tenure going forward. As a starting point, you may have already heard me mention my "three C’s" – Classroom Success, Community Involvement, and Competitive Excellence. In effect, these three critical objectives complement President Freeland’s three central themes for NU: Student-Centered, Practice-Oriented and Urban.
I believe quite strongly in my charge of putting competitive teams on our fields and in our arenas, but always inspired by a higher purpose of fostering the success of young men and women beyond the playing fields and beyond the classroom. My goal is to arm our student-athletes with the skills necessary to win big in life. And it starts right here by providing our student-athletes with a first-class experience as a Husky. To do that, we need to build our fan base and generate new revenue sources to increase the budgets for the teams.
Our strategy for success – and the results we’ve achieved to date – speaks volumes to the 3 C’s, and the president’s directives, and point to the way in which a well-orchestrated athletics program can be one of the most visible faces of a university. In bringing positive and frequent media attention to Northeastern, fostering pride among graduates through the success of our teams, and helping market the University in fertile admissions recruiting areas, the athletics program can assist in helping the University meet its goal of becoming one of the top 100 national universities.
Our collective focus must be on generating revenue by growing our base of support within the alumni/ae population, along with an increased push towards growing corporate sponsorship. To that end, we’ve recently hired an Assistant AD for External Affairs, Brett Burchette, who comes to us from Nelligan Sports Marketing where he was the general manager of the Georgetown University corporate sponsorship program. In addition to having a great set of skills through which to increase our corporate dollars, Brett happens to be one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, so please join me in welcoming him to our Athletics family.
Our fundraising initiatives will include facilities development and renovations of existing structures. In addition, we will set forth aggressive objectives with regard to building a fan base, which will include a number of fan-friendly marketing and promotions initiatives designed to increase support of our Huskies teams.
I’ll be taking a look at enhanced student-centered initiatives designed to make the academic and athletic experience at Northeastern one on which alumni/ae will look back fondly. I’ll be communicating with fans on a regular basis here on the website and elsewhere, because all of our plans for success begin with you – as students, athletes, parents, fans, friends, alumni/ae, faculty and staff. I encourage your input and ideas as we continue on our path towards national athletics recognition.
The facts and figures of our recent achievements – and more importantly, the commitment behind them – have solidified for me the longstanding Husky traditions that have served NU well for 105 years strong. Being a part of this tradition simply feels great!
If you’re sensing big things on the horizon, it’s not your imagination. Rather, it’s your Husky pride in full swing. As we move forward you have my commitment to settle for nothing less than excellence for our student-athletes and for Northeastern University’s athletics program.
And so, with much to be proud of and much more to do, the future is bright and exciting. Rest assured that I really mean it when I say "Go Huskies!"
Dave O’Brien
February 2003
Hello Huskies Fans!
Director of Athletics
