One of the great challenges in a small D-I school is keeping successful coaches, especially when big programs come calling.
Manhattan College and Iona College, two schools similar in size to Fairfield, are two places where despite athletic success, many coaches have moved on to larger venues.
In 2005, Manhattan lost Bobby Gonzalez and Steve Trimper, the Jaspers’ men’s basketball and baseball head coaches, respectively.
In 1998, Iona lost Tim Welsch, the men’s head basketball coach. The following year, the Gaels lost Mike Jacobs, the head coach for men’s soccer.
All of these winning coaches moved on to schools with a greater share in the national spotlight.
According to the athletic directors from both schools, the progression can be mutually beneficial. Coaches often advance to better positions, but they leave behind better programs.
Fairfield has also experienced several coaching changes in the last few years.
Most recently, tennis Head Coach Jeff Wyshner left after the 2005 season. His new job and home: head coach at the University of Akron, a Division I-A school of over 22,000 students.
Though he only stayed at Fairfield for five years, Wyshner made both the men’s and women’s teams perennial contenders in the MAAC, garnering both the MAAC Men’s and Women’s Coach-of-the-year awards along the way.
Many of Fairfield’s current coaches have similar accolades, but on a whole, have longer tenures.
Their success stories may not be marked in terms of NCAA tournament crowns, but their achievements are nothing shy of exceptional.
Dianne Nolan, head coach of Fairfield women’s basketball, has set countless records in both the MAAC and the NCAA during her 28 years at Fairfield.
Nolan’s first year with the program was in 1979. Since that time, she has amassed 441 wins and a .562 winning percentage. Three MAAC Tournament titles and four NCAA Tournament appearances are just some of her accomplishments.
Most noteworthy is the fact that every player who has stayed with Nolan for four years has graduated on time and with a degree – a percentage few big-name programs can boast.
Fairfield’s small venue never deterred Nolan, who understands how to strike a balance between school and sports.
“My goal was that you could have a quality athletic experience with a quality academic experience and that size didn’t matter,” she said.
Like Nolan, men’s lacrosse Head Coach Ted Spencer shares similar visions.
Entering his 11th season with the Stags, Spencer has helped build the program from the ground up.
After taking over the three-year-old program in 1996, he has watched it progress from the MAAC to the GWLL to the ECAC – “one of the top leagues in the nation,” said Spencer.
Undaunted by Fairfield’s size, Spencer has high hopes every year.
“My goal has always been to win a national championship,” he said.
Like Nolan, he has other goals that are just as important as winning, if not more.
Spencer places a strong emphasis on shaping players into people who will have “success in life.” Good citizenship and a solid work ethic are two important parts of the formula that he stresses both on and off the field.
While Fairfield may not receive the acclaim typical of “the Notre Dames of the world,” Spencer still feels he can achieve what he sets out to do.
“I never lose sight of what’s important here; whether 12 years ago or now, my goals are still the same,” he said.
Patrick Lyons, the athletic director at Iona, spoke highly of Fairfield’s athletic reputation despite the attractions posed to today’s coaches by “BCS-type schools.”
“It’s actually a credit that Fairfield’s been able to hold nationally-ranked programs in lacrosse and soccer with this kind of dynamic in place,” he said.
So what is the draw to a school like Fairfield? More importantly, why does Fairfield seem to buck the trend that exists between small-venue institutions and successful coaches?
For Ed Cooley, the new men’s basketball head coach at Fairfield, the main draw to Fairfield was simple: it presented him with a challenge.
Cooley saw in Fairfield the task of creating “a continuous, successful program,” not one with “peaks and valleys.”
According to Cooley, however, there was something more.
“The living and learning experience” central to Fairfield’s Jesuit mission, coupled with a clear “common goal” among athletics and administration, was essential, he said.
Ed Paige is also a newcomer to the head coaching scene, but this is his sixth year with Fairfield athletics. Asked about his decision to take on the role, he cited two main reasons. The first was “to see how the teams would perform under my direction” and the second was “to further my role as coach and teacher to the players.”
Fairfield’s role as a strong academic institution impressed Paige from the moment he arrived.
“The excellent academics at Fairfield have always been paramount to me,” said Paige. “It is something I stress in recruiting.”
According to Paige, the combination of Fairfield’s superb athletic graduation rate and the jobs Fairfield tennis players receive is “something outstanding.”
Fairfield’s Athletic Director Gene Doris agreed, “The reputation of the academic institution” is very important in attracting coaches.
Though finances sometimes play a role in a coach’s decision to leave or stay, Fairfield does not give up without a fight.
“We will do our best, within financial constraints, to keep a coach,” said Doris.
When coaches do receive offers from other schools, Doris said Fairfield emphasizes the University’s commitment to its program.
“The resources for success,” he added, may not be present at larger schools.
One way Fairfield encourages coaches to stay is by offering them the opportunity to have clinics. Doris explained that coaches may shy away from huge schools that do not have such facilities.
With regard to coaches at other schools, Doris noted that Fairfield’s coaching staff might be “more homogenous” in that all coaches place the same value on academics and athletics.
The appeal behind coaching at Fairfield lies not just in notching up more victories year after year, but also in the desire to be a part of the school-wide commitment to excellence.
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