The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Athletic Department announced that they will start the Funding Mavericks Champions project.
CMU president John Marshall announced on Mar.16 that the goal is to raise a million dollars by the university’s 100 birthday in three years.
“We are marking today an effort to fully fund CMU athletic scholarships. This is a really exciting moment for us, for a lot of years as time goes back 30 years into our entry into NCAA and the realities we have been building over time. So today, we are excited to announce what we think will be a pretty remarkable next three years,” Marshall said.
The athletic department found the perfect person to lead the charge in this project.
Athletic Director Bryan Rooks will be in charge of the campaign as he will transition into a new role as the Senior Director of Athletic Giving.
“Bryan has bled maroon for nearly 30 years, first as a student, then as a coach and most recently as the athletic director. What we’re doing is taking an already outstanding athletic department and bringing it to an elite status where we’re competing for championships across the board. We have to continue investing in scholarships to make college more affordable for our student-athletes and what better person to do that than Bryan,” Marshall said.
Rooks will work with the CMU Foundation and the Alumni Association to help reach private and corporate donors. But he will also make a more simplistic pitch to people who know what it is like to be a collegiate athlete; Maverick athletics alumni.
“The pitch (to former athletes) is simple: You got a scholarship when you were here, right? Maybe it wasn’t a lot, but somebody paid that dollar figure and we need more people to pay the dollar figure to the new generation,” Rooks said.
The project will help athletes and athletic programs achieve their goals as competing at the national levels.
Marshall and Rooks both stated that the project will not make CMU a Division One school but an elite Division Two university. CMU is the only Division Two institution to have all eight winter programs compete at the national level.
CMU will open a nationwide search for their next athletic director.
