With Colorado Mesa University’s spring sports entering tournament play over these next few weeks, the 2017-18 sports year is nearly at a close. It has arguably been CMU’s greatest sports year overall, in terms of total accolades and trophies won by more than just a few of the Maverick’s programs. These accomplishments have led to many questions and discussions over the past year.
However, there are some even bigger questions moving into the 2018-19 season. And that is why I am here. To all my dedicated readers, here are the top four storylines to pay attention to next season. It is my final article ever for The Criterion newspaper, so let’s get this rolling!
- How well are the new coaches going to do?
With former Head men’s basketball coach Andy Shantz’s departure following the 2017-18 season and the addition of women’s wrestling as a varsity program, CMU will have two brand new program heads for the upcoming school year. While both are going to have eyes on them throughout their first season, it is going to be for two completely different reasons.
Whoever becomes the head men’s basketball coach is going to have to figure out this team’s identity moving forward. Are they going to be a run and gun team, are they going to be a team that is built to shoot the three, a defensive threat like the old school Detroit Pistons, or something completely different that we haven’t seen yet?
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Once that has been decided, then moving forward it is going to be how are they going to mold this current team into that identity. How well are the current players going to fix it and how will their roles change as the season begins to unwind. CMU has missed out on the RMAC playoffs for the last two seasons, which means that whoever comes in has some work to do to get this team back into contention for an RMAC title.
As for whoever takes over as the head women’s wrestling coach, they are facing an entirely different set of questions moving into their first season as a program. Obviously, the biggest question is recruiting and how many athletes are they going to be able to bring in before the start of the fall season? They are not going to have a lot of time, so whoever is chosen is going to have to immediately jump right into it from day one.
After that, there are going to be a lot of storylines surrounding their first season in its entirety.
- Who is going to step up and replace some of the big-time seniors that are leaving?
The 2017-18 graduating class has a plethora of top-notch seniors that have been making an enormous impact since the day they stepped on to their respective playing surfaces. Here is a list of some of the players that will not be returning for the 2018-19 season.
Baseball: Zach Mcleod, Garrett Ball, JJ Carr
Softball: Brooke Hodgson, Zoe Pakes, Maggie Manwarren
Football: Virnel Moon, Dustin Rivas, Antonio Clark, Blake Nelson, David Tann
Volleyball: Megan Gianinetti, Hattie Gianinetti
M/W Basketball: Erin Reichle, Ma’ata Epenisa, CJ Davis
M/W Lacrosse: Calen Ketcham, Scott Foster, Reece Callies, Jessica Cook
M/W Soccer: Moshe Perez, Slater Elkind, Amanda Wenzel
These are just some of the departing seniors, and there are plenty more that could be added to this list. All of these athletes have made huge contributions to the success of each and every one of these programs (as well as the seniors for the programs that are not listed above).
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Moving forward, every single team is going to have to figure out how they are going to fill the holes left by these players. Who is going to step up and take on the challenge? Who is going to be the heart and soul of each program? Is it going to be from someone already on the team, or are they going to bring in someone new?
These aren’t only the questions that the fans are going to be looking for answers for, but the coaches as well. How are they going to keep the success of these programs moving forward? Which takes me to the third topic of conversation.
- Will this dominance continue?
As I mentioned early on in this article, this has arguably been the most successful season cumulatively for the entire athletics department.
Football finished as RMAC champs for the third straight season.
Softball won the RMAC regular season for the third straight year.
Track and Field got the university their first-ever national champions.
Men’s soccer made the NCAA tournament.
Baseball is ranked inside the top 10.
Men’s lacrosse won the RMAC regular season for the third straight year.
Swim and dive won national awards and set new records.
And those are just some very short descriptions of only a few of the remarkable things that all CMU athletic programs have done this season. But, as it is in every sport, once you are at the top you have everyone wanting to be the one to take you down.
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So, with all of the departing athletes and the changes that are happening, will this all-around success be sustained for the 2018-19 season? And if they do how are they able to do it? And if not, what happened? It isn’t easy to stay at the top, but now that we have gotten to where it is now the expectation to be there.
- What’s next for CMU athletics?
And finally, the final thing to watch out for moving forward, what comes next? Each of the last three seasons, CMU has added a new varsity sport to their regimen. First it was beach volleyball, then it was triathlon and lastly, it was women’s wrestling.
Each year the idea was always, “I doubt we will add another sport any time soon.” And each year, they added another. This university is always trying to stay ahead, so don’t be surprised if something else is already in the works.
While these are not all the topics of discussion moving forward, they are some of the biggest ones. As always, thank you for reading this and I hope the next year is as exciting as this one. #MavUp #RumbleMavs
