Dear Bulldog Fans,
 
The summer months are upon us; hopefully, this message finds you all making time to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. While many of our coaches and staff are taking well-deserved vacations, our Athletics areas on Forest Ave are buzzing with construction and progress on capital projects and many youth sports camps. 
 
Summer is also a great time to reflect on the successes of the last academic year and look ahead to our goals for next year. We are building a model athletics department that achieves sustained success in the classroom, competition, and community. This past year, our nearly 400 student-athletes posted a cumulative grade-point average of 3.39, and eight of our teams recorded a cumulative team GPA greater than 3.50. Men's cross country, women's tennis, and men's tennis all won conference titles. In addition, our men's and women's basketball programs won at least 20 games and participated in postseason tournaments. Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to interfere with our athletes' high level of volunteering in the community. However, our coaches and staff were able to assist four local charities in May as part of our annual 515 Day festivities.
 
While I am incredibly pleased with the efforts of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff this past year, I am equally as grateful for the support we received from our passionate fan base. Drake's fiscal year runs July 1 – June 30. This most recent year was the most successful in my four years here and included several significant milestones related to ongoing fundraising and campaign initiatives. 
 
From a fundraising standpoint, the 2022 fiscal year for Drake Athletics was one of the most productive of all time. Giving to Drake Athletics unrestricted funds, including the Bulldog Club, D-Club, and Baton Club (Drake Relays), exceeded $916,000 – a record high for unrestricted giving to Drake Athletics. Additionally, giving to restricted funds such as sport excellence funds was one of the most successful on record. Finally, donations to Drake Athletics during our All In 24-hour drive in March yielded the best results in school history, as the $242,000 raised this year was more than all other Drake programs. 
 
For years, Drake Athletics has languished near the bottom of the Missouri Valley Conference when comparing fundraising totals to other MVC members. We pride ourselves as a department that can do more with less. However, this is not a sustainable model if we want to move to the next level of our success in the classroom, competition, and community. Because of the positive momentum for Drake Athletics and what we saw this past year from our incredible supporters, we have high aspirations to move from the bottom third of the MVC to the top half in annual giving and financial support for our athletics programs. Based on our limited alumni base when compared to state schools in our conference, we may never generate the same amount of funding as some other MVC athletics departments. Still, we certainly feel we should support our Bulldogs better than any other private school in the league. These funds help us provide the NCAA Division I experience our student-athletes crave and provide tools for our coaches and staff members that allow us to fulfill Drake's inspiration statement to transform lives and strengthen communities.
 
I hope you saw last week's update on the University's campaign's ongoing success. The Ones: Drake's Campaign for the Brave & Bold has raised $141 million towards its $225 million goal. Drake Athletics has four priorities built into the campaign. It has received several major gifts in support of the Knapp Center renovations and the Community Stadium we are building with Des Moines Public Schools. More than $7 million worth of gifts were documented last year, with millions more to come this fall. These gifts have allowed us to begin the first phase of the Knapp Center renovation this summer, which will finish this fall. We are hopeful the second phase of the Knapp Center renovation can occur in summer 2023. The stadium project broke ground in the spring and is on pace for an opening in fall 2023. Unfortunately, supply costs and inflation is causing the amount Drake must raise to increase. While we are very close to having raised the amount initially identified in 2019 for both projects, millions more are now required to complete these initiatives. Nevertheless, we remain steadfastly confident in our ability to generate the funds needed. This motivation comes from these transformational projects' impact on the next generation of Bulldogs and DMPS students.
 
Thank you for your continued support of Drake student-athletes, coaches, and staff. Your willingness to wear Bulldogs gear in the community, attend our sporting events, follow us on social media, talk to your neighbors about us, believe in us, and invest in Drake Athletics truly makes a huge difference. Likewise, our donors and fans of Drake Athletics are truly remarkable. As we look to the start of the new academic year, there is incredible momentum for Des Moines' Hometown Team. We continue our upward trajectory with The Ones campaign and look forward to our upcoming academic and sports seasons. It is a great time to be a Drake Bulldog!
 
 
– Brian Hardin, Drake University Athletics Director