Happy holidays, Bulldog fans!
As the days in 2023 come to a close, this time of year provides a natural opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months while also looking ahead to what 2024 could provide.
As I think through this past year, one thing is very clear to me: 2023 was the year of the Bulldogs!
Within the Drake Athletics Department, we strive for sustained excellence in the classroom, competition, and community. It is not hyperbole to state that 2023 was one of the best years in our department's history.
Our student-athletes thrived academically, and we produced graduates at record rates. During the spring and fall semesters in 2023, the cumulative grade-point average for Drake's student-athletes was greater than 3.4. From a matriculation standpoint, the NCAA tracks graduation rates in two different formats, and Drake Athletics either tied or set a school record in both measurements this year.
Competitively speaking, 2023 was a banner year – pun intended – for the Bulldogs. Seven teams won conference championships, including both basketball teams and both tennis programs. In the fall, men's cross country, women's soccer, and football claimed their conference title, with the football team earning a bid to the NCAA FCS playoffs for the first time in school history. Nine different programs had teams or individuals qualify for NCAA Championships during the 2023 calendar year.
On an individual basis, Isaac Basten from our men's track and field team was the runner-up at the NCAA Championships for the indoor mile while Brooke Mullins became the first Drake women's cross country runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 2006. Basten also earned All-America honors during the outdoor track and field season while Mullins became the first Drake women's track runner to win an event at the Drake Relays since 1995. We had conference players of the year in men's basketball, men's track and field, women's track and field, women's tennis, women's soccer, and football.
Within Central Iowa, thousands of hours of community service were volunteered by our student-athletes, coaches, and staff. Local organizations where our Bulldogs assisted included but were not limited to: Boys and Girls Club, City of Des Moines, Drake Neighborhood Association, Meals From the Heartland, and Special Olympics.
An impact on the community also occurred with the grand opening of Mediacom Stadium, the new 4,000 seat stadium that is the home for Drake men's and women's soccer as well as football and soccer for Des Moines Public Schools.
Drake Athletics also served as the host institution for the NCAA Men's Basketball First and Second Rounds at Wells Fargo Arena in March and provided Drake Stadium to host the AAU Junior Olympics in August. Those two events combined to bring more than 40,000 visitors to Des Moines and the economic impact estimated by Catch Des Moines, our local convention and visitors bureau, of NCAA basketball and AAU Junior Olympics on our community was greater than $50 million.
None of this could have been possible without you! The support you provide allows our student-athletes, coaches, and staff to dream bigger. We are proud to have raised the bar in 2023 and with your help and continued good fortune, we look forward to what we can accomplish together in 2024.
I hope you agree that it is a great day to be a Bulldog! Let's celebrate a phenomenal 2023 and prepare to ring in 2024 – a year we hope to continue to make you proud to be affiliated with Drake Athletics.
Go Bulldogs!
- Brian Hardin
