Dealing with Defeat

The Aggies found this year a challenging one as they transitioned to Division I and played a roster of nationally ranked teams.

By Bill Stevens

Senior basketball player Ryan Moore capped his UC Davis career this past March with arguably his finest season as an Aggie. In his first season against a Division I schedule, Moore proved he was an offensive threat, leading the team in scoring while being the focal point of each opposition’s defense. That’s what he could do. What Moore and his teammates could not do was win at least 12 games for the first time in a decade. But wins and losses do not tell the entire story of the 2004–05 season.

UC Davis has just completed the second year of a four-year transition period as it moves from NCAA Division II to Division I status and joins the Big West Conference. It is one of four universities nationwide that began the process in 2003–04; they are the first programs required to complete a four-year transition, instead of the two-year probation period previously required.

During this transition period, UC Davis is not eligible for postseason competition—no national championships, no conference titles. The Aggies will not have an opportunity to see postseason action until they officially become a Big West Conference member in 2007–08.

Considered by many as the leader of this transition, thanks in large part to its overwhelming success in Division II, UC Davis is moving into uncharted territory. UC Davis had long been the big fish in a small pond while at the Division II level, winning six Director’s Cup titles (as the nation’s top all-around athletic program) in its last eight years. In 2003–04, the first transition year when the Aggies still played Division II competitors in a number of sports, 10 of its teams compiled a winning record.

But this past year UC Davis, for the first time, played a full Division I schedule in all sports.

The Aggies no longer played traditional rivals Chico State, Sonoma State or Cal State Bakersfield. Instead the likes of UC Santa Barbara, University of the Pacific and Stanford were on many Aggie schedules. In late October, men’s water polo played UCLA and Stanford on the same day that those teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the nation. Ten of the 25 Aggie teams competing this season faced opponents ranked in the top 10 nationally, twice as many as last year.
Fans love the idea of playing nationally ranked teams, as does the marketing department, but the stepped-up competition hit some programs hard.

“We had to adjust our goals,” said Aggie head women’s soccer coach MaryClaire Robinson. The team started the year losing four of its first five games. “We had never done that before. In Division II, that would have been horrendous, but now we have to change our thinking and make reasonable goals.”

Women’s soccer was not alone in making the adjustment. While men’s and women’s water polo, wrestling and gymnastics already competed at the Division I level, the remaining Aggie teams felt the sting of an upgraded schedule. Men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, were all included in Big West Conference scheduling beginning this season.

In all, 13 Aggie squads had fewer victories than last year, and for the first time in over three decades, the combined winning percentage of all Aggie teams was below .500.

“Our win-loss record was not as good as it had been in the past, but we anticipated that happening, as did our coaches,” said Senior Women’s Administrator and Senior Associate Athletics Director Pam Gill-Fisher. “We are going to have growing pains over the next few years.

“Hopefully the fans will understand the sacrifices being made by the coaches and student-athletes,” she added.

Indeed, in this new territory of Division I play for the Aggies, this year’s student athletes are the trailblazers. The majority came from wining high school and club programs. This transition year demanded of them self-sacrifice and dedication to the ideals of being a student-athlete. It required them to take risks and face failure. How did they handle the challenge of facing a powerhouse opponent every time out?

“It’s motivated us to prove to them we can play at their level,” said senior softball player Megan Turman, a member of the 2003 NCAA Division II Championship team. “We were playing to win. But winning or losing was not the motivating factor. It’s a blessing to play college athletics, and that’s the mentality I take every day coming to practice.”

Basketball player Moore has experienced highs and lows during his four years playing for the Aggies. The team won 18 games during his junior season, but posted an 11-17 record this season against opponents that included five 2004 NCAA tournament teams.

“Losing was difficult, but our mindset never changed,” said Moore, who led the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game. “We knew some of the teams were very good, but we quickly realized we deserved to be playing on the same court with them. ”

His coach, Gary Stewart, tries to keep the team focused on the big picture.

“Any competitive person wants to have a positive outcome to the games they participate in,” said Stewart. “You never get used to coming up on the short end of the stick, and we won’t accept that as part of our fate here. The important thing is to be fixed on both the short- and long-term goals.

Don’t let the obstacles you encounter allow you to deviate from the blueprint.”

This season the Aggies are fighting for respect, trying to show they do belong in the arena of Division I.

“The hardest thing we are facing is stabilizing and legitimizing UC Davis as a Division I program,” said Stewart. “We have gone from a non-scholarship, Division II program to Division I in a very short time.”

A number of highlights this season helped establish that legitimacy and give the program grounds for optimism: Men’s soccer took UC Santa Barbara to double overtime before falling 1-0. UCSB went on to reach the NCAA championship game last November. Men’s basketball scared the University of the Pacific late in the season, falling by just six points in Stockton to a team that won 22 straight games and reached the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Women’s swimming won three Big West individual titles and broke 14 school records throughout the season. Baseball competed against one of the top conferences in the nation and more than held its own. All but two seniors on the track and field team achieved lifetime bests this season.

And progress is being made on many fronts. Grant-in-aid funding is increasing, facilities are improving, as is the overall infrastructure of the program.

“The challenges we are facing now will ultimately result in a higher level of student-athlete competing at UC Davis,” said Gill-Fisher.

“During this period what we have to do as a program is go back to our philosophy: To provide a solid educational framework of athletics, be the best coaches we can be and allow our student-athletes to complete their education with a major they can be successful with in the future.”

While the majority of today’s student-athletes will not compete for a championship, there may be no greater champions for UC Davis than those who began this journey.

Bill Stevens is assistant media relations director for athletics. Photo by Wayne Tilcock.