Originally Posted by UD62
I know TF is a legend at UD but we had really poor leadership at that time in our history. Overall athletic program was a mess and a bunch of questionable decisions did, and have, affected the MBB program.
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Prior to the arrival of
Ted Kissell UD did not have an athletics "program". We had a successful football team having found the right level of play...and we had a basketball team that became a top tier program by way of the accidental hiring of Tom Blackburn and a competent assistant DD.
Other than that Dayton had no teams or facilities that were at the Div I level....indeed, most wouldn't have been decent at Div III.
Our futility was laid bare when we were discarded by the Great Midwest schools that went on to form the C-USA. At that point we were desperate.
Kissell's arrival changed the UD athletics dynamic in much the same way Curran's arrival altered the big picture. Ted established and executed a strategic plan for UD athletics the result of which is apparent today in all aspects of our stellar program.
We have facilities/fields named after the prominent people in UD's athletics history....but not (yet) for Ted, by far the most influential and successful person in the history of Dayton athletics. Ted has no peer.
