It would be impossible to discuss the University of Dayton without talking about what sports have done for the both the school and the city. The Dayton Flyers are known across the country probably more than any one institution or person now living in the city. There isn’t a person living in the city that isn’t proud when UD hosts an NCAA Tournament and newspaper writers and broadcasters speak well of the city. Some may not want to admit it, but for the most part, Dayton gets the majority of its positive press because of the University of Dayton

Dr. Dan Curran is an avid sports fan and he is not afraid to admit it to anyone that cares to listen. He played all of the sports growing up and continued to play hockey in an industrial league until he was 29. He understands all of the good things that can come from sports. His love started early with the help of his father, Dan Sr.

“My father was a good athlete, a good basketball player,” Curran said. “I played a lot of sports growing up. I think sports really bring a lot to the individual playing. The sense of team, of sacrifice for the team. One year I coached against Bruiser Flint in the summer league in Philadelphia. I spent a lot of time sitting on the St. Joe’s bench, sort of an academic advisor. Sports really do teach you a lot, especially if you have the right people working with you. If you have the wrong people, it can be a very negative experience. You have to treat the players well. If you look at Brian (Gregory) and Jim (Jabir), they really push their players, yet treat them well. The players know the difference and understand why they are being pushed.”

You don’t have to be the President of the University to understand just how important sports are at UD. It is not unusual for enrollment at a university to increase after one of its sports teams does well in the post season. Decisions that come from the Athletic Department can have an effect on the entire University. Yet, he is smart enough to let the right people make athletic decisions.

“I believe that sports plays an important role in getting the name of the University out there. The enrollment process is very sophisticated. You need professionals on campus to do that. However, being on television plays a role. It is important that you do it right. Oliver Purnell was a very strong, confident image of the University and this was reflected by his team. Mike Kelly could be a part of the recruiting office; he has such a positive image. Sports can be an important force, both positive and negative. We have a very smart Athletic Department at UD that reflects the right way both on and off campus. Being on ESPN three times in the Maui Classic was a real positive. People see Dayton, Dayton, Dayton and they are going to want to know more about it.

“The challenge for the academic institution is to provide all of the good academic things. It is overwhelming what we do here in research and so on. The people know the Dayton Flyers. It is a very important force when done right. We are fortunate to have good people athletically from top to bottom. Ted Kissell has asked us on several occasions what we were looking for when hiring a new coach. We need to hire people that we can be proud of, that fit into the community. Winning is very important, obviously, but I trust Ted to go out and find that right person. He was doing his homework well before Oliver left. He wants the athletes to have a real positive experience while they are here and having the right coach is very important.”

Hiring and retaining the right coaches can be a difficult proposition. There always seems to be a Catch-22. You want to do well but at the same time when you do well, they tend to move on up the ladder to a bigger conference with greater chances to win national championships. One of the ways that you can attract good coaches is through superior facilities. For a long time, the only thing that UD had going for it was the UD Arena and even it had begun to show its age. Millions have been spent on the Arena to keep it above the competition, but Curran does not want to stop with just the Arena or just facilities.

“In order to attract the top coaches and players, we have to have top notch facilities. There will be a totally different look when people drive by the new baseball field. It’s good for UD and its good for the city of Dayton. We have to continue to invest. We need to complete the baseball stadium, build the stadium for softball. We want to make a statement about what we are doing in those areas.

“Where we are going to have to do some additional strategic spending will be in the area of scholarships. We have to be able to move up the number of scholarships without affecting the area of academics. We can affect women’s track and cross country with a reasonable number of scholarships. We are looking to increase scholarships over a seven-year period. It has to be a systematic addition over a period of time. We plan on making the investment in softball and baseball to be competitive on a regular basis. Football, men’s basketball, soccer and volleyball are there. To get there in other sports, additional scholarships will be necessary. Because we are investing so much in facilities, we will have to take it slowly with respect to those scholarships.”

It’s not news to anyone in the city of Dayton that the king of all sports at the University of Dayton is men’s basketball. Without it, there would be no other sports. UD is different that most of its true peers. At UD, the Athletic Department is not a drain on the rest of the University. It is completely self-sufficient and does not take money away from the true business of any university, education.

“We are in a rather unique situation within the A-10, the men’s basketball program supports all of our other athletic teams. If we didn’t have men’s basketball, we would be like all the other struggling schools in the A-10. I think we are in a very advantageous position because of basketball. We have to work very hard at what we do. It is important that the Arena looks right. When people come in, they have to be satisfied. We have to make the right choices with who our Athletic Director is, who our basketball coach is. I believe that we have made the right choices there. It is so important for the community that we do well.”

The Athletic Department has been wise since the opening of the Arena to leverage its profitability to keep the other sports afloat. The Flyer Faithful have been just that, faithful. They continued to come to basketball games even when the Flyers were one of the worst teams in the country. They also came through when the first seat license fees were created. The fans remember the glory days and yearn for their return.

The term “National Championship” is rarely discussed by fans of the Flyers, except when the year 1967 is discussed. A return to Division III would be exciting for the football program, but that is never going to happen. Oliver Purnell actually mentioned that he felt last year’s team could win the national championship, but had to know in his heart that it would be a long shot. The power of the BCS, even in non-football sports is frightening. Who won the last national championship in Division I basketball from outside that cozy group? The answer, UNLV in 1990. That was of course before the BCS was even created. All of this brings us to the question, “Can we really win a national championship in anything being part of the A-10?”

“I think that there are limitations to us winning a national championship because we are in the A-10. If you look at men’s soccer, the Big East got multiple invitations, while the A-10 got one. The challenge for the A-10 is to be the best conference possible. Bringing in Charlotte and St. Louis will be a real help. St. Louis will immediately upgrade the soccer in the A-10, being former champions.

“All the schools in the A-10 want to succeed at basketball and some are making progress, but it is important for the entire league that some of those that continue to struggle improve. They recognize that there is value there. The Presidents have talked about adopting this. Those teams on the bottom have made changes to improve themselves. The A-10 has a certain presence. The smaller conferences are not going to leapfrog us. There is an expectation to do what UD did. When UD entered the A-10 they were not competitive in basketball. We had to work our way up.”

There is a certain fear among smaller schools that the football powers could break away from the NCAA and control all of the money associated with basketball and all of the other sports. This would affect not only the Woffords of the world, but the Daytons, too. If there were no meaningful NCAA Championship to play for, would people still support the Flyers? If fans realized that the basketball Flyers were no different than the football Flyers, would they still pay $20, $30 and $40 per ticket to see them play? Is there something afloat?

“I am currently on the board of the NCAA Trustees. The A-10 gets one member on the board for a term of four years, every other term. The big football schools are always on the board. I’m already getting calls telling me how important the next four years will be and a number of things will be determined The board is set up to favor the football schools. They will be the ones that are placed on the long-term committees because they will not have to rotate out every four years.

“The NCAA realizes that their true exposure comes from basketball. Certainly football is important, but most people don’t think of the NCAA when they talk about the football championship. The best stories about college sports often come from the Cinderella’s of college basketball. I think that the NCAA would be shooting itself in the foot if it didn’t stick by its basketball schools.”

Dr. Dan Curran is the sports fan’s dream. He is the kind of guy that is as normal as the guy next door, he loves sports (especially basketball) and he is the guy in charge. He has an ego the size of a pea and really doesn’t care if people realize he is the President of the University or just another guy that happens to love his job and where he works.

When asked if it would bother him if Brian Gregory were more recognizable than he, all Curran could say was that he would find that to be an asset because he couldn’t think of a better representative of the University than Gregory or one of the other coaches that represent the school so well.

“I could go down the list of coaches and we are very fortunate to have a group that are very understanding of what UD is all about. It doesn’t bother me in the least if that were the case (being second in recognition). I look at this as a community effort. I see it as an advantage. If Brian or Jim or Mike can go out and represent UD, it takes a little of the pressure off me. I can’t be every place all the time. If people recognize Brian more than me, that’s great. Brian shows the energy and the drive that I would want people to identify with UD. This is a very comfortable position to be in. Brian has been out a lot and he does well with the alumni, with the community. I can only look at him being a great asset for the campus.”

It was just two years ago that the powers that be made a decision to step out of the box and hire someone from outside the order and bring in Dan Curran. It is very likely that there was a person or two that wondered at the time if it was the right decision. It is very unlike that those same people would question that decision today. Dan Curran is the face of UD and one that will be remembered not only for what he has done, but also for who he is.