The results of the athletic scholarship experiment will be gradual, said Michael Giorlando, men’s basketball coach and Loyola athletic director. He described the scholarships as a process to build the program, making the teams more competitive each year on the court as the athletic department and the office of admissions continue to offer scholarships.

A year later, it is uncertain that the athletic scholarships will be a permanent fixture at Loyola, but the administration plans to continue the experiment for the next three years.

Looking back on the first year of Loyola’s pilot scholar-athlete program instituted by former interim president the Rev. William Byron, S.J., Giorlando and vice president of student affairs Jim Eiseman have already judged the program a success.

“I am quite pleased with the implementation of the athletic scholarship process,” Eiseman said. “Our student athletes have excelled on the court and in the classroom. They have made an impact on the teams and will continue to do so.”

The season statistics both support that the scholar athletes have contributed to the teams and argue that it is a bit premature to call the program a success.

The women’s team advanced to the NAIA Division I National tournament, but the starting line-up and key players in the season consisted mostly of the same roster from last year. However, general studies freshmen Christine Mainguy and Catherine Blanchard contributed to the team’s record-setting season of 21-14 overall and 11-7 in conference play.

Mainguy, who played in all 35 games, shot 43 percent from the field and averaged four points per game. Blanchard played in 30 games this season, averaging a shade under two points per game.

The third female scholarship recipient, Rebekah Bankston, played in eight games this season before leaving the university for personal reasons.

The men’s team (11-20, 4-14) did not have the services of one scholarship recipient, accounting freshman Mario Faranda, who tore his ACL before the season started. Carter Wurts, general business freshman, played in all 31 games this season and averaged more than five points per game, shooting 58 percent from the field. General studies freshman Luke Zumo had the most impact of any scholarship player, scoring more than ten points per game while shooting 43 percent for the season.

Giorlando said the athletic scholarships have had a positive effect on recruiting with both high school coaches and potential Loyola students.

The last decision made public was in November, when the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, announced his decision to continue the program for three more years until the 2007-08 season. He did not make any changes to the existing program, awarding three scholarships to the men and women’s basketball teams.

Wildes also dissolved the ad hoc committee. SGA president and communications senior Martina Mills, who also sat on the committee, said that the purpose of the ad hoc committee was to help in the implementation of the athletic scholarships. She said it served its purpose and was no longer needed but added that she believes there should be a new committee formed to monitor the progress of the program.

Each athletic scholarship includes tuition, housing and a meal plan. The money used to pay for the scholarships given this year came from a $200,000 excess in the school’s $28 million annual scholarship allotment.

The monetary amount of each athletic scholarship exceeds that of the Ignatian scholarship, Loyola’s highest academic-based award.

Music education senior David Bode, an Ignatian scholar, said that Loyola is now placing athletics on a higher level than academics.

“It changes what the university is about,” Bode said. “It makes them an athletic hounding university. I didn’t think that was what the university is all about.”

Loyola reinstituted its varsity athletic programs in 1991 after almost two decades of inactivity. In 1972, then-president the Rev. Michael McKennelly, S.J., decided to cut athletics at Loyola, claiming that the school needed to reprioritize academics and finances. Although its academics have strengthened, Loyola’s athletic programs have seen limited success in their 14 years of re-operation.

Wildes views athletic scholarships as a means of building a campus life by increasing attendance at athletic events. He sees a strong athletic program as one way of creating more of a commuter-residential community.

“Before I came to Loyola, I did not hear anything about athletics,” Chas Griffin, communications freshman, said. “It’s hard to be excited about sports here because no one talks about them.”

Students see a direct correlation between team performance and student interest.

“No one wants to see poor performance,” Robert Byrne, accounting senior, said. “I would be more interested if I could see our teams win more.”

Before Loyola implemented the pilot program, it was the only school in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference that did not have scholarship athletes. The scholarships now put Loyola basketball on a more even playing field.

“The process works well and will continue,” Eiseman said.

If Loyola continues the program from this year, both teams could have a full roster of players on full scholarships within the next three years.

Ian Roche can be reached at [email protected].