USD Magazine Summer 2012

help transform the athletics master plan from vision to reality. “We’re voting on and supporting initiatives that won’t come to fruition until after we’ve left,” Shaffer says. “We may not be there for the ribbon cuttings, but we know that we’re improv- ing the experience for everyone who comes after us.” The Toreros have been a major force across all sports in recent years and earned the West Coast Conference Commissioner’s Cup again in 2011 — marking the first time in conference history that a school has won the cup four

houses 10 percent of USD’s stu- dent-athletes and 12 percent of the athletics staff. “Our offices are spread out over five different areas,” says Athletics Director Ky Snyder. “Nine of our 17 sports don’t have locker rooms. Sports is about teamwork, it’s about camaraderie and our facilities make function- ing difficult, and make recruiting a challenge. We didn’t need another Band-Aid, we needed a master plan.” Dave Shaffer, chair of the ath- letics subcommittee for USD’s Board of Trustees, is proud to

times, let alone four years in a row. Winning creates excitement and builds momentum. For fans, it creates expectations. And for players — who travel all over the country playing in top-notch facilities — it leads to questions about how much longer USD can remain competitive against pro- grams that have so much more. “Athletes see the rec centers at places like Gonzaga and San- ta Clara,” Snyder says. “They know about the softball facility at Loyola Marymount University. They want to know why those guys have facilities that we

don’t have. What do I tell them? Now I can tell them that we have a plan.” It’s a master plan that provides more locker rooms, gives athletes state-of-the-art equipment, allows coaches and staff to move out of cramped quarters and gives the golf team a short course so play- ers don’t have to drive to local courses to practice. “We’ve done pretty well athleti- cally, but we can do better,” says Snyder. “We’re not a pro factory, but we turn out pro athletes. With these new facilities, there’s no tell- ing how far we can go.”

SUMMER 2012

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