Live Athletic Event

For my live athletic event, I attended the Cleveland Indians home opener against the Texas Rangers. Even though they lost, I still noticed a great amount of advertising. As soon as I walked in, I was handed a magnetic schedule that had two sponsors on it; Giant Eagle and Toyota. Even though these were two totally different companies, they put their names on the magnets because they were guaranteed that over 40,000 would see their name by giving these out for free. Another thing that I noticed is that what use to be called the Batters Eye Bar in right center field has been changed to the Rigid Tools Bar. This was probably done to bring in more money since the Indians have had trouble operating in the positives overs the last couple of years. Also, all over the outfield walls are Budweiser and Pepsi logos. This shows who has invested a lot of money in order to be have their names posted that big for everyone to see. My last observation would be the name Progressive Field. The company of Progressive Insurance has invested a lot of money in order to have the field named after them. They have many of their logos around the park as well for everyone to see. The field is a high trafficked area and is guaranteed to help get their name out to the public. Investing money into athletic stadiums is a very smart move for companies to do.

Sitdown with Coach Hill

With this school year coming to an end, there is a new season coming up next year with the Tiffin Dragons men's basketball team. After sitting down with coach John Hill, there is some good things coming his way, whether in the form of recruiting, or just having another year in the GLIAC under the teams belt. Last night was the teams end of the year banquet. Keenan Barlow was named the teams Most Valuable Player award. He averaged 9.9 points a game and 4.4 rebounds a game while starting 25 games. Brian Scott was awarded the Best Shooter award shooting 45% from the 3 point line, 46% from the field total, and 77% from the free throw line. Brandon Harris received the Most Improved player award 3 points and 3 boards a game coming off the bench for most of the season. All of these players are scheduled to make their return to the Dragons next year.

From the recruiting aspect, Coach talked about his two current commitments in Joe Graessle (picture top right) from Bishop Ready high school (OH) and Sarwin Kahn from Pingere,Illinois. Joe Graessle, a 6'3 wing player lead his team to the Ohio State Final Four Division III. He was voted player of the year in District 10 and also made First Team All-Ohio. He is known for his 3 point shot and could bring his long range game in to help the Dragons. Next is Sarwin Kahn. He is a big presence inside at 6'9. With his height and inside scoring ability, he can help the dragons Cuellar down low in the post with his height and athleticism. Next on Coach Hill's list is a true point guard that can come in and help the Dragon's program as quickly as possible. This was a weak spot last season for the Dragons and this was exploited by their opponents.

With next season approaching, Coach Hill told me a few things that he would like to accomplish. Coach Hill explained the first thing he would like to accomplish, like any other GLIAC coach, is Double digit wins and single digit losses. IT is a hard goal to accomplish, especially in such a tough conference that returns a lot of their starters. With 12 teams now in the South Division, with the addition of Ohio Dominican and Lake Erie College, and 7 in the North, this makes for a tough 19 game in conference schedule. To make matter worse, Tiffin will open the season against tough Division I opponent, Bowling Green. This is another goal for Tiffin is to compete with the big school and go for the "W" against them. This would set the tone early for the Dragons and help them shoot for a winning season this program has been looking for the last few years.

Naming Rights

Once Ian Day left his duties of Tiffin Athletic Director and Lonny Allen was hired on, naming rights involving the gymnasium in the Glimore Student Center starting taking off. One of the nice, new features was the naming of the basketball court; Old Fort Bank Court. Old Fort Bank has had a long relationship with Tiffin University whether it be providing banking accounts for the faculty or having the ATM in Gilmore. They have been great for Tiffin University and now it is more visual, posting two large Old Fort Bank logos on the court. It has providing some financial relief for Tiffin and has given Old Fort Bank the recognition it deserves. Also a new sponsor for the basketball facility is the purchasing of the scoreboard by Nick Fabrizio. The owner of Fabrizio's Chiropractic has been a long time supporter of Tiffin athletics as well, and now he is able to show it with his naming rights to the beautiful new scoreboard. Also all student athletes with sports related injuries are sent to see him, which is also apart of the partnership. There are many more, but these two stand out the most and help make our basketball court and facility more appealing while bringing in new sources of income.

What's Next for the Dragons?

Well after a season to forget for the men's basketball team, there comes the saying, "There's always next year." It is something no one wants to hear, but it may be what this team needs. The Dragons will not lose anyone to the NBA draft this year and there are no seniors. Tiffin will be the only team in the GLIAC that can return all of their starters and all of the their top scorers. Even though Tiffin used 11 different starting lineups this season, everyone will be back. Leading scorer DeAngelo Jordan decided to skip to the NBA draft this year and will return as well as fellow captains Rafael Cuellar and Brian Scott. This next year the coach and the players will have a year under their belt and have a sense of familiarity with each other which could lead to a dangerous Tiffin Dragons basketball team. The team needs to build off late success with wins against Lake Superior St. and an overtime thriller against the crosstown rivals, the Findlay Oilers. It is important that everyone improve over the offseason because the conference is not going to get any easier.

Sponsorship

One of the main athletic sponsors for Tiffin athletics is ADIDAS. They have sponsored Tiffin athletics for many years and it seems is if they will continue this. With Men's basketball they sponsor all athletic gear including shoes, jerseys, and all other team gear. Team gear could include warm-up tops, pants, and even socks. Having this sponsorship allow everyone that is in relationship with the team to get discounts on all gear to have the ADIDAS logo on everything. This provides a relationship that not only help cloth the Tiffin basketball team, but also helps market ADIDAS gear by having the teams wear it.

Season Overview of 2009-10 Season

Overall, it was a disappointed season for the Tiffin University Dragons. There was much excitement built around this season with new coach John Hill along with the slew of new players coming to the team. A program that has struggled over the last few years showed bight spots early on with preseason games and hanging tough with a tough West Liberty St. team showed that the Dragons may be changing their losing ways. This idea was topped off with an early win against Cincinnati-Clermont.

Then disaster struck. The Dragons went on an 18 game losing streak. The Dragons had a habit of starting off hot and looking like a dominant team, but would cool off at the intermission and the opponents would take advantage of them. After the second win of the season though, against Lake Superior St., the Dragons were a much improved team. They had some tough loses against Saginaw Valley, Northwood, Hillsdale, and the tough overtime loss against Findlay in the season closer. The record is tough to show how good the Dragons are, but look for them to play a big role in the GLIAC championship next year.

Jordan Named GLIAC South Division All-Conference Second Team; Ferris State Keenan Named "Player of the Year"

One of the bright spots for the Tiffin Dragons this season was Junior guard, DeAngelo Jordan. Jordan was named to the All Conference second team in the GLIAC's South Division. This a great accomplishment for anyone to be apart of and especially something to build off of for next year. Jordan was the Dragons leading scorer with 13.6 ppg and was second on the team in rebounding at 4.8 rpg. He was also second on the team in steals.

Junior forward Justin Keenan (Grand Rapids, Mich./Ottawa Hills) of Ferris State University was selected as the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) men’s basketball “Player of the Year.” Keenan averaged 20.3 points per game, including a 21.1 points per game figure in conference action. His 465 points in league games finished only six shy of matching the league’s single-season scoring record. The 6-6 Keenan also broke two GLIAC seasonal efforts with his 176 made free throws and 253 total attempts in GLIAC encounters while becoming the school’s all-time leader in career made free throws (547) and topping his own single-season record with 200 makes at the charity stripe. This is an honor that Jordan can compete for for next season along with other Dragon standouts like Keenan Barlow and Brian Scott.

Dragons End Season with OT Thriller

Tiffin University (2-25)had nothing to play for, but respect in the seasons final game against the Findlay Oilers. The Dragons had a 32-27 lead at halftime, but the game was back and fourth throughout. The Oilers started out sluggish, but Preseason Player of the Year Nathan Hyde kept them in the game. In the second half the Dragons built a 14 point lead with 7:36 and shot almost a blistering 70% from the field! The Oilers charged back by getting to the free throw line 38 times and making 24 shots. The Dragons only got to the line 15 times. In the final 7:00 minuets of play, Findlay went on a 21-5 run to take the lead 66-64 with 28 seconds left in regulation. Brian Scott charged down the court after the bucket and made a shot with 18 seconds left in the game to take it to overtime.

In overtime, Scott scored all five of TU's points, canning a three pointer with 1:36 to go to give TU a 71-68 lead. But a three point play by Marcus Parker tied the score 71-71. A foul with 9 seconds remaining gave Tyler Sparks a chance at the free throw line, as he hit one shot to give Findlay a 72-71 lead. A desperation three point attempt by Austin Smith fell short as the Oilers got the win.

Scott led TU with 27 points and 5 assists, while DeAngelo Jordan had 13 points. Travis Spahr also had 14 points with 9 rebounds.

Dragons Get Cold Again

Tiffin University (2-24) shot 54 percent in the first half and played aggressively in playing Hillsdale to a 29-29 tie at halftime, but could not keep it going in the second half, shooting 31 percent in falling in a close one 67-56. The Dragons came out of the halftime lockerroom and didn't make a field goal for over 9 minutes as Hillsdale amassed a 15 point lead. TU managed to get as close as 5 points late in the game but Hillsdale outscored TU 15-9 over the final 5:00 to put the game away. TU had 17 turnovers in the game leading to 20 Hillsdale points. Rafael Cuellar led the Dragons with 12 points while Brian Scott had 10 points. DeAngelo Jordan had 8 points and tied Mohammed Fall with 7 rebounds apiece.

There have been numerous games this season where the Dragons have had the lead or have been within 5 points of their opponent and have been unable to close out the game. The Dragons have a tough Findlay squad next who have the Preseason GLIAC Player of the Year in Nathon Hyde. Findlay is the defending NCAA Division II Champions.