(above) DU has the most successful athletic department in the Front Range
From: Denver Post
by Natalie Meisler
The WAC ballcap atop a hockey stick is just one incongruity in the office of University of Denver athletic director Peg Bradley-Doppes. But it's not nearly as out of place as an NCAA Division I school in a major metropolitan area in the Rocky Mountain region competing in the mostly rural Sun Belt Conference.
And consider this paradox: A school that abandoned football half a century ago has the most successful Division I athletic department on the Front Range [read entire article].
6 comments:
Fantastic article about someone who has done an incredible job at the University of Denver.
IMO Peg's greatest strengths is her willingness to listen and her ability to implement new ideas in an Athletic Department that has has skyrocketed under her leadership.
While we're tossing around contract proposals to lock up Gwozdecky & Tierney, DU would be well advised to secure PBD for the long term. She's one in a million.
Agree 100%. DU is the best non-football D-I athletic department in America, and a large amount of the credit for that goes to Peg. What other aspect of DU is #1 in the country in their field?
As someone who has worked with many athletic directors at DU over the years, Peg is the most successful of all of them becuase she's humble enough to understand that good ideas can come from anywhere, and that if you keep at it, you can get them implemented.
She's taken some risks. She's been persistent. She's inclusive. She's been tough when it's needed. And success has followed.
DU's culture in the Ritchie era was based on fear of upsetting him, and mutch of that fear still exists. Peg has shown that DU leaders can accomplish a lot of things if they don't let fear stand in the way.
I hope DU locks her up for another 10 years. She's that good.
Anonymous 9:42
Why slam Dan Ritchie? The man has done a lot for DU.
No one has done more for DU than Dan Ritchie. There is no question about it - he saved the school and gave it a financial footing that enables the school to be what it is today. We are all grateful for that and he deserves all praise for his money and contributions.
But he is no Saint. And he's not
above fair criticism. His management style was corporate, and he instilled a lot of fear into the staff. That fear was probably needed when DU was on the brink, but today, people need to be proactive, and that's a holdover from the Ritchie era.
Ritchie was also difficult in the area of school spirit. His hate for Boone, his installation of the Bird mascot and his lack of appreciation for the fight song and pep band and his preference for a quiet, corporate atmosphere in Magness Arena created a 5 year spirit hole the we are still trying to fill. Rithie never really scholl spirit, and while Coombe isn't a lot better in this area, at least it's improving with a lot of grass roots effort.
I think we can forgive him for the red hawk marketing campaign since he was also the man that put the pieces in place to create the 2 NCAA hockey championship teams that wore that logo.
I've seen Dan Ritchie yelling and cheering in the Gold Club during tight DU hockey games and at Frozen Fours.
Dan is a man of the people. When Peg came on board she walked around campus the first week and came back to Ritchie and said, "I hate to tell you this, but I'm not seeing the red tailed hawk as a logo or a mascot for this athletic department."
Ritchie was OK with it and it was very slowly phased out. Boone had his opportunity to slide back in officially, but the four or five faculty members raised a stink.
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