Saint Louis University sports greeted new faces this year-not just on the court and field, but on the sidelines, in the locker rooms and in executive offices. Athletic Director Chris May, Men’s Baseball Coach Derek Hendrickson and Head Men’s Basketball Coach Rick Majerus are each finishing their first year at SLU. Each is set to make his slice of SLU a display of superior skill worthy of national recognition.
No one knew what to expect after last year’s snub of former Athletic Director Cheryl Levick’s authority. When May stepped onto the Frost Campus this year, we wondered how long he would last.
May appears to have taken to the job in his few months here. He started working with athletics programs at the University of Colorado-Boulder 22 years ago-that’s as long as, or longer than, many of SLU’s undergraduate students have been alive.
His experience at Colorado was all-encompassing; May was involved in marketing, event management, executive management, corporate sponsorships, relationship-building and the hiring of coaches. He has committed to making SLU athletics nationally recognizable. Under his vision, we trust they will be.
Hendrickson and his team of assistants have added new vigor to SLU’s version of America’s pastime. With 10 years of experience in the game and an impressive run at Central Missouri State-209 wins, 49 losses and nine players selected during the Major League Baseball draft-he’s sure to swing the team toward success. And, with his plan to recruit St. Louis locals, he just might prove that SLU baseball is a top-quality program.
And then, there’s basketball. Majerus’ first season as head coach came to a close in March. Majerus arrived with a few distinctions of his own: He is a character, and has the experience and exposure necessary to build a top team. In his 21 years and 600 games as a basketball coach, Majerus has never led a losing season. Of those 600 games, 438 were wins.
Though he has yet to transform the Billikens into anything spectacular (men’s basketball finished with a 16-15 record overall and 7-9 in the Atlantic 10 Conference) the potential is there for Majerus to mold our men in blue into something great. The team tied three ways for ninth place in the A-10 Conference. That rank is nothing to brag about, as the conference hosts only 14 teams.
With so much invested in the Chaifetz Arena–time, money and space-and with the chance to recruit his own players, Majerus is in prime position to lead SLU into the Top 25 teams in the nation-a standing that University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., has sought since his 1986 introduction to the school.
The faith we place in these three men may seem idealistic or na’ve, but it really isn’t: Past performance is the best indicator of future performance, and each of these men has helped to bring SLU’s athletic programs closer to greatness.
This first season may just have topped the mediocre mark, but SLU athletics are headed in the right direction.
