JORDAN HOLM
Staff Writer
UCLA. Georgia. Texas. North Carolina. Pepperdine. The first few schools are known as perennial powerhouses of Division I college athletics, but Pepperdine? The school with an undergrad population of 3,000 and that sits nestled in the hills of Malibu seems unlikely to make any list for top athletic universities. However, tucked away in this idyllic community lies a hotbed of college athletes and coaches that strive for academic and athletic excellence.
In June, Sports Illustrated unveiled its All-Sports Rankings for Division I colleges for the spring season. Based on the formula, Pepperdine came in at No. 10.
The formula, created by Sports Illustrated, awarded 25 points to a school for finishing first in a sport, one point for a 25th place ranking and so on. The list features the big dogs of the athletic field at the top, UCLA and Georgia, and marks the first time a non-football school has cracked the top 10, that school being Pepperdine.
“It is a great honor to be on the list,” said Pepperdine Director of Athletics John Watson. “What is great about it is that we have been so consistent over the years in all of our sporting programs. We do not just excel at one sport, but at all the sports we offer.”
This spring, it was the men’s tennis team’s turn to take the spotlight for Pepperdine. The team had a remarkable season and capped it off by winning the National Championship, beating a top-ranked Georgia team that was believed to be unbeatable.
“Beating Georgia was incredible,” Watson said. “(Head Coach Adam Steinberg) does a great job of helping the team win. He will be the first to tell you that his team might not have the best player, but they have the best team.”
Senior Andre Begemann, who clinched the championship for the Waves, echoed the feelings of his coach.
“Everyone on the team is so close, and we all support each other,” Begemann said. “When I was out there in the final match, I knew I had the support of my teammates behind me, and that, coupled with the amount of time we put into practice, was the key to why we won.”
The award provides some recognition that was a long-time coming. Being a non-football school, the athletic budget is much lower than a school with a football program.
Football is the one NCAA sport where the income goes directly to the school. None of it goes to the NCAA, thus making football the cash cow of college athletics. Universities with football programs have a surplus of money to spend not only on the football program, but on the other teams as well.
“I traveled to Nebraska to watch the women’s volleyball game a few years ago,” Watson said. “I was amazed to see that they have their very own facility for one purpose, and that is women’s volleyball.”
Watson added that he asked the associate director of athletics at Nebraska their budget for the women’s volleyball team. He found out that it was more than 30 times the size of the budget at Pepperdine.
Football programs rake in so much revenue for athletic departments that they sometimes do not know what to do with it all. Every year universities are building state of the art facilities and stadiums that cost millions, money that a small non-football school lacks.
A small private school requires the hard work of everyone involved to excel at the athletic level of Pepperdine. Being a distinguished school with a high academic standard also heaps the commitments on the student athletes.
The rankings speak for themselves. Any school would be thrilled to make it into the Top 10. Pepperdine beat out schools that are pouring millions into their sports programs — money that is used for facilities, scholarships and salaries. The funds might not always be there, but the heart and the will to succeed are.
Pepperdine is on a high in athletics right now — a high that senior baseball player Luke Salas says is exciting.
“(Pepperdine baseball) hosted our first ever regional playoff series last year,” Salas said. “We won the West Coast Conference in baseball. The key is that all our sports consistently perform at an optimum level regardless of the size of our school. It is quite an honor to be apart of our athletic success.”
The future looks bright for Pepperdine athletics. No football team is on the horizon, but Pepperdine is doing just fine without the extra income that a football program brings. Money can buy stadiums, coaches, facilities and players, but it cannot buy championships. Pepperdine is finding that out the fun way.
10-26-2006
