ELItorial: The start of a new era

It is fitting that a Bulldog victory over Harvard in football--during a season in which Yale has seen a remarkable turnaround--will complete the Elis' return to sports glory. Although Yale will need Pennsylvania to falter against a mediocre Cornell team to have a shot at the Ivy League title, a Yale win on the gridiron would be an important landmark for all Yale athletics. With a win in The Game, Yale would finish with an impressive league record of 23-12 in the five team sports that played this season--the highest winning percentage for fall varsity sports of any team in the Ivy League.

Although no Eli team came away with an Ivy title this autumn, all finished with winning records; one team even made its way into the national rankings. This consistency is evidence of a concerted effort by the athletic department to improve the sports program as a whole. Athletic Director Tom Beckett should be proud--and we should be proud of Beckett. In his four years here, Beckett has made excellent decision after excellent decision. Case in point: the recent renovations of Payne Whitney Gymnasium and the hiring of new varsity coaches.

The gym, though always a towering reminder of the glory days of Walter Camp, Class of 1880, had become more of a shrine to athletes past than a facility for athletes present until Beckett decided that it could use more than a facelift. Now Yale varsity athletes can not only brag about having a bigger gym than the rest of their Ivy foes, but they can also brag about having bigger muscles--thanks to a state-of-the-art fitness facility recently installed in the House of Payne. More importantly, coaches can now impress recruits with a facility unique to Yale.

Athletes haven't been the only ones getting stronger, however. The hiring of new, inspired coaches is perhaps the number one reason for Yale's return to winning ways. The best example is head football coach Jack Siedlecki. In only his second year, Siedlecki has turned a team that had almost fallen into the Ivy basement by the end of the Cozza era into a legitimate title contender. Siedlecki was hired because of his ability to revitalize floundering football programs, and it should come as no surprise that, despite a disappointing first year, he has done exactly that.

Beckett is also responsible for the hiring of men's soccer coach Brian Tompkins, who has, over his three-year term, turned a team that finished tied for last in the Ivy League the two seasons before he arrived into a force in the Ancient Eight. In each of the past two years, the team has gone into the last game of the season with a chance to take the league championship.

The women's soccer team has also benefitted from a recent change. Since Rudy Meredith took over in 1995, the team has had a winning Ivy record every year. He has the highest winning percentage of any women's soccer coach in Yale history, and his team captured the ECAC championship for the first time ever on Sat., Nov.14.

But the most notable of Beckett's coaching changes has undoubtedly been the field hockey team. Last year's acquisition of coach Marisa Didio has sparked a renaissance for the team, and the success of this year's squad marked only the third time in 15 years that the team has achieved a winning record. The team gained a national ranking and took the ECAC title for the first time ever this season.

The resurgence of these teams, coupled with the traditional winning ways of Peg Scofield's volleyball team, have led to a banner season for Yale athletics. And the fact that many of Yale's brightest athletic stars will be around next year, including football's Joe Walland, TD '00, and field hockey's Amanda Walton, SY '02, bodes well for at least the immediate future of Yale sports.

So when you are freezing your ass off up in Harvard stadium this weekend getting ready to charge the field and tear down the goal posts after the first Yale victory in The Game in four long years, make sure to give an extra cheer for the job that Beckett and the Athletic Department have done in turning a struggling Yale sports program into one of the league's finest.

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