By David Carducci
Record-Courier staff writer
Laing Kennedy was thrilled with a 2008-09 athletic season that saw Kent State capture its fourth Reese Trophy as the home of the Mid-American Conference’s best men’s athletic teams.
In the same year, KSU narrowly miss out on the women’s equivalent — the Jacoby Trophy — while ranking No. 2 in the nation in the standings for the Excellence in Management Cup, awarded by Texas A&M’s Study of Intercollegiate Athletics to the most economically efficient athletic department among Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
Even with all of the success, the Golden Flashes’ athletic director is eager to see improvement in the 2009-10.
“I’m looking forward to seeing our teams this fall,” said Kennedy. “If you look at all of our programs, our fall teams last year kind of struggled. We won the Reese Cup primarily based on our winter and spring seasons. We had a shot at the Jacoby Cup and just missed, and we did that primarily with our winter and spring success.”
Last fall, Kent State volleyball finished 13-18 overall with a disappointing 3-13 conference mark in 2008. The Flashes had similar struggles on the soccer field, where KSU’s women struggled to 6-11-1 overall and 3-7-1 in the MAC.
Kent State had hoped 2008 would be a turnaround season for its long-suffering football program, but despite being picked by some media outlets to challenge for an East Division title, the Flashes finished in fifth place (4-8 overall, 3-5 MAC).
The only Flashes with a winning fall record last season were on the field hockey pitch, where Kathleen Schanne’s club finished 17-5 overall and 9-1 in MAC play to capture a league championship and advanced to an NCAA Tournament play-in game.
“You look at field hockey, which has been the jewel of our fall season, and that team is going to continue to be awesome,” said Kennedy. “We are really excited about that. How has that happened in field hockey? Part of it is we have a first-class facility.”
Recent and pending facility upgrades have Kennedy excited about the potential for several other fall programs.
“We are very optimistic we will soon receive a significant gift to put a really first-class soccer stadium on its current site,” said Kennedy. “We have a great field hockey facility, but if we had lights, the NCAA would welcome an opportunity for us to host a national championship. That’s something we’d like to see move forward.”
Kennedy said private support could also lead to non-fall sports like softball and baseball seeing lights added to their ballparks in the not-too-disatant future.
“If you can play more night games and practice more at night, that frees up more time for students to spend on academics during the day,” said Kennedy. “That brings a good rate of return on academic excellence.”
Kent State is still working towards major renovations to the M.A.C. Center — a project that would benefit its volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling and men’s and women’s basketball programs.
A $10-million renovation to Dix Stadium completed last season continues to add to Kennedy’s excitement for a football renaissance in Kent.
“When I go to Dix Stadium, I get shivers because the project of the last few years has given us a first-clas Division I football stadium,” said Kennedy. “We still have some work to do and there are some more challenges, but this is a pretty nice stadium and it is paid for. We are thrilled with that.”
Kent State’s 19-39 five-year record under head football coach Doug Martin does not dampen Kennedy’s enthusiasm. Of the Flashes’ nine coaches dating back to 1978, only Glen Mason (12-10 in 1986 and ’87) has a better winning percentage than Martin’s .328.
“You have to go back a long way to find a better five years,” said Kennedy. “I’m not saying it is great, but it’s (better) than its been going back to the 1970s. I’m very committed to where we are. We were about five plays away from being 5-3 in the MAC last year. We just had some tough breaks here and there.
“If you look at our last two recruiting classes, where we had highly regarded classes in the MAC that were ranked No. 1 last year and No. 1 or 2 the year before, there is a good nucleus,” Kennedy said. “Bottom line, this is a team that can win and a coach that can win. In my opinion, we are going to be a pretty good team and we are going to be a pretty good football program.”
A winning football program is the last thing missing from the resume Kennedy has built in 16 years as athletic director at Kent State.
“It would be the ultimate satisfaction for me personally and for our staff to give Mr. Kennedy that winning football program,” said Martin. “With the things Mr. Kennedy has done to help move this program along and to catch us up with everyone else in the league, from our facilities at Dix Stadium to some things internally, he has made us competitive. Now we are at the point where we have to win and finally give him a MAC East championship.”
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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com