Below Expectations

I teased today's entry in the introduction of the last post of The Maverick Rambler. There, I gave the spring recap, primarily because the bulk of the UT Arlington Athletic programs are spring sports (eight compared to three fall and four winter), but also because it sets the stage for today's entry. 

When I interviewed Athletic Director Jon Fagg over the summer, he mentioned at the end of the interview that fundraising was at an all-time high but due to a decline in international students in the graduate program, overall revenue was actually down. I've thought about that line often the last few months. Watching the results come in hammered that point and overshadowed the optimism I felt in the offseason.

But on the other side of the equation, there were reasons to have a sunny disposition. UTA had only six conference members in most sports to compete against this year. I had high hopes going into this season. It had been a while since the foes were so diminished. The 1986/87 season was the last one where the conference make-up was that small. That year, the men's teams were independents due to the University dropping football. So 1985/86 is the last year where the entirety of the department faced six conference opponents. In that year, men's cross country, volleyball and softball won conference titles.

Not so much this year. The following is a recap of the regular season finishes for all the programs:

• *women's cross country - third of seven programs,
• *men's cross country - fourth of seven,
• *volleyball - tied for fifth of seven,
• *women's indoor track - third of six,
• *men's indoor track - third of five,
• *women's basketball - sixth of seven,
• *men's basketball - fourth of seven,
• *men's tennis - season cancelled, would have competed against nine other members of the Atlantic Sun as an affiliate member,
• *women's tennis - fourth of four,
• *women's golf - third of seven,
• *men's golf - second of seven,
• *softball - third of seven,
• *women's outdoor track - third of seven,
• *men's outdoor track - UTA lists second, WAC list third of seven,
• *baseball - tied for fifth of seven.

That comes to no first-place finishes, one or two silver positions, six or seven bronze finishes, three fourth places, two fifths, one sixth, no seventh place but counting tennis, one last place finish. Giving tennis a last place finish among seven teams and men's outdoor track a third based on the WAC website, the average regular season of conference event final placing was fourth. That is literally middle of the pack. It wasn't something I'm used to seeing as a Maverick fan.

As a fan of the Commissioner's Cup race, this is the worst I've ever seen. Just eyeing as the conference finish, UTA will be sixth or seventh. The WAC hasn't released anything yet and I haven't done the math. With every other school sponsoring women's soccer and half offering the men's version, that puts UTA further behind.

The last time UTA did not win a conference championship in any sport was 2019/20, or the COVID shortened year. There, eight of UTA's 15 sports were cut short and unable to compete for a conference title. That alone deserves an asterisk for that season.

The last time a full athletic year saw no titles was 2017/18, where men's cross country, men's indoor track and men's golf finished second. Also, women's basketball, women's indoor track, softball and men's outdoor track had third place finishes. And that came in a Sun Belt Conference that had 12 full members, or roughly 70 percent more members than this year's WAC.

In this century alone, this is only the third time no championships were won in a full year. Prior to the 2017/18 seasons, the 2007/08 athletic year saw no conference titles. But what was significant that year to kind of overlook that shortcoming? Men's basketball made the first and currently the only NCAA Tournament appearance by winning the Southland Conference Tournament. There were no team postseason appearances this year.

Prior to the 2007/08 year, the last time UTA did not win a conference title was in the 1980/81 athletic year. But like the 07/08 year, UTA earned an at-large bid in the NIT in men's basketball, somewhat salvaging the year. The women's sports were not affiliated with the NCAA yet and the fall of 1982 saw the first Southland women's championship. However, in the late 1970's and early '80's all three women's sports were consistently winning games/matches in the regional and national tournaments of the AIAW.

The difference between those years and this era is plain as night and day. We will have no idea who is coming to the roster in pretty much every sport every year. The university has done a decent job of posting highlights of some of the new signees across the various sports. But that means little in the context of year over year, particularly in roster cohesion and chemistry.

Using the recent example from men's basketball, the excitement of progressing through Kevin Hervey, Erick Neal, Jorge Bilbao, etc. from one year to the other brought excitement. Those were also the largest crowds in program history. If the Mavericks have a better team than that this upcoming year, we'll never know prior to the season. If we have a worse team than the previous, the situation is the same. There's an ambivalence about all programs year in and out, though obviously some teams have a bigger attrition than others do.

Going back to that interview with the AD, the Department has a good attitude about the current era. To paraphrase, using the Kentucky men's basketball run of freshman who then declared for the NBA draft, one-and-done's and enjoy the time the spent with us. But from a fan perspective, this is just terrible, especially for UTA. Building a brand is going to be harder. When ambivalence is already so prevalent, that excitement that is lacking makes it that much harder to build excitement. Essentially, they have to already want to be be UTA fans, rather than UT-Austin, Texas Tech, pros, whatever.

Overall, it was just an underperforming year overall, when the odds of winning hardware were the best they have been in 40 years. There's a lot of changes coming, like a membership to the conference, a name change to the WAC and a new spectator sport coming online. That could allow some excitement to build. Maybe a redemptive attitude would be good as well.