Maroon & Gold Memo: Much to Celebrate

December 2022

Congratulations to Athletics' newest alumni
Fifteen Central Michigan student-athletes became CMU alumni this past weekend. These graduates have bright futures ahead — here are a few examples of their plans after CMU:

Volleyball player Gabrielle Kapuscinski will be attending medical school and is currently deciding which school is the right fit — she's had multiple acceptances. Gabby received a Bachelor of Science from the College of Science and Engineering. She majored in biomedical, cellular & molecular biology with a minor in American Sign Language.
Baseball player Drew Alsobrooks will begin as an information technology business analyst at General Motors in January. Drew received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the College of Business Administration, with a major in logistics management and purchasing and supply chain management.
Softball player Stephanie Anderson, a health and physical education major, is headed home to Davis Junction, Illinois, to teach and coach softball and volleyball at her high school. She received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the College of Education and Human Services.
Football player Cole Johnson, who received his MBA from the College of Business Administration, is headed to work for the Cleveland Research Company in Cleveland, Ohio.

I'm proud of each of our new alumni and am excited to see what their futures hold. Congratulations, graduates!

A year of successes
Over the past few months, I've highlighted many successes within CMU Athletics. There is much to celebrate this year, including these highlights:

Gymnastics captured the MAC regular season co-championship and won the MAC Championship. It's the first time since 2018 that the team has won both.
Baseball won another MAC Championship and earned its third consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.
Spring 2022 marked the 47th consecutive semester that our student-athletes achieved a GPA of 3.0 or better.
The 2021-22 academic year that ended in June was one of the top fundraising years in CMU Athletics history, with increases in annual giving, total giving and total commitments. Our student-athletes, coaches, staff and I thank all of you who contributed! Let's commit to setting another record this year — because that's what athletes do.
In May, CMU Athletics announced a new multi-year partnership with MyMichigan Health, which provides our student-athletes with specialized sports medicine care and streamlined access to comprehensive health care services.
CMU student-athletes are now featured on opendorse.com, the name, image, likeness (NIL) technology that helps athletes and their support group build and monetize their brand value.
The field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium recently was named Kramer/Deromedi Field in recognition of legendary coaches, Roy Kramer and Herb Deromedi.
Six groundbreaking women in CMU Athletics — Cristy Freese, Sue Guevara, Margo Jonker, Marcy Weston, and the late Mary Bottaro and Fran Koenig — shared grand marshal honors for CMU's 2022 homecoming festivities in honor of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
CMU Athletics Connections, my new podcast, launched this fall. The latest episode features CMU Men's Basketball legend Dan Majerle and his son Max, who now plays for the program.

Looking ahead: The return of the toilet paper!
Only at CMU can we say those words and have thousands of people understand immediately what we mean. Yes, we're bringing back the famous toilet paper toss for one men's basketball game only — the Jan. 28 matchup against Western Michigan.

Excited yet? Even better is the return for the CMU-Western game of "Thunder" Dan Majerle, who played for CMU during the time of the TP toss. As noted above, his son Max is on the team now.

In the 1980s, until the MAC prohibited such activity for safety reasons, students (and others?!) filled Rose Arena with arcing rolls of toilet paper after CMU first field goal. People magazine ran a photo of the short-lived but mighty tradition in 1987, taken by now retired university photographer Peggy Brisbane.

I can't wait to see you at the game!

Happy Holidays
I'm proud to be part of the CMU community and thankful to have each of you as part of the Athletics family. Happy Holidays from my family to yours. Fire Up Chips!

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