As the new school year approaches, fans of Valparaiso University’s athletics program got the opportunity to meet the head coaches. Coaches had fun signing autographs and playing arcade games. The first 50 kids received t-shirts among the giveaways that were at Wednesday’s event.
“We have this wonderful community of folks in Northwest Indiana, and we want to make sure that people get an opportunity to interact with our coaches,” said Charles Small, director of athletics at Valparaiso University.
It was Valpo’s first year having a meet and greet with the coaches. For the university, it is about getting out and engaging with the community. Wednesday was part of a larger homecoming for Mens Basketball Head Coach Roger Powell.
“I'm loving it here,” said Powell. “I started coaching here as an assistant 12 years ago, so for me, it's kind of a homecoming. I have been here before, and I see a lot of familiar faces. I love seeing Valpo fans. I was a part of some great games in the Athletics-Recreation Center, so it just feels like I'm back home.”
With every new school year and sports season, there is a reason for optimism. The arrival of Coach Powell was one of those reasons.
“It starts with our president,” said Small. “He has his bold vision with all these new initiatives going on, and President José Padilla has done a wonderful job. In our athletic department, we're all about alignment, and our teams are developing. We have a great group of head coaches. We just hired Roger Powell as a new Mens Basketball coach, and we're trying to drum up some excitement. Our student-athletes are great in the classroom, and they're doing great things competitively.
Another reason for optimism is the opportunity for coaches like Powell to build championship-caliber teams.
Several Valpo teams look to carry on the great success they had last year into the new seasons, success that Small hopes to build into the experience that the fans get at Valpo sporting events.
“We're all about experience, and so we want our fans to have a great experience when it comes to our sporting events,” said Small. “We have our women's soccer team who just won the Missouri Valley regular season championship last year, and our women's volleyball team had another 20-win season. In football, we have tailgating which we did for the first year. Everything's family friendly with great high-level athletics. We're doing a lot of upgrades for our basketball games too. We have new digital boards, new video boards, and a lot of fan engagement initiatives. We're excited about this year. It's gonna be a lot of fun.”
Valparaiso Womens Soccer hosts the first of Valpo's home sporting event on August 6 at Brown Field. More information about Valparaiso Athletics can be found at https://www.valpoathletics.com/home/.
