Athletic teams are at the top of their game
This column represents the views of the Old Gold and Black Editorial Board.

After the football team ended the season with a surprising 6-5 record, many students had high hopes that the Deacs would once again be invited to make a bowl appearance for the second time in three years.

Now that most bowl bids have been handed out, though, it is highly unlikely that these hopes will become a reality, which comes as a disappointment to many in the university community who feel that the team will have nothing to show for its outstanding record.

When you examine the big picture, though, you will see how this winning record was a remarkable achievement in and of itself – in the midst of last year’s 2-9 season, who would have thought that the word “bowl” would be escaping any Demon Deacon fan’s lips?

Head Coach Jim Grobe turned the Deacs from the ACC’s whipping boys into a formidable competitor that toppled such powerful rivals as Virginia and North Carolina.

The Deacs only lost one game by more than seven points, and with a few lucky bounces, wins over Clemson, N.C. State and Orange Bowl-bound Maryland could have easily become a reality.

This year’s performance gave everyone hope that a winning record would become a future trend rather than just a fluke.

Overall, however, the football team’s fantastic turnaround was one of many outstanding Demon Deacon athletic accomplishments this fall.

The university faced an uncertain future in sports at the beginning of the semester, having replaced the two highest-profile coaches following the 2000-01 seasons.

Fortunately, the Grobe hiring has proved to be outstanding, and so far men’s basketball Head Coach Skip Prosser has made quite a name for himself on campus as an effective coach and an advocate for student interests.

The field hockey team, a continuous ACC favorite under the leadership of Head Coach Jennifer Averill, did not fail to disappoint this year as it held onto the No. 1 position in the country for several weeks and ultimately secured a second-place position in the ACC regular season and ACC Tournament.

For the second consecutive year, the Deacons made an appearance in the Final Four, where the team came within a smidgen of playing for the national championship.

Senior Jemima Cameron was named ACC co-Player of the Year and made the first-team All-ACC.

Additionally, Junior Heather Aughinbaugh and sophomore Kelly Doton were named to second-team All-ACC.

Other women’s teams that shone in the national spotlight were the golf team, whose head coach, Dianne Dailey, was named LPGA Coach of the Year; the soccer team, which had two seniors, Emily Taggert and Stacy Roeck, named to the first-team All-ACC and the tennis team, whose star junior Bea Bielik captured first place at the National Indoor Championships.

Bielik also shared a runner-up doubles title with senior Janet Bergman.

On the men’s end, sophomore Nathan Sisco returned from the ACC Cross-Country Championship with top individual honors, and the team finished second place overall.

The soccer team, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament and the second round of the NCAA Tournament, had a first-team All-ACC player, sophomore Jeremiah White.

For the tennis team, sophomore David Lowenthal finished in second place at the ITA Region II Championship.

Next season, things may be even brighter.

The men’s golf team, which spent time atop the national polls this fall season, is one of the favorites to secure a national title this spring with the help of sophomore Bill Haas, who has been tops in the nation this fall, leading the way.

The baseball team, last year’s ACC champs and a perennial powerhouse, should be one of the nation’s best yet again this spring.

So what, you may ask, is the big picture?

Consider this: last season, the university achieved its highest-ever ranking in the Sears Directors’ Cup standings, the award given annually to the nation’s top Division I athletics program, at No. 33.

Currently, the Demon Deacons are No. 11.

Students and casual Deacs fans may not realize it, but what they are witnessing may just be the greatest single year in university athletics history.

With Bielik and Bergman leading the women’s tennis team, Haas directing the men’s golf team both on the course and in the clubhouse, the men’s basketball team ranked again and a baseball team that will almost surely finish among the nation’s top teams, the program is on pace to shatter last year’s record pace.

With high hopes in store for next season’s teams, students should enjoy what they’re seeing while it is unfolding before their eyes.

It may be awhile before students can take pride in this kind of all-around athletic success again.