FROM GROUND FLOOR TO CHAMPIONSHIPS
BUILDING THE PROGRAM
In addition to developing a multi-sport athletic program, Adams also served
as the school’s first men’s basketball head coach and the head men’s and
women’s tennis coach. The graduate of York (Pa.) College knew that he
couldn’t do it all by himself, so he relied on the assistance of the college’s
long-time (since 1988) athletic consultant Dick Watts. Watts was a former
athletic director and coach who had built an entire collegiate athletic
program. Nearly 30 years earlier, Dick Watts had taken the reins of a
fledgling athletic operation at the University of Maryland Baltimore County
(UMBC). Watts was also the first head men’s lacrosse coach at UMBC,
heading the Retriever program for 26 years.
Adams and Watts placed a great emphasis on the basics of the building
process.
“Dick’s favorite phrase was ’you have to crawl before you walk, and walk
before you run’,” said Adams. “His philosophy was to take the right steps at
the right time. He was a great mentor for me.
“The other two people who kept me together day-to-day were Carol
Zimmerman and administrative assistant Fran Fidler. They were the even
keel for me, because I was going in a hundred directions. Scott Duncan, who
worked as our assistant facilities person, assistant men’s basketball coach,
head men’s and women’s tennis coach, and sports information director, was
RIGHT: Dick Watts brought his
experience building athletic programs
and was instrumental in growing
Stevenson’s athletics program and
mentoring staff and coaches.
also very important.”
LIFT - OFF
As the 1994-1995 academic year began, Villa Julie made its first appearance
as an NCAA Division III institution. The Mustang program included six
men’s and five women’s teams. On the men’s side, Stevenson fielded teams
in basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, and tennis. The Mustang
women competed in field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and indoor track
and field. Women’s basketball came on board for the 1995-1996 campaign.
“We started a program with five players,” said Chris Ramer, the school’s
women’s basketball coach from 1995 to 2011. “We had no (on-campus)
place for the kids to stay, so my recruiting base was players who could
commute. But small steps breed success, and we did what we had to do to
be successful.”
But the existing facilities at the Greenspring campus were limited. With
no gymnasium on campus, the men’s and women’s basketball teams had to
utilize middle school and high school facilities until an on-campus gym was
constructed in 1999. The outdoor sports were also affected. The field hockey,
men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s lacrosse teams had to
share the same grass field.
“There was one field for every field sport,” said MC McFadden, who came
to Villa Julie in 1996 to coach the women’s lacrosse team and is now an
Assistant Athletic Director and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at
Stevenson. “Can you imagine that in this day and age? The half-field line
(for men’s and women’s lacrosse) isn’t even in the same place, and I can
remember yelling at the guys to stay off my end of the field.”
With no gymnasium yet on the campus, teams couldn’t even go inside
to practice.
STEVENSON.EDU
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