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EDITORIAL
CHRIS ZILLS
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS & MULTIMEDIA
CODY BOHL
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS
ASHLEY STELTENPOHL
DIRECTOR CONTENT CREATION & STRATEGY
GARY D’AMATO FEATURE WRITER
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CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP MILWAUKEE PANTHER SPORTS PROPERTIES
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LEN CEDERHOLM, ASHLEY STELTENPOHL, AND TOM BARRETT
CREATIVE SERVICES
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WHAT’S 09 15 22 29 32
SPORT UPDATES
Men’s track & field, women’s track & field, baseball, and tennis.
TITLE IX THRU THE EYES OF THE PANTHERS
by Gary D’Amato How Title IX changed the game for women and women’s sports in Milwaukee athletics.
A LOOK BACK INTO HISTORY
A timeline look into two of Milwaukee’s successful women’s sports, women’s basketball and volleyball.
A PERFECT FIT
The Panthers catch up with head men’s basketball coach Bart Lundy and talk about his first few months with the Black & Gold.
CATCHIN’ UP WITH COACH
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Milwaukee volleyball. The Black & Gold catch up with head coach Susie Johnson about goals and expectations for this season.
INSIDE
LIGHT UP THE HYPE
The Underdogs Prevail! The No. 4 seed Panthers celebrate after a 4-1 upset over No. 1 Cleveland State in the Horizon League Tournament. PHOTO BY ASHLEY STELTENPOHL
LIGHT UP THE HYPE
Hats Off to You, Riley! Sophomore Riley Frey threw a complete game shutout in a 7-0 victory over Wright State on May 19. Frey allowed just five hits and struck out seven in his final outing of the 2002 season. PHOTO BY ASHLEY STELTENPOHL
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S P O RT U P DATE
TRACK & FIELD 09
The Milwaukee men’s and women’s track & field teams enjoyed another solid spring, with the men placing second and the women third at the Horizon League Championships.
volunteering, and campus involvement.
Austin Wallace was named the Alfreeda Goff Outdoor Men’s Athlete of the Year, becoming the first member of the Panthers to earn the award since 2017. He held top league marks in the decathlon and long jump heading into the championships and broke the program record in the decathlon with 7,335 points.
Matthew Bye - decathlon champion Golden Cotton - 200m champion Caleb Rogalski - hammer throw champion Tony Bretall - decathlon runner-up Caleb Rogalski - shot put runner-up Aidan Sodemann - steeplechase runner-up Dane Nelson - runner up in 110m and 400m hurdles
Sam Conger and Kate Watson qualified for the NCAA West Regional field, with Conger taking 32nd in 110m hurdles and Watson placing 14th in pole vault. The teams combined for a total of 16 conference weekly awards between indoor and outdoor season. Wallace led the team with four weekly honors, followed by three from both Natalie Block and Lauren Lietzke. Riley Hanson was also recognized as a member of the 202122 Lubar 25, which identifies business students dedicated to academic success, entrepreneurship,
Top finishers at the Horizon League Championships included the following:
Women: Tabitha Wechlo - shot put champion Nadia Vo - long jump champion Annie Guerrero - high jump champion Morgan Pilate - triple jump champ Mikayla Fox - 10k runner up
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BASEBALL
S P O RT U P DATE
The Milwaukee baseball team was honored with four players earning All-Horizon League awards highlighted by AJ Blubaugh, who was named Relief Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive season. Riley Frey and Luke Seidel earned a spot on the All-League Second Team while Justin Hausser was named to the AllFreshman Team.
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Blubaugh becomes the first back-to-back Relief Pitcher of the Year since 2014-15 (Andrew Elliott, Wright State) after a dominant display in the bullpen. In 13.2 innings out of the bullpen, he racked up six saves while striking out 19 and walking just four. The sophomore recorded a 2.63 ERA in those nine appearances and held opponents to a .149 batting average. Blubaugh’s 1.06 WHIP led the league and ranked 53rd in NCAA Division I.
on-base percentage while Hausser hit .357 in his first year at Milwaukee. Milwaukee finished the year 20-30 and had multiple individual performances that stuck out as four different players earned Horizon League weekly honors. Mitchell Buban put together an impressive opening weekend to help MKE earn a sweep of Alabama A&M. On the mound, Nick Gilhaus and Jack Mahoney each collected a Pitcher of the Week honor while Frey collected two awards. Buban and Seidel also earned All-Academic Team honors. Thanks to their work on the field and in the classroom. The award marked Buban’s third straight and first overall for Seidel.
Frey finished the year in the Horizon League’s top five in ERA (4th, 4.10), opposing batting average (5th, .263), innings pitched (4th, 79.0), strikeouts (3rd, 85), and wins (t-1st, 5) as the Panthers’ Friday starter. Seidel once again put together an impressive league season, hitting .360 with a .457
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S P O RT U P DATE
TENNIS
The Milwaukee tennis team wrapped up the 2022 season with an overall 10-13, 3-3 HL record, and a runner-up finish in the Horizon League Championships.
title. Tylek dropped the first set, 6-4, but roared back with a 6-2 second set victory and force a third set. The senior fought tooth and nail in the third, but came up shy, falling 6-2 in the final set.
The No. 4 Panthers defeated No. 5 Oakland in the quarterfinals in dramatic fashion. Freshman Avery Durham clinched the match with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory and send MKE to the Horizon League Championships Semifinals.
This marked the third time in four seasons that Milwaukee made a tournament appearance, and the first time the Panthers made it to the Championship round.
In the semi-final match against No. 1 Cleveland State, senior and First-Team All-League standout, Mayya Perova won in straight sets, sending the Black & Gold to the Horizon League Championships with a 4-1 upset victory. For the first time in program history, the Milwaukee tennis team earned a runner-up finish in the 2022 Horizon League Tennis Championships. Milwaukee nearly pulled off another upset, but the No. 2 Youngstown State Penguins came out on top 4-3 and claimed the league title. With tensions running high on both sides, Milwaukee and Youngstown State cheered on Anika Tylek and Lili Minich for the league
Perova led the team with a 19-5 ovreall record, splitting time between No. 1 and No. 2 singles line. At one point in time during the season, Perova also recorded a 10-match win streak, and was eventually named to the league’s First-Team. The 19-wins in singles also marks a career high for the Moscow native.
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The Milwaukee Brewing Company, in conjunction with Milwaukee Athletics, introduced Panther Pilsner beer to celebrate the partnership of the two area institutions. The “MKE Panther Pilsner” is a true Pilsner made with Sazz Hops and Bries Barley Malt that produces a smooth and easy drinking lager that is very refreshing. The “Panther Pilsner” is available in 12-pack cans. A portion of the proceeds of the beer will be donated to the Milwaukee Athletics Diversity and Inclusion fund and will help fund scholarships for UWM students. Ask for the “Panther Pilsner” at your local liquor store or check the MKE store locator link to find up-to-date locations. https://mkebrewing.com/find-us/
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t isn’t hyperbole to suggest that June e 23, 1972 was the most important dat in American sports history. That was the date — 50 years ago this June — that then-President Richard Nixon signed the Education Amendments Act. Though there was no verbiage in the legislation pertaining to athletics, the law’s Title IX helped to create gender equity in sports. The law stated that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Slowly at first, but gathering speed i, and energy, Title IX became a tsunam carrying female athletes to places they’d never been.
To be sure, there was pushback through the 1970s. Men balked at changes to their decades-old institutions. Amendments to exclude income-generating sports from Title IX were proposed and rejected. Slowly n but surely, one battle at a time, wome fought for and won the equity that was mandated under the law. “The women started to assert n themselves using Title IX and the me ” reluctantly and grumpily queued up, said Erika Sander, the first head women’s basketball coach at UWMilwaukee. k How far have we come? Well, just loo at the wildly popular NCAA Women’s Final Four, the WNBA or the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. women’s soccer, softball and ice hockey teams. Those things don’t happen without Title IX.
And there is this: Fifty years ago, it n’s me wo zed ani org IX, e Titl ore Bef would have been unthinkable for a h hig in d ste exi ely bar rts spo woman to run an athletic department schools and colleges, where athletic at the NCAA Division I level — or at any departments were male-dominated , level, for that matter. Amanda Braun fiefdoms. The landmark legislation e who played basketball at Siena Colleg paved the way for women athletes and and now is in her ninth full year as coaches to move from playgrounds ctor of athletics at UWM, oversees dire the into ses clas ion cat edu l and physica six men’s sports, seven women’s sports ed ern gov be to tely ma ulti m, mainstrea and a multimillion-dollar budget. She and AA NC the — s ion zat ani org by the is proud to stand on the shoulders t tha — ns atio oci ass ool sch h hig te sta of the pioneering women who came once ignored them. before her.
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“You’d better believe it,” she said. “I had opportunities as an athlete because of the work they did and the sacrifices that they made early on. It’s not lost on me at all. I was in that transition kind of generation that was a little more aware of the history than (young women) might be now.” So let’s go back to the beginning … Sander’s first year as Milwaukee’s women’s basketball coach, 1971-’72, actually pre-dated Title IX. Then an assistant professor in the department of physical education, she cobbled together a team of phy ed majors to play against a squad from Carthage College. “We went down there (to Kenosha),” Sander said, “and we beat ‘em.” Sander coached the basketball team for five years and was never paid. She also was the de facto women’s athletic director, as Milwaukee added gymnastics, fast-pitch softball, field hockey and volleyball under Title IX. In the late spring of 1971, Al Negratti, then UWM’s athletic director, asked Sander to come up with a budget. “The UWM Post, the student paper, was giving us some coverage,” Sander said. “So Al says, ‘Do me a favor, throw a budget together and give me a scope statement on what you want to do, and let’s see what I can do.’ He didn’t offer to pay for coaching. That came out of our hides.
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“As I recall, the budget (for all women’s sports) in 1971-’72 was something like $3,500. What did that include? Off the top of my head, five or seven volleyball matches in the fall, basketball maybe 10 games … another colleague was willing to coach gymnastics and I think they had, I don’t know, five meets. And then softball in the spring. Volleyball, the coach turned out to be a gal I played recreation volleyball with who was on staff in what is now the IT area.” In those early years, Milwaukee’s women’s teams competed in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). “When we had our conference meetings, some of the horror stories I heard from my colleagues were appalling at the old state universities,” Sander said. “Basically, it was a men’s show in athletics. We’re talking about grossly inequitable practice times. We’re talking budgetary … oh, by the way, here are the crumbs, ladies, go play.” The female student-athletes in those early years were largely unskilled. Remember, high school sports before Title IX were mostly nonexistent in much of the country.
s that “The ones that were skilled were the one . “The came off the playgrounds,” Sander said d. And summer rec programs were really goo s at (St.) there also happened to be CYO player itol. The Margaret Mary Parish, 92nd and Cap kgrounds. others came from various sundry bac if they had But most of them learned their skills, any to begin with, off the playgrounds.” at The basketball team played its games irs Englemann Hall. The players set up cha the few around the perimeter of the court for ly, the spectators who straggled in. Occasional Journal women got a mention in the Milwaukee
r for because the late Tom Flaherty, a reporte women’s the newspaper, had taken a liking to basketball. hers of “He took in the postgame pizza and pitc der said. beer, when you could do that stuff,” San .” “I have wonderful memories of that era ay under In 1978, with women making headw the Title IX, UWM hired M.A. Kelling to be men’s school’s first full-time — and paid — wo basketball coach. ketball
Kelling had played field hockey and bas
as an undergrad at Bowling Green and later taught in the physical education department for five years at Northwestern University, where she coached both sports on a volunteer basis. At UWM, she no longer had to teach. She was a professional coach. “Oh, I loved it,” she said. “Oh my gosh, I just loved it. That was a great change. And it was because of Title IX.” Still, there were plenty of growing pains. The team played its games in creaky old Baker Fieldhouse, which was built in 1931 (and demolished in 1986) and where the players had to crank down the baskets and, occasionally, clean pigeon droppings off the court. Kelling drove the team van to road games in cities such as Detroit, Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio. After stressful hours behind the wheel, she still had to coach the games. The women’s team did not have a dedicated athletic trainer, so Kelling taped her players’ ankles, having learned how to do it in an athletic training course in graduate school. “If someone was really hurt, we could send them to the athletic trainer, which was in an all-male area,” she said. “It was difficult in Baker Fieldhouse, because the men’s showers were across the hall from the athletic
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training facility. If you were walking down the hall you might see a male athlete crossing the hall with a towel around himself.” Kelling also was an assistant women’s volleyball coach, but she freely admitted she did more cheering than coaching. “I was supposed to be head basketball and head volleyball coach and I knew nothing about volleyball,” she said. “I told the athletic director, Jim Harding, ‘I don’t know anything about volleyball.’ I’ll never forget this. He said, ‘Can you fake it?’ I said, ‘No, I can’t fake it.’ He said, ‘OK, I’ll hire a volleyball coach, and will you be the assistant?’ So I said yes. “Basically, I held the water for them. I was like the water girl, and I cheered for them.” Despite the early obstacles, Kelling’s basketball teams became a force. She coached from 1978-’95 and posted a career record of 284-198, with a .589 winning percentage. Her teams won four NAIA District 14 championships, including three straight from 1983-’85. She was a four-time NAIA District 14 Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Panther Hall of Fame in 2000.
“As my coaching years continued, the athletic programs in the high schools, the coaches and the players, were really, really improving,” she said. “The players were more skilled. I would go to the (WIAA) state tournament and it would be packed. I was like, ‘Wow, this is great.’ I would go to a Pius game and it would be a sellout. I thought, ‘This is so cool. This is so awesome that the parents created such a supportive environment for the girls.’” Today, UWM fields women’s sports in NCAA Division I in basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball. “Scholarship-wise, the women receive at least 50-50, if not a larger percentage,” Braun said. “Our participation opportunities are right about 50-50. And then our budgets, we
allocate very similarly. The operating budgets are very similar across our sports, particularly where you can compare the two. Like (men’s and women’s) soccer, they’re almost identical.” Sander, a pioneer who helped get the ball rolling — literally and figuratively — still pays close attention to all sports on all levels. She is proud of the progress women have made, thanks to Title IX. The Milwaukee Athletic Department has been spending the summer highlighting the 50-year anniversary of the legislation, and Sander was thrilled to be included and tell more about the role she played. “Oh,” she said, “it delights me no end.”
Gary D’Amato, a three-time National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association sportswriter of the year in Wisconsin, joined the Milwaukee Panthers as a feature writer for the Roar Report in September 2018.
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The Milwaukee women’s volleyball program has a storied history and has been a part of the athletics department for more nearly 50 years, officially recording its inception in 1973, just after the introduction of the Title IX legislation. Of the 49 seasons of volleyball at the school, the team has finished .500 or better 36 times. In its days as an NAIA school with some 60-plus matches per season on the slate, MKE won at least 40 matches nine times and at least 50 matches on five occasions. In Division I play, MKE has won at least 20 matches 15 times. The first year on record for volleyball at Milwaukee was 1973, when Toni Vick led the team to an 11-10 record. The first match on record came Oct. 10 at Carthage, when the Panthers dropped a 2-0 decision. Vick also coached the team in 1974 before Beth Norton coached the team for a single season in 1975. That season, MKE claimed a win over crosstown rival Marquette and posted a six-match winning streak in tallying a 22-13 record. Nancy Schley took over as head coach for the next two seasons and the highlight of those years came in 1977, when the Klotsche Center opened. Tom Pleyte took over as head coach in 1978 and the Panthers began to move toward prominence in the state and in NAIA competition. Milwaukee’s first 40-plus win season came in 1980, when the Panthers went 41-12-2. The Panthers also claimed their first of four-straight Wisconsin Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. Milwaukee followed a similar path in 1981, winning 43 matches and dominating its in-state competition. The 1982 season started a run of national tournament appearances for the Panthers. MKE rolled through most of the regular season, winning 17-straight matches at one point. The Panthers earned the national tournament berth by winning their first District 14 crown and then Milwaukee went 1-2 in its first national tournament appearance. Milwaukee would reach an even greater level of success over the next four seasons, as the Panthers regularly dominated most of their regular-season competition and set their sights on improving their national finish. In 1983, MKE won a total of 52 matches and stood 2-1 after the first
Roar Rreport summer 2022
day of competition at nationals. A loss to St. Mary’s the next day dashed the hopes of a crown, but MKE split its final two tourney matches and claimed a fifth-place national finish. In 1984, the Panthers lost just two of its 57 matches prior to nationals. In fact, the Panthers carried a 33-match winning streak into the national tournament. That streak grew to 38-straight wins after MKE opened tournament play with five-straight victories. But, standing in the way of the Panthers and a national title were two traditionallydominant schools from Hawai’i. Milwaukee dropped a hardfought 2-1 decision to Hawai’i-Hilo and then fell 2-0 to BYU Hawai’i in settling for a best-ever third-place national finish. Not to be outdone, the 1985 squad won 68 matches and posted a 40-match winning streak in returning to the national tournament for the fourth-straight year. MKE fell to UW-Parkside in early district play but the Panthers responded to beat Parkside twice later in the competition to advance. This time, the tournament came to the Klotsche Center and the Panthers did all they could to take advantage of their home-court edge. Milwaukee won six national tournament matches, setting a school record and earning a fourth-place national finish. Milwaukee’s final national tournament appearance came in 1988, as the Panthers won 52 matches during the regular season. MKE won its first three matches in the national tournament but again ran into a roadblock from Hawai’i in its quest to advance deeper. Hawai’i-Hilo claimed a pair of wins over MKE and the Panthers settled for a seventh-place finish. This era of great success on the national stage was also highlighted by the national recognition a number of Panther players received. Jaci Clark became MKE’s first volleyball All-American when she earned honorable mention honors from the NAIA in 1982. Then, in 1984, Maureen Pitrof and Carol Busche each earned AllAmerica honors, with Pitrof repeating the feat in 1985.
The Kathy Litzau era in Milwaukee began in 1993, as the former Notre Dame standout took over a program that won just three games in 1992 and had the team at .500 by the 1995 season. The breakthrough year in Division I competition then came in 1997, when the Panthers won a then school-record 25 matches and tied Butler for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title. Milwaukee wasted little time in making its mark in 1999, opening its home schedule with an upset win over ninthranked Wisconsin. The most recent seasons of volleyball have seen the Panthers continue their dominance over the Horizon League. From 2003 to 2005, Milwaukee was close to unbeatable in Horizon League regular-season play, winning 38 of its 42 matches. But, the Panthers were upset victims in the league tournament in all three years, keeping them out of the NCAA Tournament. Then, in 2006, the Panthers turned a stellar regular season into a return to the NCAA Tournament. MKE won 13 of 14 league contests and 24 matches overall before being knocked out of postseason play by Iowa State. Susie Johnson then moved from her role as associate head coach up to head coach and has continued the amazing recent success of the Panthers. In her first season, she directed Milwaukee to a school-record 26 victories and a fifth-straight Horizon League regular season title. In the following three years, Johnson helped the Panthers to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. In five of her 13 seasons, Johnson has been named Horizon League Coach of the Year, highlighted by the 2011 team that finished a perfect 16-0 in league play and 25-5 overall before a loss to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament. In 2013, the Panthers bounced back from an injury-plagued campaign to make their 10th NCAA Tournament and claimed their most recent regular-season crown in 2021.
Milwaukee’s move into Division I competition in 1990 brought new challenges for the Panther volleyball program. The team struggled in the early 1990’s before a coaching change led the program into Division I prominence.
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The women’s basketball program is the longest-running women’s program the Milwaukee Athletic Department has and predates Title IX legislation by over 75 years. While women’s basketball was not granted varsity status until 1971, student-athletes were playing the game at the Milwaukee State Normal School as far back as 1896, the same year as the men. The program became known as the “Panthers” in 1965. Prior to that, the athletic teams were known as the Cardinals from 1956-65 and the Green Gulls before that, starting in 1927. The first women’s varsity game involving MKE was a loss to UW-Oshkosh on Jan. 27, 1971. No recorded score is available for that game. The Panthers’ first women’s home game was a 47-35 loss to the same Oshkosh team Feb. 4. Coached by Erika Sander, Milwaukee finished its first season with a 4-3 record, gaining its first victory Feb. 12 at UW-Platteville, 46-30. Sander coached the team through the 1975-76 season and, after one-year stints by Linda Borowski and Nancy Schley, M.A. Kelling took the reins of the women’s basketball program. Kelling, a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, led the Panthers from 1978-95. In her second year, the team went 17-10 after winning 23 games in the seven years prior to her arrival. The 1981-82 season was Milwaukee’s final as a member of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which the school had been affiliated with since 1971. That year, UWM went 18-12 and qualified for the AIAW Regional for the second-straight year. From 1974 to 1984, UWM competed in the Wisconsin Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WWIAC). While early records are incomplete, the Panthers did put together an impressive run over their last six years in the conference. Milwaukee’s record improved each year, with a pair of third-place division finishes followed by a secondplace finish and two division titles. The latter years of that stretch marked the beginning of the most dominant era in Milwaukee women’s basketball. Between 1982 and 1988 the Panthers won at least 20 games in five of six seasons. The stretch culminated with a 25-5 mark (.835) in 1987-88.
Roar Rreport summer 2022
Milwaukee became affiliated with the NAIA in 1982-83 and immediately won a District 14 Championship. It was the first of three-straight titles. In both 1983-84 and 1984-85, the Panthers won a school-record 25 games, defeated Green Bay in the District Championship and Bemidji State in the Bi-District title and advanced to the NAIA Championship Quarterfinals. The 1983-84 team featured four players that would be inducted into the Milwaukee Athletics Hall of Fame, including Carol Busche (1996), Maureen Pitrof (1997), Deb Schulman (1994) and Darla Wack (1999). Milwaukee won another District 14 Championship in 198788 and made title-game appearances in 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1988-89. The leader of those teams was All-American Umenia White. When she graduated, White was the second-leading scorer and just four rebounds shy of being the second 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player. She would later be inducted into the UWM Hall of Fame. In 1990-91, women’s basketball and the bulk of the Milwaukee Athletic Department and made the jump to NCAA Division I. Competing as a Division I Independent from 1990-93, Milwaukee went 43-39 against its predominantly D-I schedule before joining the MidContinent Conference for the 1993-94 season. The next year, the Panthers moved to the former Midwestern Collegiate Conference, now the Horizon League. After a 4-22 record in 1995-96, Sandy Botham took over the program and guided the Panthers to a 16-12 record in her first year. It marked the eighth-best turnaround in Division I that year. In fact, between the 1999-2000 season and 2005-06, Milwaukee did not finish below second once. The 2000-01 season was a milestone year for Milwaukee, as it set a school D-I record for wins, won the team’s firstever conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. That squad broke a number of school records with the emergence of Jessica Wilhite, then a sophomore, and Maria Viall in her first year. Wilhite shattered the school record with 93 three-pointers
and was on her way to a school-record 277 for her career. She graduated as the school’s Division I all-time leading scorer. For Viall, it was the first of four standout seasons. She would go on to break Jaci Clark’s career scoring record and become the first two-time League Player of the Year in school history (2002 and 2004). The Panthers once again rose to the pinnacle of the league in 2005-06, rolling to a 14-2 league record. With that came the team’s first No. 1 seed for a league tournament in the Division I era. Milwaukee then went through the league tourney on its home floor to capture a second tournament title and went to the NCAA Tournament, falling to Michigan State. Kyle Rechlicz took over the program in 2012-13 and Milwaukee returned to the postseason after an incredible run during the 2015-16 campaign. Despite being picked ninth of 10 in the Horizon League preseason poll, UWM went 12-6 in league play and 19-13 overall, finishing second in both the regular season and conference tournament. That earned them a berth to the WNIT where they came within one possession late of pulling off the upset on the road against Big Ten foe Minnesota. MKE followed that up with another record-breaking season in 2016-17, tying the school record with 22 wins and berth to the WBI. There, the Panthers notched the first ever postseason win in the Division I history of the program, advancing all the way to the semifinals before finishing the season 22-12 overall. The Panthers made it to the postseason for a third consecutive time with its first-ever at-large berth into the Postseason WNIT in 2017-18. After a two-year break from postseason play, the Panthers put together one of the best seasons in program history in 2020-21, finishing 20-8 overall record and 15-5 in league play to clinch a share of the Horizon League Championship for the third time in program history. Milwaukee had its best start in program history (15-1) and was receiving votes in the USA Today/AP Poll for the first time in program history. MKE received a bid to the postseason WNIT Tournament for the third time in six seasons and reached the second round following a win over Drake. The Panthers also set a new NCAA record at the free-throw line for women or men, connecting on 83.8 percent (394-of-470) of their shots from the charity stripe.
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BART LUNDY
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Perfect Fit
At the end of March, the Milwaukee Athletic Department announced the hiring of Bart Lundy as the eighth head coach of the men’s basketball program since Milwaukee moved to NCAA Division I in 1990. Lundy arrived following a very successful nine-year run at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, posting a 30-4 record during the 2021-22 campaign. He took his program to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh year in a row this past season, advancing all the way to the Southeast Regional Championship game. This past winter, his team reached No. 4 in the national poll to mark the seventh straight year Queens finished ranked in the Top 25 of the NABC national poll as well as making an appearance in the Top 10 over the course of the campaign. Lundy’s resume is especially impressive over the past six seasons, posting 30plus victories in four of them while registering a 163-30 mark (.845 winning percentage) in that stretch. His run of three consecutive seasons of 30-ormore victories from 2016 to 2019 (32/30/31) was matched only by Gonzaga across all NCAA levels in that timeframe. The Royals reached the NCAA Division II Final Four in 2017-18 and the Elite Eight again in 2018-19, as well as advancing to the Sweet 16 on two occasions (2017/2022). Lundy had his team as the top seed in the tournament in 2017 and 2019 and the No. 2 seed in 2019, 2020, and 2022. His overall record in the NCAA Tournament is an impressive 13-6. Lundy is the eighth head coach in Milwaukee’s NCAA Division I era (1990-present) and the 23rd since basketball first started on the campus back in 1896. The staff of the Roar Report checked in on Lundy to see how the transition to Wisconsin and the Midwest has gone to this point.
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HOW IS UWM AND THE STATE OF WISCONSIN TREATING YOU? Fantastic. This has been even more than I imagined it would be. The fans, the administration, the students, they have embraced me and my family and they are on-board. Everyone is excited, which pumps me up.
HOW HAS THE TRANSITION GONE WITH THE TEAM? It has been good. It has been a long haul to fill the roster. It has been a lot of work – to hire the staff, to recruit the players, to get the players through the paperwork process – but we are extremely excited about summer and fielding this team and seeing what we have.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ROSTER YOU HAVE BUILT? We are functional and I think we have a strength in shooting the basketball, especially from three, which will be a bit of a different look than Milwaukee has had in the past. The weaknesses … we have 11 new players, maybe more, and we have to figure out how to put them in a blender and make a team out of it. We haven’t seen these guys in our system yet, so we could be pleasantly surprised or have our work cut out for us. The unknown is probably our biggest weakness.
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Q& A HOW HAS THE MEDIA INTERACTION AND PUBLIC APPEARANCES GONE FOR YOU? The city has been great. They have done more than I could have ever anticipated. The administration at UWM has been able to get me out in the public and promote our program and I think we are going to see that help in fan support, in ticket sales, and in the student excitement. I think all of that, combined with a winning team, is going to take us to new heights.
HOW ARE THOSE “FIRST PITCHES” COMING AT BASEBALL GAMES? Well, they have gotten progressively better [laughs]. First one at the Panther game was a strike, but was a Little League strike (Lundy stood in front of the mound). The second one at the Brewers game was from the mound, but a bit outside. The third one, at the Milkmen game, came from the mound, and was straight down the middle.
Roar Rreport summer 2022
WHAT DOES A TEAM COACHED BY YOU LOOK LIKE? It will look exciting, and fast, and tough. It will look full-court and we will score a lot of points. We are going to be good with the basketball but conservative at the same time. I think the fans will really enjoy the entertainment value of our brand.
WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST THINGS THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE JOB? The potential! Not only for the program and where it’s been and where it could go. But what really attracted me was the University and the city. The university fits my values, my family’s values. The city is in need of a winner and I truly believe they will jump on board. We could energize the city and I think they are eager to get this going. There are 200,000 graduates of UWM and 74 percent live in the state … they want to see this be a winner.
WHAT WILL YOU LOOK TO ACCOMPLISH OVER THE SUMMER WITH THE TEAM? They have to buy-in and know that we are going to invest in their game. We are still in the summer … some coaches will go into team practices. We will do some of that, but mostly invest in their games. In the summertime, I think you get better individually. We will do a lot of skill development and then get a lot of structure of our offense and defense in.
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WALK INTO THE OFFICE EVERY DAY LOOKING AT THE OHOW? It is beyond exciting. Starting with knowing that at this time next year, the best pickup games in the state are going to be in that building. I want to create a program where are guys are playing with good players every day and that they believe that they can play with anyone. And that facility allows us to get so much better individually. We can help them believe that they can play at the highest levels.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST ASPECT OF COACHING? The relationships with your players and staff. Being able to come to work on a university campus every day. What it does for my family … I can’t think of a negative aspect of coaching.
HOW IS YOUR FAMILY DEALING WITH THE CHANGES? They are eager to be here … they are not here yet, but looking forward to all being in one place again. They had to finish up school, so I think there are mixed emotions. They are sad to leave Charlotte, but at the same time excited about Milwaukee. Liam is ready to meet Giannis. They are excited.
HOW EXCITING IS IT TO LOOK FORWARD TO THAT FIRST OFFICIAL GAME ON THE SIDELINES? I am actually really excited about that first home game. The first official game will be on the road at Purdue and I am excited about that game as well. But I am really getting tuned in to that first home game, in the arena, and the anticipation of what this team can be.
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SUSIE JOHNSON
Catchin’ Up with
S
Coach
Susie Johnson has been on the MKE bench for half of the program’s NCAA Division I seasons
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THIS MARKS THE 50TH YEAR OF MILWAUKEE VOLLEYBALL. HOW DOES IT FEEL KNOWING YOU’VE BEEN ON THE BENCH FOR HALF THAT TIME? It is an honor to be here for that long. It is a bit of a rarity in college athletics. It is cool to be able to reflect on the last 25 years on the different players, the different seasons, all of the successes of the program and thinking about the great history.
HOW HAS VOLLEYBALL CHANGED FROM WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED COACHING? It has gotten a lot more physical – players are bigger, faster, stronger, and jump higher. The sport of volleyball has grown a ton in terms of participation at a very young level. They are much younger starting volleyball, and in the Midwest, it has really grown. The other thing that has changed is our conference. We’ve lost teams and added teams and it is a very strong conference. It’s gotten better and better so that has created challenges but also offered The competitiveness has come out and year after year and we have to be creative about how we are going to have an edge and compete. Every year is different and that’s the beauty of this profession – you’re challenged with not just daily business, but the other teams are trying to beat you and you are trying to beat them and how do you do it.
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Q& A HAS YOUR COACHING STYLE CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? I can reflect back to my first year when I was a head coach at 23. I was extremely competitive and still am. I care about my student-athletes and still do. I don’t think my style has changed all that much but I’ve been able to adapt different personalities and styles. My knowledge has increased but I want to continue to learn and get better.
WHAT HAS KEPT YOU AT MILWAUKEE FOR SO LONG? WHEN YOU STARTED, DID YOU SEE YOURSELF HERE AS LONG AS YOU HAVE BEEN? Anyone that goes into coaching, especially Division I, is unsure about the future because it is very competitive. At Milwaukee, I feel supported over the years as a coach and as a person. They’ve wanted to keep me here and I have been able to raise my family. It has been awesome to be here in the highest level and also raise my family in this community. It is a special place with a big school in a small community feel and that’s how we operate.
Roar Rreport summer 2022
SPEAKING OF FAMILY, THIS YEAR, YOUR DAUGHTER JOINS THE TEAM. WHEN DID THAT BECOME REALITY? When she expressed interest in playing volleyball, but I always felt that if she wants to play, I’ll coach her. I’ve had the role of her club coach in the past as well as being the head coach here. I’ve been able to watch her grow as a player and train her. In the last couple years, it became more of a reality. It had to be a match for her – it was her choice to have me as a coach and come to UWM. For us, it was a family discussion and she’s a great fit for here. She’s what we need, and she wanted to be here. It’s pretty spectacular that it worked out.
YOU HAVE 254 TOTAL WINS AS HEAD COACH, JUST 18 BEHIND KATHY LITZAU AS THE MOST NCAA DIVISION I WINS IN PROGRAM HISTORY. DID YOU EVER THINK ABOUT REACHING THAT WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED? When I was on Kathy’s staff, we were a great team. We worked well together, we raised families and built a program. Year-to-year we focused on winning and graduating student-athletes. That was the main though process. Kathy expressed interest in administration and that is when head coaching became a possibility and reality. For me, those first 10 years, I was focused on building the program as a staff. In reality, this business is climb, climb, climb, but for me, I wanted it to make sense for my life and I want to be the greatest I can be in my job and as a mom. That to me has been awesome that I’ve been able to do that and had success here along the way.
IF YOU COULD PICK ONE OUT, DO YOU HAVE A MOST MEMORABLE SEASON? I would say my first season as head coach. There were five players where I was their assistant and then I became their head coach when they were seniors. They embraced me and let me be myself. They believed in me and the program and we had a lot of success that season. Another memorable season was this past one. We had some years in between winning a championship and this group of seniors had all played since their freshman year. They showed growth, development, and commitment – all of the things we hope for in a program where people stay and work hard to hold themselves accountable.
YOU’VE HAD SOME ALL-TIME GREATS AT MKE PLAY FOR YOU – PLAYERS OF THE YEAR, HALL OF FAMERS. WHERE DOES A PLAYER LIKE ARI [MILLER] FIT IN? Ari could potentially be one of the best players we’ve ever had. She has the physicality in terms of size. She has probably one of the highest levels of athleticism. She also has coachability and work ethic.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR MILWAUKEE VOLLEYBALL? We have high hopes for this incoming class and the program. Our goal is to win conference and the tournament and go to the NCAA tournament. Within the next few years, we want to win in the first round and do something the program has never done before.
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