Dear Friends of W&M Athletics,

One of my favorite parts of my job is talking up what is great about William & Mary! I love it when our coaches ask me to meet with recruits and parents. 

While we generally only get to meet briefly, our conversations usually focus on how W&M will help them graduate, prepare for what's next, and allow them to compete for and win championships. I always say how special it is to have a university president like Katherine A. Rowe, who thinks the student-athlete voice adds critical value to the W&M experience. While the school sells itself, I'm happy that about 70% of those recruits choose the Green & Gold!

Notable

• Jazzy Lorenz, pictured below, of Women's Soccer was the CAA Rookie of the Week based on her four key saves in the Tribe's 1-0 victory on the road vs. N.C. State! The team starts league play today at Hampton University.

• Football turned back the upset-minded Wofford Terriers 28-21 on the road last weekend and is now ranked #12 in the Stats Perform Top 25 Poll.
• Women's Tennis closed out the season-opening Tribe Invitational by winning three of the four singles draws and added a doubles draw win as well. Hedda Gurholt, Francesca Davis and Mira Kernagis each won their singles draws over the two-day event. In doubles, Emma Fernald and Emma Pell won the Griffin Draw. Gurholt heads to the ITA All-American Championship in Cary, NC, on Sept. 21.
• Camden Goldknopf, pictured below, made a splash in his collegiate debut, leading Men's Golf to a fifth-place finish at the Bryan National Collegiate to open the 2024-25 season. He finished T-8 individually at 3-under par.

Kudos to the Coaches
 
Two Tribe assistant coaches have been elected to the 2024 Class of the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame.  Women's Basketball's Sugar Rodgers, pictured on the left below, starred at Georgetown and in the WNBA, where she helped the Minnesota Lynx win a championship. At Georgetown, she scored a school-record 2,518 points and was named first-team All-Big East four times. 
 
Mimi Smith, pictured on the right below, of Field Hockey rose to prominence at Old Dominion University, where she helped led the team to the 1998 National Championship.  Smith was named the sport of Field Hockey's Honda Award Winner (player of the year) the same season. She was a two-time All-American and played on the U.S. national team from 1999-2004, and continues to complete at the senior level.
Congratulations to both!
  Book It!
 
Our own Kelsey Hinton, head coach of Women's Gymnastics, is in a new children's book called Raising the Bar: Black Women Who Changed Gymnastics. Kelsey is a true trailblazer in our gymnastics program and a leader in Athletics. I'm so proud she was chosen to represent her sport and W&M.
 
Alumni Corner
 
Kendrick F. Ashton Jr. '98 is a 2024 McGlothlin Fellow in our Raymond A. Mason School of Business. He played football at W&M and earned his B.A. in international relations, before getting a Juris Doctorate and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago. Kendrick is the Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of The St. James, a leading developer and operator of performance, wellness and lifestyle destinations, brands, experiences and technologies. I heard him speak recently at the McGlothlin Leadership Forum. As I listened to him, I thought about what amazing things our student-athletes do and how inspiring it is when they return to campus to share their experiences. 
 
Another remarkable former student-athlete is Camilla Buchanan '66. She just competed in the UCI Gran Fondo World Series in Denmark and finished as a world champion cyclist in her age group. Sports have been an integral part of her life; she played basketball, field hockey and lacrosse here and was inducted into the W&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991 for both field hockey and lacrosse. As a physician, Camilla conducted charitable work in Africa for years with her wife, well-known former W&M volleyball head coach Debbie Hill (who retired in 2007 as W&M's all-time winningest volleyball coach). Camilla, pictured below, and Debbie helped establish an education and community health organization near the Maasai tribe game preserve in Kenya. 
  Tipping It Off
 
The Men's and Women's Basketball Tip-Off Banquet is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 1 at the Alumni House. Three days after the banquet, the women's team will be on the road for their season opener vs. Norfolk State, while our men's team will play Dickinson in their home opener.  Coach Brian Earl is ready for his inaugural season with the Tribe and Coach Erin Dickerson Davis, who just signed a contract extension, is ready for a top-notch season with a veteran group. Her team, pictured below, recently attended a WNBA game featuring the Mystics vs. the Dream. It's a great time to buy your season tickets and make plans to purchase your banquet ticket when they go on sale on September 30^th! 
 
Thank You
 
At the start of today's Mannuscript I mentioned how much I love my job as the Tribe's Director of Athletics, so this is a little awkward, but I am thrilled to let you know that my contract with W&M has been extended until 2029. I am grateful to President Rowe and to all the wonderful people who share with me a profound love for the Green & Gold and who are excited about our future. I am honored to continue to work on behalf of our stuent-athletes, and Hilary and I are excited to know that we will be in Williamsburg for many years to come. Thank you, everyone!

Go, Tribe!

Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics