Little Wilmington College, where I am proud to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees, recently announced a $23 million gift from Jerry Shreve, a former accounting professor and long-time women’s BB coach (2004 National Champions). A large portion of the donation will go towards new athletic facilities.
Wilmington is bucking the trend of declining enrollment and troubled finances in small liberal art colleges. Applications and enrollment are both up, the budget is balanced, and donor support is stronger than ever. The College also is pioneering the development of non-traditional financial support (i.e., tuition, fees, donations) to help build a strong financial base. Small schools can still thrive with well-executed, innovative strategic planning.
That was the absolute bottom for men’s hoops. Just took a decade to fix it. Glad it’s there now. Good news for Wilmington.
Ps, Kentucky Gentleman, with your board pull, might I suggest you change the first event on campus when students/parents arrive to be named “Mix and Wilmingleton”
Good thing I didn’t get the shirts printed. You hear stories of tourists visiting countries and seeing people wearing clothing featuring a wining team that never happened ie:” Bengal’s Super Bowl champions!” even though the team lost. Because the gear got made.
Note to self: pitch NYE party idea to Wilmington DE mayor to get rid of shirts/hats made via dropship lark…
In 1989, when the Bengals went to the Super Bowl, a customer of mine in Cincinnati was licensed to print Bengals Super Bowl Champion t-shirts ahead of the game. When they lost the game he said the NFL found him an overseas buyer for the shirts. He didn’t lose money on the deal but obviously didn’t make what he would have had they won.