A Loyola program that struggled in the 1990s and produced one 20-win season in the first 14 years of this century has found success in recent years in the Missouri Valley Conference, and that’s why Dayton Athletic Director Neil Sullivan is excited about the addition.
“It starts and stops with basketball for us,” Sullivan said, “and I think their basketball programs, specifically their men’s basketball program, has been on the national scene. They’ve made deep NCAA runs, including to the Final Four, and at the end of the day, the Atlantic 10 is built on quality basketball. Anything that can strengthen that is important to Dayton. It’s important for the brand of the league. It’s a great school. It’s in a great market. It has achieved a lot of other things beyond basketball, but our lens is basketball.”
Loyola won 32 games in 2017-18, reaching the final four in coach Porter Moser’s seventh season. The Ramblers followed that historic performance with two more 20-win seasons and then finished 26-5 last season, beating Georgia Tech and Illinois in the NCAA tournament before losing to Oregon State in the Sweet 16. Moser took the head coaching job at Oklahoma in April and was replaced by his assistant coach Drew Valentine.
“They’ve got a new coach,” Sullivan said, “but I think they’re built to have (the success) extend beyond any one person, which I think is important. We’re excited to compete with them. Chicago is a big deal for Dayton. We’ve played games up there at the United Center. We typically sell more tickets up there than anyone else. We have a really strong alumni base up there. It’s too early to tell how schedules will play out and what home-and-homes will look like and things like that, but we’ll be excited to host them at the arena and we’ll be excited to go to Chicago.”
The A-10 has played an 18-game schedule for eight seasons now, though there have been discussions about moving to a 20-game schedule as some conferences have done. A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade was asked Wednesday about the scheduling question and said it will be discussed between now and the holiday break and then again in January.
The addition of Loyola gives Dayton a chance to play a conference game or games closer to home every season and also creates what could be a natural rival because of that proximity.
Loyola and Dayton also have a common background in that their most famous teams played in the 1960s. Loyola won the NCAA championship in 1963, beating Cincinnati. La Salle, which won it all in 1954, is the only current A-10 member that has won a NCAA championship. Dayton reached the title game in 1967.
Another Dayton-Loyola connections comes with Loyola’s Athletic Director Steve Watson, who worked at Dayton as the director of marketing and promotions from 1999-2001.
“Dayton is a beast,” Watson said. “I didn’t necessarily know when I went to Dayton what a monster Dayton basketball is. I was introduced to Red Scare, and that fan base is off-the-charts amazing. You can’t find a better atmosphere than at UD arena. It’s super exciting. Drew, our men’s basketball coach, and I were talking about how different it’s going to be for us to walk into a facility like UD Arena. Those fans in the red sweaters and that atmosphere is something that we’re going to really look forward to. A natural rival, for sure. Another private Catholic with a strong basketball tradition like we have here at Loyola. We’re just really excited to be able to compete with the likes of Dayton.”
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