As we close out the fiscal year, I wanted to thank our Friends of Fairfield Athletics for giving back and supporting our student-athletes and coaches. The generosity we received from our alumni, parents, and friends set new heights this past year and is truly appreciated by all members of our Athletics staff.

Here are a few highlights from 2022-23 and our Athletic Development operation:

• Over $2.34M contributed to benefit our student-athletes and enhance the operational needs of our varsity sports programs
• STAGiving Day ($1.34M) and Giving Tuesday ($220k) both established new all-time highs in terms of donor participation and dollars received / committed
• Sold-out the Fairfield Athletics Golf Outing at Brooklawn Country Club
• Coordinated over 30+ alumni events

Our passionate alumni and fans helped build one of the top mid-major college athletics facilities in the country by contributing over $50M to cover construction costs and open our brand-new Leo D. Mahoney Arena. Our Fairfield community came out in droves for the inaugural season to cheer on the men’s and women’s basketball programs with more than 45,000 fans passing through our gates. Our students brought back Red Sea Madness and helped transform the gameday atmosphere into a true “home court” advantage. We are excited for new Head Coach Nancy Somera and our volleyball program to experience the same excitement and energy of Mahoney Arena this fall. 

Your support made an impact on the field of competition, helping the Stags win the MAAC Women’s Commissioner’s Cup for the second consecutive season and place second in the overall Commissioner Cup standings. We celebrated MAAC Championships in Women’s Lacrosse and Women’s Swimming and Diving as well as five MAAC Regular Season Championships (Women’s Soccer, Volleyball, Women’s Lacrosse, Men’s Tennis, Baseball) and an individual MAAC Championship for Killian McGinley of Men’s Golf. Several of our programs also made significant gains in terms of building championship level programs and will soon be raising banners in the coming seasons. 

Your annual contribution not only influences our ability to be successful on the field of competition, but helps ensure our student-athletes are “built for life” through programming we offer, and the outstanding Jesuit education they receive. We prepare our graduates holistically to make a positive impact in the world upon leaving Fairfield University.  Thank you for helping us provide this life-changing educational investment to many students that might not have had opportunity.

We look forward to inviting your continued participation as we kick-off the 2023-24 academic year and fall seasons next month. Please consider supporting Fairfield Athletics by making a gift today by visiting fairfield.edu/giveathletics.

Please reach out to a member of our Athletic Development team at friendsofathletics@fairfield.edu with questions on how you can become involved and give back. 

With gratitude, 

Paul Schlickmann
Vice President for Athletics