Like all departments of the University, Athletics has a Mission Statement that binds all of the 17 programs to strive for excellence within the Spiritan values that the University is founded upon since 1878. Pertinent parts are:

“Focused on the four pillars of Academics, Competitive Success, Integrity and Programmatic & Community Engagement, the Department of Athletics is committed to providing its 400-plus student-athletes with a first-class, Division I experience.

 DUQUESNE ATHLETICS IS GUIDED BY FOUR PILLARS
 
DRIVEN LEARNERS
The academic mission is primary. We graduate student-athletes and strive to be the top of the conference in all academic categories.
 
RELENTLESS COMPETITORS
We continue to attract and retain top-performing coaches, staff and student-athletes to consistently elevate our performance on the field, court, track and in the pool.
 
SERVANT LEADERS
We strive to have all coaches, staff and student-athletes authentically engaged in the greater Pittsburgh and campus community
 
OPERATE WITH INTEGRITY
We will do things right. Staff, coaches and student-athletes are committed to consistently engage in a professional manner.”

For pillar one, the women have had a 100% graduation rate for years upon years. Check.

For pillar 2, the women have averaged nearly 20 wins a season under the current coach. Check.

Pillar 3 flies under the radar but if you look at the WBB social media accounts, you see community involvement in schools, churches, outreach programs, youth initiatives, etc. Check.

Pillar 4 is obvious. The young ladies under this coach have been exemplary. Anyone who has interacted with any one of them has great words to say. Check.

It has been stated that the only job of the coach is to win. Period. The above says otherwise. They are the metrics that count.

Still, all of us want championships. Yet, we have a program that gives us pride and joy in these coaches and players adherence to the Athletics Mission Statement. Go Dukes!

Hook Shot, thank you for posting this information as it is very helpful.

I don't know when this became the mission, because as anyone who was around during the Brian Colleary years, this was not in place or adhered to.  I won't get into the Colleary debacle but let's say that the appropriate changes in how athletics is overseen has changed for the best.  It was also during the Colleary years where I had the opportunity to get to know Dan Durkin, when he was our women's head coach.  I don't think I have ever met a more honorable individual and representative of Duquesne than Dan.  He was an exceptional individual, but by the same token, the women's program was not moving in a positive direction.  I fully believe that it was time to move on and that led us to Suzie McConnell-Serio.  

I do agree with everything that has been posted as the mission statement, but where I will go to the section of RELENTLESS COMPETITORS: We continue to attract and retain top-performing coaches, staff and student-athletes to consistently elevate our performance on the field, court, track and in the pool.

I believe this section is open to interpretation, especially when we define "top-performing" coaches and staff.  I don't see anything that is specific in defining what constitutes as "top-performing", but at the end of the day, the one criteria that can measured is success which is stated at the end - elevating performance on the court.  The criteria ultimately comes down to wins and losses.

My point of contention is that we didn't have superior coaching that elevated performance on the court this year and as evidence, I point to the fact that in A10 play, we finished in 9th place.  We also had the best player in the league, one who is a once in a generation-type player in Meg McConnell.  The fact that she didn't win A10 POY is because of that 9th place finish.  

So going back to the mission statement, our coaching staff under Burt did not achieve that goal of elevating perfomance on the court.  I will also state that when you consider the season overall, you must weigh in conference membership/affiliation as far more important than the non-conference schedule, as we can manipulate the schedule to pad in easy wins.  

These are my opinions and given that the best success in the Burt era was back in 2016, I do not see the program ever getting back to that level of success.  It's my opinion and I hope to be proven wrong, but when you look at the overall body of work, there is nothing to lead me to believe we are on the verge of challenging for the top tier of the conference.

As an alum and fan of Duquesne Athletics, I think the leadership needs to be prepared to make some changes within the women's program.  I realize that is not happening this year, but next year, given that the team will be inexperienced and lack the size to be competitive, I think we are looking at a 20+-loss season.  Again, I hope to be proven wrong.  I hope we sign players either through the portal or from "high school/juco" recruiting options that will successfully replace what we are losing.  

Fam stated above being competitive for NCAA / NIT once every couple of years.  I also agree, but I would add one more point: a goal should be to be in the top-tier of the A10 conference on a yearly basis.  The reason is we play these same teams on a yearly basis and we that we compete in the A10 tournament every year.  This year, we started out 9-2 in non-conference play, but then lost the first 3 games before finishing up 9-9 in the league.  I also think the fact that the team lost 3 games by 20+ games in February, when the team should be peaking and playing its best, is not a positive sign for a successful program.

These are my opinions and I welcome the discussion as at the end of the day, we all want to see success on the court and individual awards in the A10 conference at the end of the year.
 

Last edited by DU90 (3/31/2025 5:55 pm)