Neil Kerwin is president of American University.
So, your basketball team has had back-to-back appearances at the NCAA [basketball] tournament.
We’re very proud of them. The team, I think, performed beyond expectations, and the expectations were high. Both last year and this, I think they demonstrated just a tremendous amount of character. They played a number of games this year where it looked as if they were going to lose to a strong team, but they always found a way to win. We played Villanova, which is really an excellent basketball team, more than head to head for what amounted to 30 minutes and ended up losing. But all of us up here are very proud of them.
What does getting to the tournament mean for the school as a whole?
I think any time we have an event like this that focuses national attention on an institution, hopefully on a matter as positive as this was, it’s beneficial. There are often invitations to communicate about the university beyond the basketball program and we take every advantage of that. We hear from alumni that we in some cases have been in regular touch with, but it’s always good to stay in touch with on something that’s special. We also hear from alumni we haven’t been in touch with for a while. It’s a way to re-establish relationships.
Are there plans to build on this success?
We’ve made a major commitment to intercollegiate sports here at AU, and we’ve had a great deal of success. The men’s basketball program, probably due to the national attention that men’s basketball gets, is the most conspicuous. But our women’s basketball team appeared in the NIT this year; we’ve had tremendous success with wrestling, with volleyball, with women’s lacrosse, with both the soccer teams and with field hockey. Our track teams have shown some real strengths. So we don’t offer as many intercollegiate sports as a lot of other institutions do, but the ones we do offer, we’re very good at.
Any plans on getting a football team?
No.
