AU Eagles soccer star Shawn Kuykendall was drafted by D.C. United of Major League Soccer on Feb. 4, as the final pick of the final round of the draft. Kuykendall, the first Eagle to be drafted into the MLS in two years, highlights the success that AU Athletics has experience in recent years.
Teams in various sports have found unprecedented levels of success in the Patriot League. Kuykendall's ascention to the professional level will hopefully call attention to these successes, and increase attention and school spirit on campus, though he was familiar to United, since the pro team has used AU facilities.
This also calls attention to the relative size of AU's student body and athletic programs. At the University of Maryland, the drafting of a soccer player to the MLS would hardly be newsworthy, because of both the size of campus and the prominence of its larger athletic programs. Schools like that have the teams AU has to compete with. The Eagles will never be able to rise to the next level of prestige until they are able to recruit the quality athletes needed to compete on a national level. Being a Patriot League power is nice, but AU must change some things if it wants to take the next step to national prominence.
Among the biggest problems is the financial aid department, which has a reputation for cutting athletic scholarships after two years, forcing students to pay the tuition they expected to be covered. That reputation scares off some potential student-athletes from coming to AU, and the school should take steps to repair its reputation.
On the bright side, wrestlers Muzzafar Abdurakhmanov and Josh Glenn are dominating their competition and threatening to become AU's first-ever Division I national champions in any sport. The wrestling program has grown exponentially since the signing of head coach Mark Cody, who had long been an assistant at top national programs. Cody's success sets a good example for AU athletics to follow in other programs.
Since there's no culture of athletics at AU, it would be wise to import coaches who can bring experience, discipline and big-program credibility to the school.
