Vision. Process. People.
In a world inundated with slogans and taglines destined to manifest big changes and quick fixes, Paul Schlickmann, Fairfield University’s Vice President for Athletics, has led the Stags with steady intrepidness grounded in the foundation built on vision, process and people. Simply stated, the 2023-24 season was the most successful in the history of Fairfield University basketball.
“There’s a reason why Fairfield University is having such incredible success,” says Schlickmann, “We’re big picture in every facet we do because we have a great vision for achieving national prominence.”
The women’s program earned a 13-seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning a remarkable 31 games en route to the team’s second MAAC regular season and tournament championship in the last three seasons. For the men’s team, they advanced to the CBI semifinals and the 24-win season was its highest total since the Ed Cooley-led Stags won 25 games in the final year of his tenure during the 2010-11 season.
“The buildup to the conference championships through the postseason was an amazing stretch for Fairfield University. That gets back to the impact that athletics can have on the exposure of the brand and the ethos of the University and the spirit and pride,” says Schlickmann, “The excitement it created with both programs simultaneously both getting to the postseason was off the charts. I was hearing from alumni all over the country and there were watch parties large and small.”
All in all, both programs combined to play on national television seven times throughout their final four weeks of the season, providing the university sustained national exposure.
“Throughout our leadership, our president and our board, we believe in athletics as a vehicle to achieve our overarching objective,” says Schlickmann, “Our process places a premium on the student experience. The key is having great people to carry out the vision and the process. We have great presidential leadership, great board leadership and that filters down, in our case, with our coaching faculty.”
For two straight offseasons, Fairfield made slam dunk hires with Carly Thibault-DuDonis joining the Stags in the spring of 2022 to lead the women’s team. After previous head coach Jay Young stepped down just weeks before the opening tip-off, men’s assistant head coach Chris Casey ascended to the interim head coach position before shedding the interim tag in March of this year after leading the Stags to a 23-7 record.
“The common denominator watching both programs this year is consistent, high level positive energy every day by placing a premium on connectivity between staff and player relationships. Both coaches create a consistent progressive growth mindset and develop a selfless sense of unity,” reflects Schlickmann, “When you have that, the by-product of that is competitive success. Both coaching staffs did an incredible job nurturing all those facets of the program, and in large part, that’s why we had the success we did.”
In order to continue to compete in the MAAC, building a winning tradition through excellent leadership goes a long way, but the state-of-the-art Leo D. Mahoney Arena is hands-down the most impressive multi-use space in the conference and is an essential in attracting recruits to campus. The $51 million dollar arena opened in November 2022.
“We worked really hard in the last few years to upgrade and create an infrastructure that is second to none in mid-major basketball,” says Schlickmann, “The shining example is the Leo D. Mahoney Arena. It makes an incredible statement about the University mindset, which is the pursuit of modern excellence and Mahoney is no better example of that.”
This season, the home court advantage was palpable as the women’s team were undefeated at home and the men won nine of their thirteen games, generating an impact at campus that radiated throughout the entire state of Connecticut.
“When you combine Mahoney as a venue with great products on the floor, it has created an infusion of campus spirit and pride and created a buzz in the town of Fairfield, especially amongst four thousand alums living in town,” says Schlickmann, “It was fun to see, especially in year two, but it is what we envisioned. We had this idea of trying to create this sense of pride and interest in Fairfield as the hometown team and we saw that unfold this year.”
Despite all of the positive momentum, Fairfield University is taking steps to adapt to the new landscape of collegiate athletics with the launch of Red Sea Rising, an alumni-launched official collective and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) entity to support Fairfield student-athletes. Red Sea Rising will allow businesses, donors and members to support and engage with Fairfield’s student-athletes and can also contribute to a general fund that supports student-athletes across several sports. Of course, the allure of high-major competition and the compensation that might come with these schools might always attract talent away from mid-major schools like Fairfield University, but there is no doubt that Fairfield is on the precipice of becoming a perennial powerhouse in the MAAC.
“I’m ultimately not surprised by the success we had because I saw the vision, the process, the people and all that coming together on a daily basis,” reflects Schlickmann,” but you’re always pleased to see it evolve at such a high level and have the incredible layers of impact that it has had. When you’re in my chair or in the President’s chair, that's what you strive for.”
