 "Photo: Lydia Bargielski")
The sun broke through the dark clouds that hang over SIU's future with Tuesday's announcement that Mario Moccia will stay aboard until 2010.
The athletic director's first year compared to even the first year of his much-admired predecessor Paul Kowalczyk was absolutely stellar, and the DAILY EGYPTIAN is proud of the University for keeping him here.
When Moccia took over last year, it was almost as if an occult hand reached down, grabbed SIU and shook out all of the University's shortcomings.
The general feeling around SIU when Kowalczyk left for Colorado State was that nobody could fill his shoes.
Moccia didn't just fill those shoes; he outgrew them.
He grabbed the first donation for Saluki Way with only days in office. Under his tutelage, four of SIU's sports teams took conference championships. The GPA of student athletes was the highest in years.
And, of course, he kept MVC Coaches-of-the-Year Chris Lowery and Dana Eikenberg at SIU leading the best teams in the conference.
It's safe to say Moccia is one of the best athletic directors SIU has ever employed.
And the rest of the University should take note of his accomplishments and the way he went about accomplishing them. In particular, his goal sheet for his first 100 days in office.
Most of these goals were attainable. Instead of "Raise $500 million for Saluki Way," Moccia's list said, "Get a handle on Saluki Way timetable, dynamics and materials." Once he had that figured out, he could meet with potential donors - also on his list - and sell the idea.
Other administrators should take notice of this approach.
And it worked, because even without blueprints, cash slowly trickled in. When the schematics are finally drawn, there is no doubt in the DAILY EGYPTIAN's collective mind that Moccia will be able to get enough cash together to at least start the ambitious project.
We wonder what else is in store for Moccia. He started off strongly and doesn't seem to be slowing down, but sooner or later he's going to hit a wall. It may be with Saluki Way, it may be with a basketball team that might not be as successful or hundreds of other things. We hope Moccia looks at these obstacles in the same way he has tackled so many others - as opportunities.
Moccia certainly has a bright future here, and we hope the University will do everything in its power to see his ideas come to fruition.
Big improvements and grand successes look as though they will defeat all SIU's shortcomings. The athletic department will continue to improve, and we expect the rest of the University to follow suit.
