General January 16, 2025

WMU Athletics 2024 Year in Review

Dear Bronco Nation,

We enter 2025 with incredible momentum, coming off a calendar year 2024 that can only be described as a STATEMENT toward our vision of Comprehensive Excellence within our athletic department.

2024 – A Statement of Comprehensive Excellence
Academically, our student-athletes once again set record-breaking standards within several important metrics within our strategic plan. Coming off an academic year where we set a new record for cumulative student-athlete GPA, we also set a record in the spring with the highest cumulative term GPA (3.43) in our history. To follow that, in the fall we tied the mark for the highest fall term GPA (3.38) and set a new record for perfect 4.0 GPAs (96). This means that just about 1 out of every 4 athletes who wore a Bronco uniform in the Fall finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA! We continue to prioritize retention and graduation, with 10 perfect single-year NCAA Academic Progress Ratings and 11 programs outperforming the national average. These accomplishments were reflected in our men's programs being awarded the MAC Faculty Athletic Representative Award (displaying the highest combination of GPA, Retention and Graduation) for the second straight year.

We continue to prioritize connections within the Community and our student-athletes are at the forefront of that effort. After finishing 16th in the country in community impact in the 2023-24 academic year, we ended the calendar year with over 6,600 hours of service to the community and enter the second half of the year ranked 12th in the country in community impact.

Competitively, we continue to break WMU records. After ending the 2023-24 academic year with our first ever 1st place finish in the Learfield Director's Cup, we end 2024 again sitting comfortably in first place in the MAC in the mid-year standings. Among our many 2024 competitive highlights, we saw our men's basketball program return to Cleveland for the MAC Quarterfinals for the first time since 2017, our hockey program's 3rd consecutive NCAA Tournament berth (and 9th total), and our first winning record in the MAC football standings since 2019. Their efforts complemented 12 total conference championships during the calendar year. After wrapping up our spring season with team and/or individual conference championships in men's tennis, women's indoor and outdoor track, gymnastics and baseball, we completed our fall sport season with all five fall programs (football, cross country, men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball) represented in NCAA post-season competition for the first time in our history and an all-region performer in cross country. The only other Division I programs in the country that could boast a similar performance in those sports were the University of North Carolina and the University of Washington. We complemented our championship run by adding two more championships this fall in women's soccer (Regular Season and Tournament) and a Tournament Championship in Volleyball. Our trophy case is getting crowded!

We continue to prioritize resources to enhance the student-athlete experience and place us as a top destination in the MAC for elite student-athletes. In addition to a new effort to fully fund all athletic scholarships across all sports, we completed new locker room renovations in women's basketball, gymnastics, women's cross country, indoor and outdoor track, men's tennis and women's golf. We also debuted the state-of-the-art Bergeron Golf Performance Center. And while construction won't be completed until 2025, we contracted work to replace our turf surfaces in the Donald J Seelye Center and Waldo Stadium. Finally, we continued our important work on the design and construction of the new home of the Bronco hockey and basketball programs, complete with the finest training facility in the country for those sports. As a result of the largest named gift in the history of WMU Athletics, we are poised for more progress, thanks to the generosity of David and Ronda Stafford and the newly named Stafford-Smith Field at Waldo Stadium.

Looking Ahead to a Post-House Settlement World

As you may be aware, Division I athletics is poised for transformative change with the pending approval of the House vs. NCAA Class Action Court Settlement. While the settlement comes with exciting and new avenues to move our industry forward, it could have a broad impact on our financial operations that would be effective this July 1. These include:

Class Action Settlement Damages for Eligible Athletes: All Division I athletes who participated in collegiate sports between 2016 and 2024 are eligible to apply for damages. All Division I institutions are responsible for a portion of these damages, which will equate to a revenue reduction of approximately $425,000 annually at WMU for the next 10 years.
Roster Caps and the Removal of Scholarship Maximums: Newly established NCAA roster limits will cap the number of athletes on each team, and programs will now be permitted to fund as many scholarships as there are roster limits.
"Revenue Sharing" for student-athletes via institutional NIL Licenses: Should they choose to, Division I institutions will be permitted to directly compensate student-athletes through NIL licensing agreements managed by the institution. While institutional resources allocated to this effort will vary across Division I, the "Power 4" are preparing for a $20.5 million dollar allocation to this initiative.

It has been thought in some circles that these changes have little or no impact on institutions outside of the "Power 4". That is not the case. While we continue to work with the Mid-American Conference on our approach to the settlement, we are actively considering a path to sharing revenue in revenue generating sports, as well as increasing scholarships in some women's sports. As you know, we have elevated our academic, community and athletic accomplishments in the past two years, and we believe that embracing this new world is imperative to continue our trajectory. Simply put, we cannot compete unless we present a competitive strategy that compares favorably to our peers within this evolving industry, and we intend to do so.

Of course – we cannot fully embrace this world without the continued commitment and support we receive from each of you. As our strategy takes shape, we will lean on your continued support for all we are doing to advance WMU Athletics. And as always, we will succeed TOGETHER.

All the best in 2025, and GO BRONCOS!

- WMU VP/Director of Athletics Dan Bartholomae

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