Alumni Perspective - Mike Gilb '08

D3Hoops.com began a terrific conversation via twitter raising the question of why student-athletes and schools would choose to participate at the Division III level. This struck the interest of one of our Trinity Basketball Alums and spurred him to submit an insightful recollection in our latest Alumni Perspective.


MY TIME AT A DIVISION III SCHOOL

Sometimes people ask me what I would do if I could go back and do it all over. To be honest, I’ve asked myself the same question. If I put in more work in high school, could I have played at a big-time D-I program? What would it be like to play college ball in front of 30,000 fans or in an arena like Cameron Indoor? Even though I can’t answer those questions, as I look back at the time I spent at Trinity – the experiences, the games, the friends – I find myself wondering, if I could change things, would I even want to?

It’s going to sound cliché, but attending Trinity allowed me to be a true student-athlete and still have time to be a normal college kid. I went to all my classes, made friends, had fun, goofed off – and played a very high level of basketball. I truly believe Division III schools hold this unique advantage over D-I and D-II institutions. You are expected to be a student first, an athlete second. Please don’t get me wrong, we took basketball very seriously. During my time at TU, we won conference championships, competed for national championships, finished the season ranked in the top 5 nationally, took a Big 12 team with two future NBA lottery picks down to the wire, and won more games than any other stretch in school history. If you really wanted to get Coach upset though, you didn’t mess up on the court, you messed up off it. We were expected to be model students and model citizens. I’m not sure this sentiment exists at higher levels of the NCAA.

Because we were held to a higher standard, we worked harder than the average student. We did every bit of school work and found time to put in 3+ hours a day for basketball. We learned how to multi-task, how to juggle commitments, and how to manage our time most efficiently. We learned how to be grown men. We didn’t have notes handed to us – we learned class material and put in the hours to get good grades. We weren’t one-and-done players moving on – we became friends for life. We didn’t have a tutor doing the work for us – we juggled class, basketball, and a social life successfully. When we graduated, we could not only look back with pride on what we had accomplished at our time at Trinity, we could look forward to the future with confidence that those years had prepared us for what lie ahead.

In my mind, this is what makes Division III athletics so special. The expectation to succeed not only on the court but in the classroom forces you to become a well-rounded individual. Your time as an athlete will come to an end. Mine did, but I’m grateful every day for the lessons I learned as a Trinity University athlete and how ready I was for life after basketball.


Go Tigers.


Mike Gilb ‘08

Nine Tigers Make Academic Honor Roll

We are extremely proud to acknowledge nine of our Trinity Tiger basketball players for making the SCAC Spring Academic Honor Roll. The athletes are:

Clarke Allan '14
Ryan Beall '12
John Boxberger '13
Sam Dworkin '11
Matt Feldman '14
Sam Harris '12
Gil Melchior '12
Joe Shotland '14
Joel Van Essen '13

These guys embody what Division III and being a student-athlete is all about. Not only did they dedicate themselves to their teammates and contributed to our successes, but they also were able to balance their time and excel in the classroom, earning over a 3.25GPA for the semester. There are no mandatory study hours. We do not have special "athletic department tutors" specifically assigned to overlook our players' grade point averages. These guys are able to figure out how to be successful on both an academic front, as well as athletic.

Congratulations gentlemen - keep up the good work!

Class of 2015 Commitments

Trinity Basketball has now received five commitments for next year’s incoming freshmen class. The following players will be wearing maroon come October 15:

Charles Allen 6’3 Guard – Second Baptist School, Houston, TX – Averaged 18 points and 6 rebounds for a Texas 4A TAPPS semifinalist. Voted First Team All-District and Second Team All-State. Charles is an athletic guard who rebounds/defends very well, while combining deep shooting range and the ability to score in various ways off the dribble.

Jimmy Clark 6’3 Wing – Rockford Lutheran School, Rockford, IL – Averaged 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists his senior season. Voted to the Big Northern All-Conference Team, Illinois 1A/2A All-State Fourth Team, and a Rock River Senior Classic All-Star Game selection. Jimmy is a very physical perimeter player with the ability to score the ball in various ways and willing to do the dirty work for his team’s success.

Matt Hopper 6’4 Wing – Rock Canyon High School, Highlands Ranch, CO – Averaged 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists while shooting 40% from the three-point line. A three-time All-Continential League selection, while being named to the First Team his season year. Voted a Colorado 5A All-State Honorable Mention and Academic All-State selection. Matt brings tremendous athleticism to the wing position, with the ability to step out and make the deep three-point shot. He will also be playing on the Trinity Football team, where he was a First Team All-South Metro selection at the quarterback position.

Craig Saltarelli 5’11 Guard – Fairview High School, Boulder, CO – Averaged 14 points and 5 assists for a Colorado 5A State Runner Up. Named to the All Colorado State Tournament Team his junior season. Voted First Team All-Front Range League and Second Team All-Region, as well as, a two-time Academic All-State selection. Craig brings a great amount of versatility at the guard position, with the ability to score from anywhere on the court, along with a natural sense of finding open teammates.

William Young 5’10 Guard – St. John’s School, Houston, TX – William is transferring in from Arizona State where he was a redshirt freshman last season for the Sun Devils. In high school, he averaged 18 points, 8.5 assists, and 1.5 steals. A two-time TABC Large Private All-State and three-time All-Southwest Preparatory Conference selection. William is a gifted ball handler/passer and a true point guard with the ability to make big plays.

We are thrilled to bring in this athletic and skilled group of players, all of whom epitomize today’s “student-athlete.” Please join us in welcoming Trinity’s Class of 2015!

Guardian of the Game

Every year the National Association of Basketball Coaches holds their convention in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Men's Final Four. During the convention, the NABC hosts its annual awards show honoring many different levels of accomplishments throughout college basketball. This year, our own Coach Pat Cunningham received the "Guardian of the Game - Advocacy Award." This is quite the honor, as there are only four "Guardian of the Game" awards given each year - Leadership (Don Meyer, Northern State), Education (Charlie Coles, Miami, OH), Service (Bill Self, Kansas), and Advocacy (Pat Cunningham, Trinity), and recognizes Coach Cunningham for his years of hard-work serving the NCAA and NABC.

If you know Pat Cunningham, and haven't done so already, feel free in joining the Trinity Basketball Community in congratulating Coach for this tremendous (and most necessary) recognition.

2011 SCAC Tournament Wrap Up

There was some terrific basketball played at this past weekend's SCAC Tournament in Jackson, MS. The Tigers came out of the gates on fire Friday against Rhodes, but came up two points short of making the championship game against DePauw on Saturday. It was a tough way to end the season, but our guys "left it all on the court" and we couldn't have been more proud. For our players that are returning, this will hopefully motivate them to continue to improve over the off-season and build on this year's successes.

It was amazing to find ourselves in position to make a run at the SCAC Title this season, especially considering the slow start we had; but, that is a testament to the type of players we have on our team. They bought into what we were trying to accomplish as a group and therefore were successful. That attitude and dedication to the team was apparent in Saturday's game against DePauw. We were down early by double digits and it would have been very easy for our guys to start trying to take over the game individually, but instead, they continued to play the way the coaching staff was asking them to and gave themselves a chance to win the game at the end. Collective efforts like that often go unnoticed when a team loses, but it was really a defining quality in this year's team.