LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Bellarmine knew it was entering a new world when it made the decision to move to NCAA’s Division I. But no one knew just how different the world would be.
Think about the changes over the past five years. Transfer portal. Name, Image and Likeness payments. Pay for play from athletic department budgets. From its position as a perennial power in NCAA Division II, Bellarmine basketball entered the domain of sharks.
And it has had a few bites taken out of it. After winning the ASUN Conference Tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament (in which it was not yet allowed to participate) in its second D-1 season, Vermont poached its leading scorer, Dylan Penn. In this offseason, its third-leading scorer, Langdon Hatton, transferred to Indiana. It’s No. 4 scorer, Peter Suder, went to Miami of Ohio.
It was a new look team on the court at Knights Hall when Davenport welcomed the media to its Morning Madness open practice. Bellarmine has completed its long transition process and is entering its first season as a full NCAA Division I member, and there’s a new feel around the program.
Several weeks ago, Bellarmine announced that it would return its home games to the small campus arena, leaving Freedom Hall, where it has been since moving to allow for more fans to watch during COVID restrictions.
But Knights’ Hall won’t look the same for long. Major renovations are in the works, beginning with new technology around the facility, video boards, ribbon boards, even some TV screens in obstructed viewing areas donated by Davenport and his wife, Sharon.
“There's been two big reactions,” Davenport said. “Obviously, from our players, yes, and from the former players who built this program, that reaction to me has been incredibly emotional, because they understand the before and after picture, just like I do. . . . We have to do (the upgrades) based on gym availability and our schedule. All the new technology in terms of scoreboards, video wall, scorer’s table, is going to happen the third week of December. A year from right now, you won’t recognize this place. I think the stage, to give you a reference point, will become like a very exclusive Churchill Downs club. And I think overall it will be an incredibly intimate atmosphere, one that encourages relationships, participation. That's what we need, right? Students, community, the local establishments around here?”
It's an appropriate move, because Bellarmine, in many ways, is trying to compete in a vastly changed environment with some decidedly old-school values.
School officials know, they aren’t going to compete from a financial standpoint with the behemoths that rule college basketball and the rest of college sports. Davenport knows, he has to find a different way.
Of his present team, he said, “What I like is we have 16 players who want to be here. In this day and age that’s not always the case everywhere. It's probably very few places. I think they're here for the right reasons. And it shows when I hear a ball bouncing on Sunday afternoon from my office or I hear music going (out in the gym). Somebody's out there, and they're not out there alone.”
Like everywhere else, Bellarmine’s players make money off their Name, Image and Likeness. But it’s handled a bit differently.
“We do it for everyone,” Davenport said. “And then if someone within the community truly wants to utilize a player's name, image and likeness to help their business, or for something, then we're wide open to them, but it's going to be legitimate. I mean, it's going to be where they're doing things for that company or business entity who ever. They are doing something. They're going to earn it. They're going to earn it because, in the real world, they don't just hand you money.”
Bellarmine is different because, frankly, a lot of things that a player at a school might get NIL money for – showing up at someone’s birthday party, signing autographs, making a call to a fan somewhere – Bellarmine players are encouraged to do for free, as a service to fans, a way of giving back.
And it has worked to develop relationships with local businesses where many recent players have found not just jobs, but careers, whether through Humana or ISCO or Morgan Stanley, Cook and Reeves, Superior Van and others.
“These are things that can pay off for players not for four years but for 40 years,” Davenport said. “These are careers and launching points. So yeah, we invest in our players, and we want the college experience we offer to be a little better. We want to make their next four years incredible, an experience.”
Bellarmine is a place where, when games were played in Knights Hall, players would grab someone out of the arena, sometimes random, sometimes on purpose, to stand with during the national anthem. A former player, Adam Eberhard, used to grab police officers, because his father was a police officer.
In some ways, what Davenport is selling isn’t just NIL like everyone else, but a more traditional experience, and a more traditional college basketball experience. The more college basketball changes, the more he urges players to lean into the experience they’re having. There are periods in the Bellarmine locker room when no phones are allowed to come out. And the goal is to experience time, with your teammates, with coaches, with whatever is going on.
“I just want them to take some time, think after a workout or practice, ‘What could you have done better? What did you do?’ Compliment a teammate. Find out about a teammate,” Davenport said. “And now you know what they do? Individual instruction, they'll stay out, watch the next group get started, hang out. This is what you’re here for. College, college basketball, take it all in.”
Bellarmine is expected to release its schedule on Tuesday. The program will be sending out season ticket information later this week.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” Davenport said. “It’s been a great response, and we are always grateful, and we talk about gratitude a lot. I want our players to be grateful. We know we’re fortunate.”
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
