From The Desk of Dr. Patrick Kraft

What a year it was to be a Temple Owl!

From the start of the 2015 fall season where Football posted its first win over Penn State in 74 years to the 2016 spring season highlighted by academic records set by our student-athletes in the classroom, it has been quite a ride for our Cherry and White.

Here are some of the many memories I will take from this amazing year!

Record-setting grade point averages and APR numbers by our student-athletes, including a new semester record 3.22 GPA for Spring 2016
All-time high of 4,876 community service hours performed by our student-athletes over a record 50 projects
Football garnering its first national ranking since 1979, winning the AAC East Division, tying a record for wins in a season and earning a trip to the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl
ESPN's College GameDay coming to Philadelphia for our Notre Dame game and the ABC national telecast setting a record with an 18.1 share in the Philadelphia market
Tyler Matakevich earning National Defensive Player of the Year (Bednarik and Nagurski Awards) and Consensus All-American honors
Men's Basketball winning the conference regular season title and earning its seventh trip in nine years to the NCAAs
Senior Alyssa Delp earned All-America honors in leading Field Hockey to a second straight berth in the BIG EAST Championship game
Blanca Fernandez won her first six races, including the AAC Championship and NCAA Regional title, and became women's cross country's first All-American. She also set a school record in the 5000 meters and earned All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championship
Freshman Sylvia Wilson won the 60m hurdles at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship
Men's Soccer earned its first national ranking since 1997 while Women's Soccer posted a season-record 12 wins
Women's Basketball posted its first upset of a nationally-ranked team in seven years with a thrilling 68-66 win over #19/17 USF
Fencing won its 20^th straight NIWFA Championships and four Owls competed at the NCAAs.
Junior gymnast Briana Odom was co-champion at the ECAC Championships in the floor exercise.
Women's Lacrosse advanced to the BIG EAST Championship game on the strength of a 13-win season.
On the river Men's Crew won its first medal at the Dad Vail Regatta since 2008 while Women's Rowing had its best-ever finish at the American Athletic Conference Championships

This is just a sampling of the many accolades and highlights our student-athletes, coaches and teams earned during this amazing year.

Now, we look forward to even greater success for Temple Athletics during the 2016-17 academic year. We eagerly anticipate the opening of the Temple Sports Complex, the new home of men's and women's soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and women's track.

Enjoy the rest of your summer Temple fans, and I look forward to seeing everyone at a game this fall cheering on your Owls!!

Always remember - GREATNESS DOESN'T QUIT.

Dr. Patrick Kraft
Director of Athletics

Temple University Athletics

From The Desk of Dr. Patrick Kraft

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