A Letter from Bruce Kirsh: Vice President/Director of Athletics at Franklin Pierce University

Dear Prospective Student-Athletes:

Hello and thank you for taking the time to learn more about Franklin Pierce University ... a special school in an inspiring learning environment. The Franklin Pierce Department of Athletics is very excited about adding three new sports: sprint football, men's and women's track & field/men's cross country and women's ice hockey.

At Franklin Pierce, we see participation in intercollegiate sports as a wonderful compliment to an education. Our hope is that it fosters growth, not only in your particular sport, but also in your personal development. Lifelong lessons learned through sports involvement will benefit you well beyond your years at the University. Intercollegiate competition demands a serious commitment. It requires long hours of dedication and perseverance. It enables individuals to work together to achieve a common goal.

Our athletic department continued its run of success in 2010-11. Again, four teams earned NCAA Tournament bids, including the men's and women's soccer teams, women's basketball and baseball. Men's soccer and baseball each hosted their respective NCAA regional tournaments at Sodexo Field and Pappas Field, respectively. The men's soccer team won both the Northeast-10 Conference regular season and tournament championships, while women's soccer, women's basketball and baseball each advanced to their respective league championship contests.

Franklin Pierce Athletics has a rich tradition, including six NCAA Division II national championships, four other appearances in NCAA finals, 60 NCAA Tournament bids and 44 conference championships. Franklin Pierce student-athletes have also combined to win 10 national player-of-the-year awards.

With all that success, Franklin Pierce Athletics has been recognized by several respected media outlets, including: Sports Illustrated, ESPN 2, ESPNU, CBS Sports Network, USA Today, USAToday.com, NCAA.org, NCAA on Campus, NESN, NESN.com, ESPN.com, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Baseball America and the New England Hockey Journal.

While our on-the-field success is impressive, I am perhaps most pleased by our 170 student-athletes who posted a grade point average of 3.0 or higher during the 2010-11 season. Ten (10) of our 17 teams on campus posted a GPA of 3.0 or better.

Franklin Pierce student-athletes also give back to the local community, which serves as a great source of pride to the University. Raven student-athletes have offered their support to various charities, including: the Make-A-Wish Foundation; Relay for Life; breast cancer awareness; reading programs at local elementary schools; youth rec programs at local schools; sponsoring local families during the holidays through the Salvation Army; and cleaning up playgrounds.

With the addition of the three new sports, Franklin Pierce Athletics plans to recruit the same caliber of student-athlete for each program. Through hard work and determination, the success listed above can be attained by those individuals in the new programs.

We look forward to cheering on these new teams in the years to come and we hope that you will want to be a part of an exciting present and future of Franklin Pierce Athletics.

Sincerely,

Bruce Kirsh

Vice President/Director of Athletics

Franklin Pierce University