USD Magazine, Spring 2004

Harbaugh runs through drills with his new squad.

Not-So-Grand Finale The 2003-04 USO basketball season came to the expected end at March's West Coast Conference tournament in Santa Clara, Calif. The USO women, 1-1 3 in the wee and 6-21 overall, scored a thrilling 87-81 double-overtime win agai nst Sr. Mary's in the first round before falling to Pordand, 76-64, in

to che conference championship game, Harbaugh's ability to rally his team co win games chat seemed lose earned him the nickname "Captain Comeback." But Harbaugh brings not just his own experience. When he took the USO job, one of the first calls he made was to talk fellow coach Dave Adolph out of retirement and onto his staff. The veteran defen– sive coach, who spent 21 years in the NFL and retired in 2000 as assistant head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, couldn't say no. "The thing chat secJim apart from most other quarterbacks was his heart," Adolph says. "Every player in che NFL has skill, but preparing '.tl quarterbacks coach basically deals with three guys, " Harbaugh says, referring to the trio ofsignal-callers most pro teams employ. "Here I've got a rare opportunity to make a difference in the lives of 100 student-athletes. " to play a Jim Harbaugh team was made more difficult because ic is so hard to defend against a competitor who just refuses to lose. I'm very happy to be on his team, because being on che ocher side was a headache." In addition to Adolph, two former teammates from Harbaugh's two-year seine as quarterback of the San Diego Chargers, Charles Dimry and Reggie Davis, will join him on the Torero sideline. Ir's all part of Harbaugh's plan to lee the players know the level of dedica– tion he expects. "Our guys will not just benefit from having coaches with a fantas– tic amount of football knowledge, but also by seeing che way true professionals conduct themselves away from football ," he says. "In addition to recruiting, my first priority here was co build a first-rate staff, and when you add (Adolph, Davis and Dimry) to the terrific coaches who won eight of 10 games last year, I chink chat's exaccly what we have." Harbaugh knows some of his former colleagues view his move from the NFL to USO as a seep down, buc he scoffs at the notion

Brice Vounang

Positive Strokes The swimming ream capped a strong season by finishing third in a 15-team field at the 2004 Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference championships in Long Beach, Calif., trailing only UC San Diego and UC Davis. Following the sea– son, sophomore Ashley Swart was selected to compete at the NCAA Tournament at Texas A&M's College Station campus. Swarr, a 2003 honorable mention All-American, is a veteran on a team that includes a dozen freshmen. Last year, she was the first swimmer in university history ro qualify for the NCAA Tournament, where she fin– ished 11 ch nationally in the 400- yard individual medley. Coach Mike Keeler says the success of che ream's young swim– mers chis season bodes well for the future. "The experience of chis year is going to be of tremendous help next year," Keeler says. "(Junior) Jamie Jackson really took a leadership role this season, and (sophomores) Nichole Draa and Ashley Rose also

round rwo. The men, 1-13 in confer– ence and 4-25 overall, were easily dispatched by Santa Clara, 82-48, in round one. Both teams, however, saw bright spots in otherwise disappointing seasons. For the women, senior Marta Menuez wrapped up her USO career as one of rhe program's best players ever, becoming just rhe eighth hoop– seer in school history ro rack up more than 1,000 points, and landing fifth on USD's all-rime scoring list. Menuez was named to the first-team Ali-WCC team for the second con– secutive year, and was honored by San Diego's Hall of Champions as the January 2004 Scar of the Month. Junior Brice Vounang was a stand– out for the men , earning a spot on the All-WCC first team and being named the first recipient of a new honor, the WCC Newcomer of rhe Year Award. The junior from the African nation of Cameroon aver– aged nearly 20 points per game in conference play.

chat Division I-AA is any different from che pros. "I've seen football at every level - high school, college and the pros, " he says, "and what it comes down to is running and passing, blocking and tackling.

Ashley Swart

stepped up and made major contri– butions. We were third in the con– ference laseyear and third again chis year, so our goal is pretty clear for next season, to break through to rhe next level."

Founders Father: Harbaugh, wife Miah and family at the 2000 baptism of daughter Grace with Monsignor Daniel Dillabough of USO. We compete against similar programs, and che game is the game. There is a lot of work to do before the season starts, but if we scare now, doing the things we need to do, chis fall is going to be a whole Joe offun."

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SPRING 2004