Dear Owls Fan,

In the span of the past week, I have imagined a boathouse and signed a beam. I have watched exciting basketball and dreamt of another bowl game. I have done what an athletics director gets to do when things are moving in the right direction.

Our new mantra is "It's a great time to be a Temple Owl!," and last week was no exception. It started with news from our athletics development team that one of our great friends, Dr. Athole Jacobi, made a major commitment toward our efforts to construct a dedicated Temple Boathouse along the Schuylkill River for our rowing programs. On behalf of our student-athletes and coaches, I thank Dr. Jacobi for her generosity. We look forward to the day when Temple's crew teams are back where they belong -- in a first-class facility befitting the programs' heritage and tradition.

The next day, I joined President Ann Weaver Hart, Trustee Committee on Athletics Chair Lewis Katz, our basketball coaches and several student-athletes for a beam-signing ceremony to commemorate the construction of Temple's basketball practice facility as part of a larger renovation to Pearson and McGonigle Halls. Scheduled to open in fall 2011, the basketball practice facility is one more piece of the puzzle. It manifests the university's commitment to athletics and to our vision of comprehensive excellence.

Two victories by our No. 21 ranked men's basketball team to open the 2010-11 season followed, and as I watched both our men and women in a home debut doubleheader, I became excited at the prospects for both our squads.

Members of the administrative team have joined me in preparing for Temple's potential participation in football postseason play. Granted, we still have a monumental game at Miami (Ohio) on national television (ESPN2, 7:00 PM Eastern) on Nov. 23 , but we're hopeful for Temple's second consecutive bowl game appearance and we want you to start thinking about supporting the Owls no matter our destination. (Click here to complete the Temple Postseason Inquiry Form.)

This past week just scratches the surface! Clearly, this is an athletics program on the rise. We are worth talking about. We are worth seeing. And most importantly, we are worth your participation.

I heard Bret Perkins, the new president of the Temple University Alumni Association, speak recently on the value of "one thing." Bret's point was that if every Temple community member did just one thing for the university, imagine where we could collectively take Temple!

Drilling down to Athletics, we have more than 14,000 living former student-athletes. While many of our former letterwinners are engaged with our sport programs in some way, imagine the potential for our program if every single Owl could find their "one thing" to attach to -- whether purchasing a season ticket, making an Owl Club contribution, attending an event, etc.

In every way that you can measure a Division I athletics program's success -- academically, athletically and socially -- Temple is succeeding. Our student-athletes outpace their non-athlete counterparts in the classroom and in graduation rate. We have nationally ranked sport programs and some of the best coaches in the business. We contributed more than 5,000 hours of community service last year alone.

Our internal investment is strong, as our decisions are too. Still, we cannot climb the mountain alone. To be the kind of program we want to be, and the kind of program our students and alumni deserve, the external commitment must follow the internal commitment.

In 2010 football season, we were up 31 percent in full-season ticket sales (new and renewing) from the previous season and increased new full-season ticket sales by over 500 percent. For the 2010-11 basketball season, we are up 7 percent in total full-season ticket sales (new and renewing) from the previous season and have increased new full-season ticket sales by 80 percent.

While season tickets, revenue and attendance are trending higher, we still have significant work to do to achieve our goals. Our football season ticket base reached 84 percent of our 2010 goal and our men's basketball season ticket base currently stands at 71 percent of our 2010-11 goal. The Temple Owl Club donor membership stands at just over 2,200 members, including over 100 young alumni donors to our brand-new Graduate Owl Club, designed for alumni less than five years removed from Temple.

Friends, we are making progress but must continue to aggressively grow in our revenue-performing areas: attendance, fundraising and sponsorship. For those of you who may not be doing your "one thing" yet, I assure you that there is no better time to participate. Good seats abound in the Liacouras Center this basketball season. Exciting Owl Club benefits are available to those who make gifts to our athletics program. Or, take a "test drive" and come to an event in your area soon. As always, I appreciate your feedback and your investment as we work together to build and sustain an athletics program you can be proud of today and tomorrow.