DU’s Autumn academic quarter has not begun, and students aren’t even on campus yet. However, fall sports are well underway at University and Buchtel. Basketball just finished summer practices, and men’s (1-1) and women’s (1-0-3) soccer are in full swing. Volleyball begins play later this week. All this as questions swirl around the changes, challenges, and opportunities confronting Denver and collegiate athletics at large.

#4 DU men’s soccer (1-1) opened their season at Pioneer Field with a 2-0 victory over Washington before falling to 2-1 Standard in Palo Alto last night. Denver women’s soccer (1-0-3) defeated Air Force 2-1 in Colorado Springs before forcing three straight draws against Colorado College down south, and Baylor and Seattle at the Rumble in the Rockies in Missoula, MT.

DU Volleyball travels to LaLa Land later this week to face USC and Loyola Marymount in exhibition play before returning to the Mile High City to open non-conference play September 4th against Texas Southern at Hamilton Gym.

Five things warrant our collective careful observation during the upcoming academic year:

• College hockey is facing big questions with the return of Canadian Major Junior players to NCAA rosters (the very thing that helped fuel DU’s national dominance under Murray Armstrong in the ’60s and ’70s), not to mention the beginning of the NCAA’s new financial era with revenue sharing & NIL “regulations” that benefit the big-money programs. Denver, for its part, as added Peter Mannino, the 2005 national champion goaltender its new Assistant Athletic Director for Name, Image and Likeness. Overall, DU is taking a relatively conservative approach to NIL and profit sharing, so it will be interesting to see how Denver stacks up in the new, ever-changing environment against the Big 10 and even conference foe ASU as they begin to spread their TV and football revenue around their athletic programs.
• This season, DU men’s soccer, ranked #4 before falling to Stanford on the road, is looking for College Cup redemption. After losing to eventual national champion University of Vermont in a shootout in the national semis, can Denver seal the deal and finally win their first national title this fall? They have their annual rigorous non-conference schedule, which should prepare them for conference play against an improved Summit League and eventual playoff gauntlet.
• DU men’s basketball has undergone a major transformation with a new head coach – Tim Bergstrasser – and a host of D2 transfers, four of which came from his former Minnesota State-Moorhead team. Can Denver compete in the Summit League with a new coach, new system, and a roster full of scrappy gym rats? Add DU’s most difficult schedule since the 2014-2015 season, and there are a host of unknowns heading into the 2025-26 season. Washington, Colorado State, Arizona, and Wyoming highlight the tough non-conference schedule.
• Will DU Gymnastics rebound from the loss of All-American Madison Ulrich to national power LSU with the lure of NIL money? Veteran assistants Linas Gaveika and Stephen Hood departed Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart’s staff during the spring. However, according to our sources, Kutcher brought in some of the most talented young assistants in gymnastics, including Megan Haught and Mary Rice. Staff changes can often help programs reach new heights. Time will tell.
• Finally, can Denver’s men’s and women’s lacrosse teams take the next step? The DU men’s lacrosse team has fully transitioned from Bill Tierney to Matt Brown’s team. Can ‘Brownie’ source the talent and drive his team to be the dominant Big EAST force once again and compete for an eventual national title? It will certainly help that his roster boasts five members, including tournament MVP goalie Grayson Manning, of Team Canada, which won gold at the U20 World Championships for the first time. Liza Kelly, for her part, continues to make national noise with her team but must surpass a host of traditional powers in North Carolina, Northwestern, and Boston College. Can Kelly’s team surprise the blue bloods and, eventually, secure DU’s first women’s team national championship?
  

  ---

Top photo courtesy of the University of Denver