Mt. Mercy Women's Basketball

Gavin: Football could be good for Mustangs

Paul Gavin thinks adding football could be an excellent move for Mount Mercy University if the school decides to head in that direction in the next few years.

He will have an important voice in the final decision as the new athletic director at the NAIA school in northeast Cedar Rapids.

Gavin, 49, has left his job as the men's basketball coach at Mount Mercy after 23 years to succeed Scot Reisinger as the A.D.

Mount Mercy has been studying the possibility of adding football for several months and a final decision is expected by approximately Feb. 1, 2016.

"I think personally - and this is totally my opinion - if done right and done properly, it could be incredible for our university. And if it's not, it could be a detriment," Gavin said Sunday in his first public interview as the new athletic director.

"Knowing this administration and knowing how Mount Mercy does things, they're going to make the right decision that will positively affect the most people. I'm sure the right decision will be made."

Mount Mercy joined the Heart of America Conference earlier this year, but the membership came with a stipulation: The Mustangs must have a varsity football program by 2018 or face possible eviction from the league.

It would take a huge investment by the university in terms of money, facilities, coaching staff and student-athletes to start a competitive college football program from scratch, but Gavin thinks Mount Mercy could pull it off.

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Gavin named new A.D. at Mount Mercy

Paul Gavin has been selected as the new athletic director at Mount Mercy University and he's already made two major appointments in the department, the Metro Sports Report learned Saturday.

Aaron Jennings has replaced Gavin as the men's basketball coach at Mount Mercy. And Bob Kintzel has replaced Jennings as the women's basketball coach on an interim basis for this season.

An official announcement of all three moves is expected Monday.

Gavin, 49, compiled a 387-329 record in 23 years as the men's basketball coach at Mount Mercy. He is the winningest men's basketball coach in school history and led the Mustangs to three NAIA national tournaments, including a trip last season to the second round.

Gavin succeeds Scot Reisinger as the school's athletic director. Reisinger became the new dean of adult programs at Mount Mercy in August after serving as the athletic director since 2006.

Gavin has spent most of his adult life at Mount Mercy as a successful student-athlete and coach. He graduated from Mount Mercy in 1988 and was a star basketball player and golfer for the Mustangs. He also has been the successful men's golf coach at Mount Mercy, but will be stepping aside from that post as well to become the full-time athletic director.

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Kirkwood, Mount Mercy host jamboree Sunday

Kirkwood Community College and Mount Mercy University will co-host a women's basketball jamboree this Sunday.

Twelve teams will participate in the event, which begins at 10 a.m. at Johnson Hall and the Hennessey Recreation Center. Each team will play three short exhibition games.

There will be nine games at each gym, scheduled 45 minutes apart.

Here is the schedule:

AT KIRKWOOD

10 a.m. - Kirkwood vs Saint Ambrose
10:45 a.m. - Southeastern vs Clarke
11:30 a.m. - Iowa Central vs Saint Ambrose
12:15 p.m. - Kirkwood vs Clarke
1 p.m. - Southeastern vs Grand View
1:45 p.m. - Ellsworth vs Saint Ambrose
2:30 p.m. - Kirkwood vs Grand View
3:15 p.m. - Southeastern vs Culver-Stockton
4 p.m. - Ellsworth vs Grand View

AT MOUNT MERCY

10 a.m. - Marshalltown vs Blackhawk
10:45 a.m. - Ellsworth vs Mount Mercy
11:30 a.m. - DMACC vs Blackhawk
12:15 p.m. - Marshalltown vs Culver-Stockton
1 p.m. - Iowa Central vs Mount Mercy
1:45 p.m. - DMACC vs Culver-Stockton
2:30 p.m. - Iowa Central vs Blackhawk
3:15 p.m. - Marshalltown vs Clarke
4 p.m. - DMACC vs Mount Mercy

Jennings signs 19 for Mount Mercy women

Some college basketball coaches grow tired of recruiting and think it's simply a necessary evil, but Mount Mercy Coach Aaron Jennings enjoys hitting the road and finding new players.

That's good, because Mount Mercy is adding a junior varsity program for the 2015-16 season and Jennings needed to sign a big class to have enough players for the varsity and JV squads.

He's signed 19 new players for this season, including six junior college transfers and 13 high school seniors.

"Recruiting is kind of exciting," he said this week. "It's just like a game. It's challenging, and just like you have competition in a game, you have competition in recruiting.

"You're selling your program and yourself and your school to the kids, and you're competing with all the other excellent programs in the area and in the state and sometimes out of state."

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