Drexel AD Maisha Kelly looks back on a year of change, from the Daskalakis Athletic Center to the Big 5

With the school year coming to an end and Drexel recently joining the Big 5, now is a good time to look at some of the broader aspects of Drexel athletics.

The Inquirer spoke with Drexel athletic director Maisha Kelly last week about a wide range of Dragons-related topics. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: Earlier in the year, when you and I spoke about the Daskalakis Athletic Center, you said that you wanted it to become a central place on campus. How do you think the first year of basketball and the first year of the new DAC has gone in accomplishing that goal?

A: We have certainly seen some markers of success. Our student attendance was up, and that is really important to us because … the energy of what a student fan base can bring, that really does inspire movement. And it really can be an important component, sixth man, for any basketball program. That was a really tremendous sign that shows “OK, we can engage our students in this space.” We certainly continue to trend well with regard to our fans, and we’ve got some things where we need to continue to just look on what we do to keep engagement in the community, engagement for the university community and the West Philadelphia communities at large. ... And as I always say, not that it’s a multipurpose space, but we do want to feel like it is an extension of the human campus experience.

Q: How has NIL and the transfer portal affected Drexel, especially as a mid-major school?

A: I think that the effect is not as much as the comings and goings, though there certainly is some of that. ... But I think the effect really is the mental energy and attention that you have to give on how to ensure that you can still be viable and competitive in the space. So what I mean by that is, what are we doing? Are we doing enough? What things can we be leveraging just to ensure more of a type of offense and not be on the defense? But also looking at it like how do we defend ourselves in this landscape, too, to try to protect what is an important asset to us, and that’s a student who comes here and wants to pursue their degree in four or five years as a Drexel student because that’s our No. 1 goal. And in doing so, obviously, we want our programs and our student-athletes to pursue championships.

» READ MORE: Drexel AD Maisha Kelly offers insight on the evolution of NIL

Q: What are your goals for Drexel athletics?

A: We just actually completed, in the last month or so, we more or less finalized it, our strategic plan. [It] has been here for just under two years, and part of our last year’s work was to really coalesce around a strategic plan. And our goals will likely always be the same goals, just how we execute them and what the sort of objectives within those goals may change over time as we get better and evolve. But it will always be about academic and personal excellence. We want our students to come, and we want them to pursue degrees of their choice and to grow intellectually as well as grow as people, and we’ll always and have strong commitment to that, commitment to them growing as people within a community, whether it’s the Drexel community, weather it’s West Philadelphia, Philadelphia, the global community. We want athletic excellence where we have our student-athletes that get to come in as individuals continue to improve in their [sports]. ... And the way in which we do that, of course, will be about a focus on recruiting, focus on what our facilities look like. How do we support them to be athletically successful?

Q: I know that there was the ceremony for Drexel men’s basketball, but is all of Drexel athletics now considered a part of the Big 5?

A: What’s interesting is the Big 5, I think that some sports have certainly turned their competition against one another as a Big 5 matchup. The construct of the Big 5, kind of the formal construct, to my knowledge has always been based around basketball. Any of the conversations that we’ve had about, at least from Drexel’s perspective, it really has been about basketball and for the inclusion in Big 5 award ceremonies, Big 5 competition, and, of course, now this new way of competing in the Big 5 with the pods and the classic. That’s really what we have established as a formal construct.

We, on our campus and certainly will extend this to larger conversations, is what does it mean to as other sports who compete in this Philadelphia matchup scene, so to speak. What’s the best way to consistently brand and extend that knowing that I think some sports call it, like, the City 6 stuff? To the point of brand enhancement, like how do we make sure that this Big 5 brand, that it’s really clear as to what it means and for our purposes, right now, it really is this basketball construct, but there’s matchups across the six of us that I think are labeled in a variety of ways, and how if the other five institutions have been celebrating those in a formal way, that’s not something that we’ve talked about joining and not something that we’re fully aware of as happening as a formal construct.

» READ MORE: Thoughts on the new structure of the Big 5 tournament? Thumbs-up.

Q: How do you think that joining the Big 5 will impact both men’s and women’s basketball teams?

A: I mentioned about brand enhancement being one of our goals. And it certainly strengthens our brands. I’ll go back to quoting my college coach and saying “You’re known by the company you keep.” For us, that’s tremendous. Not only do we get to be a part of a membership within our conference, but now formally being in a membership with other Division I institutions here in Philadelphia, that strengthens our brand, that strengthens our story.

I think over time, the newness of Drexel being a part of it, it doesn’t become the centerpiece of the conversation, but it’s about identifying Drexel as a Big 5 institution, so as we recruit local talent, as we talk about the opportunities that come with competing here, as a student-athlete at Drexel, this is the kind of competition, this is kind of experience, these are the kind of rivalries. But I think it really helps from a recruitment standpoint in telling that story. And also there’s some built-in opportunity as it relates to scheduling, and so those are all things that enhance our competitive opportunities that also give us that ability, not just to execute a schedule, a competitive schedule as it relates to competition, but it’s also something that prospective students illustrate. Here’s what it looks like. Here are the matchups that you’ll be able to experience over your four or five years of being a Dragon.