2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF GABE RHODES
“
website, and thousands followed its social
media channels as people across the
country discovered the Peacocks.
“This is really going to be a big lift for
us,” Cornacchia said at the time.
He was right. Saint Peter’s estimates that
the entire tournament run generated about
5.3 billion media impressions, and the victories
over Kentucky and Murray State were
among the 20 most-watched prime time
television events during the week of March
13, according to the Nielsen Ratings.
“We never would have had this kind
of exposure,” says Cornacchia, who lost
track of the interview requests he received
throughout March Madness.
Saint Peter’s enjoyed all kinds of boons
as a result of that publicity and what the
men’s basketball team accomplished.
Angeline Boyer, director of university
communications, says SPU’s admissions
department received 131 new applications
from March 17 through 26, a span covering
all of the Peacocks’ NCAA Tournament
wins. That figure represented a 59 percent
increase compared to the same time
period in 2021, and Saint Peter’s saw a
57 percent increase in submitted applications between March
17 and July 1, which is around the time this story was written.
Cornacchia adds that more resources have been poured into
marketing, and “giving went through the roof ” throughout the
Peacocks’ postseason, which began on March 9 with the start
of the MAAC Tournament. Between then and March 26, Saint
Peter’s received 414 donations worth $2,294,783 in total commitments,
per Chris Aliano, associate athletic director for digital
media and communications. That same stretch in 2021 netted
the school 149 gifts for $475,452.
Folks on campus were eager to spend their money on merchandise,
as Saint Peter’s counted $47,000 in sales on school
grounds from March 17-24. March 24, the day before the Sweet
16 game, accounted for $15,000 in merch sales alone. For reference,
the campus made just $20,000 in sales during the entire
fall semester. But it wasn’t just those in Jersey City buying
Peacocks gear, as online orders came from 45 different states in
the two days that followed the Kentucky game. Licensed Saint
Peter’s products generated more than $100,000 during the first
weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The first eight months of
the fiscal year garnered $50,000.
“This is the perfect, textbook example of the impact that a
successful athletics program can have on a university, financially
and otherwise,” says Paul, who adds that renovation projects at
SPU may move more quickly than originally planned. “It’s great
to actually be in a position now where folks on the other side of
campus are recognizing that, and they’re also reaping the benefits.”
Of course, the influx in resources and increased attention
will help Paul’s athletic department, too.
She added one strength and conditioning staffer to assist all
of Saint Peter’s athletics, and she raised the salaries for sports
This is the
perfect, textbook
example of
the impact that
a successful
athletics program
can have on a
”
university.
Rachelle Paul
Athletic Director, Saint Peter's
medicine-department positions after
learning one such job went vacant all of
last school year due to uncompetitive pay.
Paul notes that former Peacocks have
been clamoring for additional alumni
events, and she is confident the men’s
basketball team will sell more than 40
season tickets this coming campaign (a
digital ticketing service now handles such
matters, instead of Paul’s husband). The
program, meanwhile, earned a larger operating
budget, which comes with hope of
prolonged success. “They did something
really extraordinary for us,” Cornacchia
says of Saint Peter’s basketball. “And I’m
convinced we’re going to be back.”
Adds Paul: “In order to maintain and
sustain this excitement, we just gotta keep
winning.”
Returning to the NCAA Tournament
will not be easy for SPU after the
men’s basketball team underwent
numerous off-season changes.
Several key players transferred, including
Banks (St. Bonaventure), Edert (Bryant), KC
Ndefo (Seton Hall), Matthew Lee (Missouri
State), and twins Hassan and Fousseyni Drame (La Salle). Holloway
became the head coach at his alma mater, Seton Hall—an expected
and typical rise up the ranks when a small-school coach shines at
the Big Dance. Jersey City native Bashir Mason succeeded Holloway.
“Another great coach,” Cornacchia says. “He’s gonna show
us a lot of great things to come.”
With a turned-over roster and coaching staff in place and a
new school year underway, growth at Saint Peter’s University is
still a work in progress. It has been less than a year since the epic
NCAA Tournament appearance, leading Paul to wonder what
gains have yet to be reaped or realized. “There are so many things
that we can’t yet identify as a result of this run,” she claims.
While immeasurable, Cornacchia is certain that pride—or
“strut,” as the Peacocks call it—is at an all-time high across SPU’s
campus. “Everybody here now has a kind of renewed sense of
commitment to the institution,” he says. “We’re always a proud
institution, but even more so now. People know us now.”
Cornacchia went on to say that last year’s tough, confident
team properly represented not only Saint Peter’s, but Jersey
City and the Garden State as a whole. “It truly was a unifying
event for the campus community and the surrounding Jersey
City community,” Paul concurs.
While many of the faces that made that happen are now gone,
they are certainly not forgotten. Paul insists that they never will
be at Saint Peter’s.
“Their impact on the university will forever be felt, and we
will celebrate them,” she says. “We will continue to celebrate
them. They’ve left a lasting legacy on Saint Peter’s—on the men’s
basketball program and the university as a whole. Nothing can
take that away from them.
“We are so proud of them.”
SEPTEMBER 2022 NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 73