The foundation laid when the University launched its first basketball team in the 1950s has developed into a flourishing part of Eastern’s campus life. Over the years, a total of 24 programs were added, with unprecedented growth happening over the past 10 years. The addition of Track and Field, Esports, Cheer and Dance, Marching Band, Men’s Volleyball, and Football programs during that time has helped grow the department from around 260 athletes in 2014-15 to nearly 700 athletes this Centennial year.

With that growth, the Athletics Department has been intentional in its staffing efforts, including hiring full-time head coaches for every sport along with assistant coaches and graduate assistants for most larger programs. Academic support professionals, along with strength, conditioning, performance, and wellness personnel, have also joined the department to care for our student-athletes holistically. Thanks to the support of our Athletic Training and Athletic Communications staff, the department will stream nearly 150 events in the 2024-25 season, and Eastern’s five full-time certified athletic trainers will use nearly 75 boxes of tape to treat ankles, wrists, and knees.

In 2022, the University signed a long-term lease with Valley Forge Military Academy, which now provides an extra weight room for all of Eastern’s teams, as well as a home Football field and important practice facility for Track and Field. Eastern’s Softball Field had an overhaul completed in 2019, and Eastern’s Baseball Field, known as “The Yard,” has been under construction since the fall and will boast an entirely new facility with synthetic turf in the middle of campus. The turf field will limit the impact of bad weather on the schedule and will enable the program to compete for top recruits with the leading teams in the region.

Beyond the growth that has already happened, Eastern Athletic Director Eric McNelley has announced the University’s intention to add several more men’s and women’s sports thanks to the planned expansion of the indoor athletic facility on the St. Davids campus. These additions will enable us to serve a larger and increasingly more diverse group of student-athletes as we fulfill the mission of the University.

As exciting as the growth in athletics is on a University level, it is even more rewarding to see the impact that Eastern coaches, professors, and peers have on the lives of the student-athletes in our growing programs. Students are being transformed by their participation in Eastern’s athletic programs, developing character traits like perseverance, courage, faith, and teamwork that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

This article was originally featured in the Spring 2025 Centennial Edition of Eastern Magazine.