Dr. Iadarola and Ms. Moll:

I am writing this e-mail to voice my opinion in regards to a decision made by you, the executive management of my alma mater, Cabrini College. I have had some concerns about decisions in the past concerning my alma mater but have withheld comment, due to having faith in the executive management of my alma mater to make decisions, which would help my alma mater grow and foster the importance of an education, as well as life experience, to students in our area. However, my passive approach cannot continue, when a decision so critical to my alma mater is being made, and I believe is being made without the proper time and evaluation needed to make the best decision for my alma mater.

The decision to which I refer is in regards to the renewal of the contract of one of the finest people to walk the grounds of Cabrini College, Mr. John Dzik. John Dzik has been the one long-standing connection for many of us to Cabrini College. Whether the executive management of Cabrini College is willing to admit it or not, athletics at Cabrini College has been one of the major cornerstones of the college. The cornerstone of athletics is John Dzik and the connection to Cabrini for most of the former athletes, including myself, is John Dzik. The reason for my statement of athletics being a cornerstone to the College is due to the amount of publicity athletics has brought to the College. This publicity has been a tremendous marketing tool for the College and this marketing machine started with John Dzik and has continued to grow through his leadership. The bottom line is John Dzik has built a well-known basketball program, along with the rest of the athletic program, which has drawn numerous students to attend Cabrini College. When it comes to athletics, the notoriety and longevity of the program relies on the leadership and coaching staff. There is no longer standing member of the coaching staff and leadership than Coach Dzik.

John Dzik is the person, who convinced me to attend Cabrini, even during a time when the soccer program was going through a transition of coaches, prior to my freshman year (1983-84). When I entered my freshman year, the soccer program was in its' early years and John Dzik was the one stabilizing factor for the program, due to the turnover of numerous soccer coaches over those years. John Dzik was the one person to stand with the '86-'87 soccer team through a very troubling time, as a new coach was hired at the beginning of the season and fired mid-season. He stepped in as our coach, with limited knowledge of the game, but with the passion for Cabrini athletics and knowledge of knowing how to pull a bunch of young men together in tough times. Due to his leadership and guidance, the team went to the NAIA national tournament (one of only sixteen teams in the nation) and in the meantime, he taught us all a very big life lesson, which we are all grateful to you for doing. At a time when the soccer program could have gone on a downward turn, he held us together, provided the leadership and support we needed and I believe help create one of the greatest soccer stories to ever happen in a small college in our area, or even in the nation. So he helped turn a possible catastrophic blow to the soccer program into one of the best success stories, which helped recruit numerous soccer players to the college from that point forward. He became the cornerstone to the soccer program, even while he was building one of the greatest small college basketball programs in the area. Cabrini was and is still very lucky to have him and hearing the news about the contract renewal has greatly upset me, which I am hoping will be reconsidered by the executive management of the College.

The basketball alumni have a very tight connection to Cabrini because of John Dzik and he was beginning to build such connection with the soccer program. His consistent push for a boosters club was news the soccer alumni have been waiting to hear for a long time and I believe he must be the cornerstone to such club for such to be successful. As the soccer alumni matures, the members of the early years of the soccer program are starting to approach the years of our lives when we can finally start supporting the college through finances. I believe his connection to the soccer program during those early years is critical to helping build the connection to all the soccer alumni and help build the bridge to attract financial support to the College and future students, the children of the alumni. Without him, the connection will be very hard to make and will take much longer to build, which I believe will be a missed opportunity for the college.

I, for one, am not willing to support Cabrini College, financially or more importantly, with my time, if the situation is not readdressed and handled properly. Without John Dzik, the history of the sports programs at Cabrini will suffer greatly and from my perspective, the college is losing the one factor, which brought me back to the school. Because of the connection John Dzik made for me to Cabrini College, I became an adjunct professor at Cabrini for numerous years, to give back to the Cabrini community. I hoped to return to the same role in the future but the way he is being treated, makes me question whether such giving of my time is worth the effort.

I implore you to take the time to properly review this decision and God willing, you will have the courage to overcome any issues with pride to reverse a decision, which I believe is detrimental to my alma mater. As an executive in the business world, I understand decisions are not easy to make and even more importantly, the reversal of a prior decision takes even more strength and courage, as pride can cloud such important decisions. I hope you will address the situation in the proper manner and have the courage and strength to make the proper decision, which is to keep John Dzik as the head basketball coach, recruiter, marketer, faithful supporter, and most importantly, role model at Cabrini College.

Sincerely,

John (Sean) P. Meenan, Esq.

Class of 1987