This week, the Mount Aloysius athletics department celebrates DIII Week, an NCAA initiative focused on the celebration and recognition of Division III student-athletes, their experiences, and their contributions. 

"I always had a passion for sports and competition, but I remember distinctly in high school being a student athlete and thinking "Wow, these guys do this for their job."

Kevin Kime, approaching his twentieth season at the helm of Mountie baseball, remembers coaching as a natural conclusion.

"I went to college, I got a degree in education, I always wanted to teach, and so coaching was just a different means of teaching in a different classroom setting. It allowed me to be around the game that I loved, that I still love, and it enabled me to be around young motivated individuals who have the same passion for the game that I have."

Kime's role extends beyond head baseball coach, acting also as an Associate Vice President and the Director of Athletics for Mount Aloysius. Despite the expansion of his duties and the particular chaos of any given day, his passion for the sport and the athletes remains apparent. Between meetings, committees, practices and games, his computer screens stay filled with taped at-bats and stat sheets, always looking for another tweak, another improvement. The first Mount Aloysius coach to surpass 300 wins, then 350, Kime still talks about coaching as an opportunity.

"I think it's a privilege to be able to coach and to be around young people that love their sport, especially in Division III… I think it's a privilege to serve those student athletes… we get to compete with them, be on the field with them, and mainly have an impact on their lives."

Two offices down sits women's basketball head coach Brian Giesler, coming off a program record-tying 17 win season.

"This place has allowed me to grow, [and] I can't say enough about how good the people are. It's not an exaggeration to say that when you walk around campus, people know who you are, you're getting genuine interactions… you don't get that everywhere." Giesler says, looking back on his first entry into Mount Aloysius as a graduate student in 2015.

Despite a decade sitting between now and his last college game as a player, the passion for the sport remains, made no less intense by each passing season. 

"[DIII] is what I played in, it's what I know… You play because you want to be here… Deep down, you can't give it up… It's that love of the game, and the chance to continue to compete."

Just as with Coach Kime, there is something beyond the game, beyond the competition that draws Coach Giesler back each year.

"It has to do with the impact that was made on me by coaches, and just the ability to have the type of relationships and potential impact, it's all I've really known… Being able to push them but still put your arm around them, to be involved in different parts of your life, you're not necessarily family, but you spend so much time with them it kind of turns into that. Being able to have a lot bigger extended family than most do is probably the best description." 

The desire for impact and passion for the game extends throughout the department. Seated at the front of the Mount Aloysius athletic offices is Michelle Ross, Athletics Operations Coordinator for all NCAA teams on campus. 

"I have loved sports my whole entire life. I grew up playing all kinds of sports, it's just me. I have always loved college sports, this is like the perfect job for me."

While now out of coaching, Ross spent time as the assistant softball coach early in the school's NCAA membership. 

"I remember we didn't have enough girls to play a conference game… [The athletic director] told me I need to have nine girls on that field, even if I have to walk through dorms and knock on doors to do it. So I did."

With memories of that tumultuous first season offering some hesitation, Ross would agree to step in as interim head softball coach for the 2024 season. After dropping the opening game of the double elimination conference tournament, the Mounties would end their season with an improbable (to some) run to the AMCC Championship game. Ross, of course, never doubted the team.

"That was awesome to me. It was the first time as a coach I ever made playoffs. I knew they were going to make it, but me coaching that game, standing on the third base box, it was just awesome. Almost made me want to do it for a living." Ross says with a smile, content to stay off the field. 

Still, with a steady stream of players stopping by the office to say hello, Ross finds herself down by the dugout for almost every home game, letting the umpires know she's just as invested as she's always been.

Alongside Ross in her interim coaching season was Coach Brianna Baker, wearing yet another hat for Mount Aloysius. The head women's volleyball coach, Associate Athletic Director, and Senior Woman Administrator knows just about everyone on campus, stemming back from her playing days.

"From then until now, there's just been so much growth, and it's been fun to be a part of that and see where we came from to where we are now." She remembers, joining the Mounties as a volleyball and basketball player out of high school. Excelling on the court, Coach Baker would earn All-Conference honors in both sports, setting her eye on coaching.

"I went for education, but I always knew I wanted to coach at some level… My coach retired my senior year, so then he encouraged me to apply for it." 

Hired as the women's volleyball coach after graduation, Coach Baker's commitment to community service saw her moved to campus ministry and the communication department in addition to her coaching roles. Three years ago, she would land back in the athletics department with new leadership roles, energized with the experiences on campus. 

"I like working with college students and helping them figure out life, and it doesn't even have to do with the sport… I think there's so much growth in college, good and bad, ugly and pretty, there's so much stuff that happens and I like being a part of that."

Still, with the women's volleyball team remaining central for Coach Baker, nothing seems to scratch the same itch as the season. 

"This is where I want to be… I literally love my job, and not many people can say that and mean it." 

Coach Baker is not the only Mountie to make the transition from player to coach within the bounds of campus. At work with pitchers in the weight room, assistant baseball coach Patrick Gully recalls his first experience with the school. 

"I didn't know what to think going into [the tour], but after leaving, it was a no-brainer that I wanted to be here… The team was just so welcoming."

After four years as a catcher for Mount Aloysius, Coach Gully remembers Coach Kime from the perspective of a player, well before he became his assistant coach. 

"[He is] extremely knowledgeable about the game, to the point that it was super overwhelming as a freshman coming in, especially as a starter… He was a lot more hard-nosed than he is now." Coach Gully says, grinning as he remembers his undergrad years. 

As quick as he is to laugh at moments in their early time together, he is even quicker to recall why he chose to continue his relationship with Coach Kime. 

"Even to this day, you never have to question if he has your back or if there's any trust concerns or anything like that. He's always had an open door policy, back then and now… [he] would hold us accountable in almost everything that we do, that's never changed." 

It was no question, then, when the call came through about an open assistant coaching spot.

"[Coach Kime] offered me the position, I thought about it for maybe 10 or 15 minutes… I called him right back, same day, and took the position."

While certainly an important factor, Coach Kime would be just one reason for Coach Gully's decision to return to Mount Aloysius. 

"Just being able to stay [in the game], being able to go back to my alma mater and be able to give back what I just reaped for four years. A quality experience, good coaching, making kids feel like they're wanted and cared for… I think that's our unmatched support compared to other schools… You don't have that family atmosphere like you do here. It's always been resonating through our campus, since my visit to present day."

Still, at the heart of it all, is the passion for the game.

"I love the sport of baseball. I enjoy seeing it all unfold, from the start to the finish... I think that's probably the biggest thing, seeing that transformation… It's in there, it's within each kid."

As Coach Gully works in the weight room, the youngest head coach on staff gets to work outside, leading the women's lacrosse team in her first season in charge. Courtney Vought would be hired off the Mountie field after graduation, spending four years playing soccer and lacrosse.

"It's easy for me to recruit because I just talk about the school like I normally would, so it's like I get to talk about something I believe in. If I went anywhere else, it wouldn't happen." Coach Vought says as she puts together her first recruit class. 

With such a recent transition from player to coach, leading past teammates could prove challenging for some. For Coach Vought, it was an unbelievable opportunity with a bittersweet end in sight.

"It's sad when they leave. I think this year is going to be the hardest, because it's all my friends right now."

Despite the impending changes and the graduation of her teammates and friends, Vought looks ahead to a coaching career fostering the same impact felt throughout the athletics department.

"I wanted a job that had an impact… I saw the impact that my previous coaches had on me… Being able to see the girls pass their nursing exams, anything like that, it's really cool when they're really excited."

While passion for the game sits at the center of every coach, a familiar refrain begins to materialize through the conversations, the actions, and the experiences.

"It's always been about the relationships, because the wins and losses will fade. The records will fade… But the relationships last for a lifetime, and that's what it's all about." Coach Kime describes. 

The relationships throughout Mounties athletics, and the campus as a whole, prove powerful enough to have the sort of impact every coach sets out trying to have. Growing by the year, drawing more people in and enriching those fortunate enough to be a part, these relationships foster success in the games; they make those involved want to pass it forward; they make every day an opportunity for something incredible; they make someone want to move seven hundred miles from home to be a part of whatever this might be. 

Coach Kime, still just as in love with the work as he's ever been, sums it up. "This place has been so special to me. I've been here almost twenty years, it gave me the opportunity to start a coaching career… I still love this place… There's not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for being here and for being able to work with our student athletes." Still, that other part, that important part, is perhaps better said by Coach Giesler:

"I love the people I get to do it with."