The simplicity of a GPS system on one's mobile device is welcome progress from the days of rolled and/or folded road maps when sometimes north and south meant as much as east and west. The reassuring, automated voice prompts sort out the lefts, rights, straights, forwards and reverses to get you to your destination as efficiently as possible.
For San Jose State University Athletics, the decade (2010-2019) that just concluded had its GPS registering growth, progress and success measured in:
• Student-athlete participation rates
• Facility construction, upgrades and enhancements
• Unprecedented fund-raising and sponsorships
• Celebrity sightings and
• Success and recognition beyond wins and losses in competition
Here is a look at San Jose State University Athletics from 2010 to 2019. The review covers many, not all, major Spartan Athletics events of the 2010's. These events, activities, highlights and accomplishments stand out and offer a vision to the 2020's ahead.
#1 ON THE LIST
The most important event of the decade occurred on May 6, 2012 when San Jose State University publicly accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West beginning July 1, 2013. At the start of the decade, the Spartans held conference memberships in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).
The Mountain West would provide a better geographic fit, a level of stability, and opportunities to grow existing programs according to then interim athletics director Marie Tuite, who was named athletics director in July 2017. Network television exposures would increase significantly in the Mountain West.
• A 16-sport Spartan Athletics program in 2010 now has 22 sports (nine men's and 13 women's programs) after the additions of:
• women's outdoor and indoor track and field and beach volleyball in the 2013-14 academic year and
• the reinstatement of men's water polo in 2015 and men's indoor and outdoor track and field in 2018.
The growth of San Jose State sports sponsorship and membership in the Mountain West, WAC for men's soccer, MPSF for gymnastics and women's water polo and the Golden Coast Conference for men's water polo coincided with an unprecedented sequence of athletics facility enhancements and additions on the main campus and at the 62-acre South Campus.
MAJOR CHANGES AT THE SOUTH CAMPUS:
• Completion of the 10,000-square foot Stephens Family Pitching and Hitting Facility in 2012,
• Opening of the 15-acre Spartan Golf Complex practice facility in 2017,
• The Spartan Soccer Complex opened behind CEFCU Stadium in 2017,
• The ceremony for the Spartan Tennis Complex in December 2017,
• The unveiling of the Spartan Softball Complex in April 2018,
• Construction of on-campus beach volleyball courts in 2019, and
• The June 5, 2019 "groundbreaking ceremony" for the Spartan Athletics Complex on the east side of CEFCU Stadium.
MAIN CAMPUS UPGRADES
- New locker room and lounge areas for the men's and women's basketball teams,
- Upgrade to the long-standing Spartan Gym for women's volleyball in 2014, and
- SRAC (Student Recreation and Aquatic Center) in 2019 as the new home for water polo and women's swimming and diving.
SOUTH CAMPUS PROJECTS FINANCED THROUGH PRECEDENT-SETTING MAJOR GIFTS
• The Spartan Foundation, chartered in 1958, would be replaced by the year-round Spartan Athletics Fund in 2017.
- Keith and Tricia Stephens with the Stephens Family Pitching and Hitting Facility
- Stan and Marilyn Gadway - Scott Gadway Academic Resource Center Patio and the Spartan Athletics Complex
- Larry and Deidre Solari, John Hopkirk and Anne Murphy, Kevin and Sandy Swanson, Steve and Cheryl Caplan, Thomas Thompson and Jane Bradley, and Larry and Elaine Sparling - the Spartan Athletics Complex
• Friends of San Jose State men's water polo raised the necessary capital for the program's reinstatement in 2015. The Spartans were ranked in the top-15 in the final national coaches poll in 2017 and 2019.
COMMITMENT TO A MAJOR GIFTS PROGRAM COINCIDED WITH FIRST-TIME CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS AND NAMING RIGHTS
• In 2017, the Spartans were the first Mountain West school to join the adidas family for apparel and equipment in a six-year deal.
• In 2016, the university and the Citizens Equity First Credit Union (CEFCU) reached a 15-year, $8.7-million agreement to rename Spartan Stadium CEFCU Stadium.
• In August 2019, Provident Credit Union and San Jose State agreed to a 20-year, $8.1-million partnership to rename The Event Center the Provident Credit Union Event Center, home for the Spartan men's basketball, women's basketball and gymnastics teams.
• The Transamerica/WFG (World Financial Group)Western Intercollegiate men's golf tournament, the longest running men's college event west of the Mississippi River, became the Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf on the GOLF Channel in 2019. There were 18 hours of live national college golf coverage.
• The Women's Tennis Association's Silicon Valley Mubadala Tennis Classic began in 2018. Twenty-eight of the top women's players in the world spent a summer week playing for a championship event leading up to the annual U.S. Open in New York.
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS
• Serena Williams playing in the 2018 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic
• Venus Williams, Serena's older sister, played in the 2018 and 2019 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classics.
• World soccer superstar Lionel Messi of Argentina trained on the South Campus practice fields for a week in preparation for the 2016 Copa America tournament.
• Through the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change, the powerful and thought-provoking Words to Action town hall series kicked off in January 2017 with panelists including Basketball Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, former U.S. National Team women's soccer player Danielle Slaton, NBA All-Star Chris Webber and ESPN.com writer for The Undefeated Marc J. Spears. The March 2018 Words to Action town hall featured pro basketball executive Ann Meyers Drysdale, former U.S. Olympic swimmers Anne Cribbs and Nancy Hogshead Makar, WNBA Hall of Famer Ruthie Bolton, and San Francisco 49ers offensive assistant Katie Sowers.
• Via satellite in September 2017 – entertainer and television star Ellen DeGeneres surprises San Jose State running backs coach Alonzo Carter in CEFCU Stadium. The syndicated Ellen Show and Cheerios provided a $25,000 check to support the football program's Beyond Football initiative. Thanks to major commitments to the team's digital and social media platforms, Coach Carter became a Twitter and internet sensation in April 2017 reprising his past as a lead back-up dancer and choreographer for rap performing icon MC Hammer.
• The Carolina Panthers used the same South Campus practice facilities in preparation for Super Bowl 50.
• A year later in January 2019, the Clemson University football team conducted its final practice before winning the College Football Playoff National Championship at Levi's Stadium.
20 HIGHLIGHTS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
#1 – The Spartan women's golf team opened the decade winning the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Western Athletic Conference Championships making it four years in a row – all under the leadership of head coach John Dormann, who retired after the 2018 with four conference Coach of the Year awards, including one in 2012 and one in 2017.
#2 – The last time San Jose State students were seen "rushing the court" was on February 23, 2011, in a nationally-televised 74-72 overtime win against New Mexico State on ESPN2. Senior Justin Graham became the career assist leader in the win as Adrian Oliver scored 36 points, but it was center Matt Ballard, who sent the game into overtime with a free throw with 0.7 seconds left in the second half. The 2011 Spartans would go on to play in the CBI post-season tournament.
#3 – Katie Valleau scored a personal best 9.900 in the floor exercise to win the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Regional Championship in Corvallis, Ore., and advance to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships. She would finish 36th, the best finish by a Spartan in an individual event at the NCAA Championships.
#4 – Chandler Jones became the second player in NCAA Division I history to score a touchdown rushing, on a fumble recovery and receiving in one game when San Jose State defeated Hawaii, 28-27, on ESPN, on October 14, 2011. Jones' 37-yard game-winning TD reception with 0:36 to go in the game preceded Duke Ihenacho scoring the Spartans' first two-point defensive extra-point in history on an 81-yard return which included limping the last 40 yards into the end zone. Ihenacho's run was one of GEICO's nine Plays of the Year nominees.
#5 – San Jose State won the 2012 and 2013 Western Athletic Conference Women's Swimming Championships. Head coach Sage Hopkins was named WAC Coach of the Year both years. Freestyle sprinter Marisa DeWames, a 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier, was the 2012 WAC Swimmer of the Year. In the two championships, she swam on four winning relay teams and won the 50 free twice and the 100 free in 2012.
#6 – Jay Myers won medalist honors and led San Jose State to the team title at the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Championship and a NCAA Regional berth. Myers was named the conference's Player of the Year. It was the second year in a row a Spartan won the individual title. Mark Hubbard was the 2011 WAC champion.
#7 – The 2012 football team finished with an 11-2 win-loss record, won the Military Bowl, and was ranked 21st in the final Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls and 24th in the final Bowl Championship Series standings.
#8 – David Fales passed for a San Jose State single-game record 547 yards and six touchdowns and scored on a quarterback sneak as the Spartans knocked off undefeated and #16-ranked Fresno State, 62-52, on November 29, 2013 in the final regular-season game nationally televised from Spartan Stadium.
#9 – Guard Jalen James becomes the second San Jose State men's basketball player to be credited with a "triple-double" scoring 12 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and handing out 10 assists in a 74-72 non-conference comeback win against the University of Houston on December 7, 2013. The Spartans trailed by 15 points at the 9:01 mark of the first half on the road.
#10 – Ta'Rea Cunnigan becomes the first San Jose State basketball player to score 2,000 points in a career leading the Spartans to 99-97 win at UNLV on March 6, 2015. Four days later, Cunnigan and the Spartans would become the second #8-seeded team in Mountain West Women's Basketball Tournament history to beat a #1-seed in a 64-55 victory over Colorado State.
#11 – Men's soccer midfielder Rory Knibbs scored a three-goal "hat trick" in 7:38 of the second half in a 4-2 non-conference win over Sacramento State on September 4, 2015.
#12 – Pitcher Katelyn Linford threw the 12th San Jose State softball no-hitter in history in a five-inning 8-0 win over Nevada, on March 18, 2017. Linford would finish the season with a 24-8 win-loss record and earn honorable mention All-America honors in the Spartans' second conference championship season in four years.
#13 – Goalkeeper Paige Simoneau was named the 2015 and 2018 Mountain West Women's Soccer Tournament Most Valuable Player. In 2015 as a freshman, she stopped three penalty shot attempts, two in a quarterfinal round win over New Mexico and one in the championship match against host San Diego State to send the Spartans to the NCAA Championship for the first time in 15 years. San Jose State would return to the NCAA's in 2018 with Simoneau in goal for the Spartans.
#14 – Distance runner Jose Pina became the first Spartan in 32 years to qualify for the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships. In 2016 as a sophomore, Pina finished eighth at the NCAA Regional Championships and 174th at the NCAA Championships.
#15 – Swimmer Colleen Humel won 20 consecutive backstroke races between October 22, 2017 and January 20, 2018. At the 2018 CSCAA National Invitational, she would earn "Swimmer of the Meet" honors setting six school, conference and meet records helping San Jose State finish fifth overall and tops among the Mountain West schools.
#16 – The long jump was the bread and butter for the early San Jose State women's track and field teams. Kelsey Johnson-Upshaw, as a freshman, won the 2015 Mountain West Outdoor Championship in the long jump. Cambree Harbaugh became the first Spartan to win a Mountain West Indoor Championship, also in the long jump. Destiny Longmire followed in 2017 and 2018 as the second athlete in conference history to win back-to-back outdoor titles in the event. Longmire would go on to become San Jose State's first women's track and field All-America with a 14th place finish at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
#17 – First baseman Shane Timmons of the baseball team drove in all six San Jose State runs in a 6-5 Mountain West win over Air Force on May 18 to clinch a 2018 Mountain West conference tournament berth. Timmons staked San Jose State to a 4-0 lead in the third inning with a grand slam, his school record 26th homer of his career. His RBI single in the bottom of the ninth turned out to be the game-winner as the Spartans went 13-4 in their last 17 Mountain West games.
#18 – Distance runner Craig Huff became the first San Jose State men's track and field athlete in 34 years to win a conference championship race with his victory in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2019 Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships. His personal best time of 8:47.52 is #2 on the all-time Spartan list in the event.
#19 – In October 2019, men's golfer Sean Yu played seven rounds of tournament golf in 31-under par . He set a school record with a bogey-free 10-under par 61 in the first round of the 2019 Alister MacKenzie Invitational at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif. He would finish second in the tournament with a 15-under par 198. Yu would close out the 2019 fall season winning the Pacific Invitational with an 11-under par 205 for 54 holes. The early sign that Yu could play that well was his 11-under par, second-place finish at the 73rd Western Intercollegiate presented by Topgolf in April 2019.
#20 – Distance runner Jennifer Sandoval became the first Spartan to qualify for a NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship. She finished 82nd in a field of more than 250 at the 2019 Championships. Earlier in the year, she set school records in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the outdoor track and field season, qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships preliminary meet.
20 RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
#1 – Peter Ueberroth (Water Polo, Swimming) – 2016 Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor conferred by the NCAA and the 2016 San Jose State University Tower Award, the university's highest award
#2 – Stacey Johnson (Women's Fencing) and Dr. Harry Edwards (Basketball, Track and Field) were inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
#3 – Major General Anthony L. "Tony" Jackson (Football) in 2011, Bob Ladouceur (Football) in 2015, and Dr. Harry Edwards in 2016 were awarded honorary doctorate degrees by San Jose State University at the annual spring commencement ceremony in Spartan Stadium.
#4 – In the decade of the 2010's, eight San Jose State teams earned at least one NCAA Public Recognition Award for achieving the maximum Academic Progress Rate score of 1,000. Men's cross country and women's golf (four each); gymnastics (three), beach volleyball and women's water polo (two, each); women's basketball, women's cross country, and women's swimming and diving (one, each) were recognized.
#5 – Women's tennis and women's swimming and diving were consistent award winners for team academic performance. The ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) named San Jose State a national team academic award winner eight years in a row. The Spartans have earned a CSCAA (College Swimming Coaches Association of America) Scholar All-America team honor 13 consecutive semesters.
#6 – Shanice Howard (Gymnastics) – 2011 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Female Sports Scholar of the Year by Diverse Issues in Higher Education; FYI – the male award winner was current Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
#7 – Darcie Anderson (Swimming), Ta'Rea Cunnigan (Basketball) and Stephanie Relova (Gymnastics) were named conference representatives in the NCAA Woman of the Year program. Anderson was a Mountain West representative in 2014; Cunnigan, Mountain West in 2015; and Relova, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2019. The program honors graduating female student-athletes for their achievements in academics and athletics and their participation as leaders and in community service.
#8 – Tim Crawley (Football) – In 2017, Crawley traveled to New York City and became the first San Jose State recipient of a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete award $18,000 postgraduate scholarship
#9 – Dani Curran (Women's Water Polo) – Completed her San Jose State career in 2012 as the Spartans' first four-time All-America in the sport. Curran scored 237 goals and was the first Spartan to score at least 50 goals in each of her four seasons.
#10 – Marie Klocker (Tennis) became the just second player in Mountain West history to earn eight all-conference honors as a four-time All-Mountain West player in singles and doubles during her career as a Spartan from 2014-17. She finished her career as the San Jose State career leader in combined singles and doubles victories with 142.
#11 – Two-time second-team All-America Clara Espar Llaquet (Women's Water Polo) becomes the first player in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the strongest women's water polo conference in the country, to score at least 90 goals in multiple seasons. She scored 96 as a freshman in 2014 and 94 in 2015. Espar Llaquet would go on to the 2016 Olympics representing Spain.
#12 – David Quessenberry (Football), a 2012 finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy and a co-captain of the Spartans, is named the National Football League's 2017 George Halas Award winner given to "…the player, coach or staff member who overcomes the most adversity to succeed." The offensive lineman drafted by the Houston Texans in 2013 overcame a three-year battle non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and played the 2019 season for the Tennessee Titans.
#13 – Linebackers Keith Smith and Frank Ginda (Football) were named the Football Bowl Subdivision annual champions for tackles per game in 2013 and 2017, respectively.
#14 – Punter Michael Carrizosa (Football) was invited to the 2015 Home Depot College Football Awards program in Orlando, Fla., as one of the three finalists for the Ray Guy Award given annually to the best punter in college football. Carrizosa was a second-team All-America punter in 2015 as San Jose State won the inaugural AutoNation Cure Bowl over Georgia State, 27-16, in Orlando Fla.
#15 – The Beyond Football program founded in July 2017 is averaging over 5,000 hours a year of personal development, campus interaction, and community service activities. The Ellen Show and Cheerios and a grant from the Bill Belichick Foundation are two generous supporters of the Spartans' Beyond Football program.
#16 – Natasha Andrea Oon, as a freshman, turned in the Spartans' best NCAA Women's Golf Championships individual finish in more than 20 years. Oon earned second-team All-America honors finishing ninth at the 2019 NCAAs.
#17 – San Jose State's 31-24 football win at Arkansas on September 21, 2019 earned the Spartans the Reveal Suits Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) National Team of the Week honors.
#18 – Olympic track and field greats Tommie Smith, John Carlos and John Powell received various awards during the decade. Smith and Carlos were co-recipients of the 2018 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Award at the ESPYs, the 2018 Tower Award in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of their actions promoting human rights at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and were inducted into the United States Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2019. Powell was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2019.
#19 – Conference team champions & #20 – Conference major award winners
| 2018 | Mountain West women's soccer |
| 2018 | Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women's gymnastics |
| 2017 | Mountain West women's soccer regular season champion |
| 2017 | Mountain West women's tennis |
| 2017 | Mountain West softball |
| 2017 | Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women's gymnastics |
| 2015 | Mountain West women's soccer |
| 2013 | WAC softball |
| 2013 | WAC women's tennis |
| 2013 | WAC women's swimming |
| 2012 | WAC men's golf |
| 2012 | WAC women's swimming |
| 2012 | WAC women's golf |
| 2011 | WAC women's golf |
| 2010 | WAC women's soccer |
| 2010 | WAC women's golf |
| 2019 | Josh Love (Football), Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year |
| 2019 | Kristen Amarikwa (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year |
| 2019 | Cassidy Clark (Softball), Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year |
| 2019 | Jenessa Ullegue (Softball), Mountain West Pitcher of the Year |
| 2019 | Dana Dormann (Women's Golf), Mountain West Coach of the Year |
| 2019 | Abegail Arevalo (Women's Golf), Mountain West Player of the Year |
| 2019 | Natasha Andrea Oon (Women's Golf), Mountain West Freshman of the Year |
| 2018 | Paige Simoneau (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Tournament Most Valuable Player |
| 2018 | Andrew Mitchel (Baseball), Mountain West Co-Pitcher of the Year |
| 2017 | Lauren Hanson (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Coach of the Year |
| 2017 | Darriell Franklin (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year |
| 2017 | Jamilecxth Becerra (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Newcomer of the Year |
| 2017 | Peter Turner (Softball), Mountain West Coach of the Year |
| 2017 | Chad Skorupka (Women's Tennis), Mountain West Coach of the Year |
| 2017 | John Dormann (Women's Golf), Mountain West Coach of the Year |
| 2017 | My Leander (Women's Golf), Mountain West Player of the Year |
| 2017 | Shella Martinez (Gymnastics), MPSF Assistant Coach of the Year |
| 2017 | Taylor Chan (Gymnastics), MPSF Freshman of the Year |
| 2016 | Brandon Clarke (Men's Basketball), Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year |
| 2016 | Dezz Ramos (Women's Basketball), Newcomer of the Year |
| 2016 | Riana Byrd (Women's Basketball), Sixth Player of the Year |
| 2015 | Lauren Hanson (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Coach of the Year |
| 2015 | Paige Simoneau (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Tournament Most Valuable Player |
| 2015 | Zoe Makrigiannis (Women's Soccer), Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year |
| 2015 | Morgan McCormick (Women's Swimming), Mountain West Freshman of the Year |
| 2015 | Cami Guyer (Gymnastics), MPSF Gymnast of the Year |
| 2014 | Darcie Anderson (Women's Swimming & Diving), Mountain West Female Scholar Athlete of the Year |
| 2014 | Gaelle Rey (Women's Tennis), Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year |
| 2014 | Julia Greer (Gymnastics), MPSF Gymnast of the Year |
| 2013 | Tyler Winston (Football) – Mountain West Freshman of the Year |
| 2013 | Cody Blick (Men's Golf) – WAC Player of the Year; WAC Freshman of the Year |
| 2013 | Amanda Pridmore (Softball), WAC Pitcher of the Year |
| 2013 | Peter Turner (Softball), WAC Coach of the Year |
| 2013 | Sage Hopkins (Swimming & Diving), WAC Swimming Coach of the Year |
| 2012 | Sage Hopkins (Swimming & Diving), WAC Swimming Coach of the Year |
| 2012 | John Kennaday (Men's Golf), WAC Coach of the Year |
| 2012 | Jay Myers (Men's Golf), WAC Golfer of the Year |
| 2012 | Thomasina Wallace (Gymnastics), WAC Gymnast of the Year |
| 2012 | Marisa DeWames (Swimming & Diving), WAC Swimmer of the Year |
| 2012 | Tim LaKose (Women's basketball), WAC Coach of the Year |
| 2010 | Kayla Santa Cruz (Women's Soccer), WAC Freshman of the Year |
| 2010 | Zack Jones (Baseball), WAC Freshman of the Year |