25 Years of Athletics at Felician University: A Reflection by A.D. Dinallo

As Felician University’s Director of Athletics for the last 17 years, Ben “JR” DiNallo is keenly aware of the need for the Golden Falcons to make continuous progress on as many fronts as possible. His job performance is evaluated by both the on-field and academic success rates of Felician’s 14 intercollegiate sports programs, and he and his staff are expected to provide an ever-improving experience for each student-athlete — a group that now numbers close to 300.

Director of Athletics Ben “JR” DiNallo

DiNallo understands that scrutiny comes with the territory. But whenever he doubts the Golden Falcons’ evolution, he just thinks back nearly a quarter of a century.

The start of the 2020-21 Golden Falcon athletics season has been delayed until January by the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it finally begins, it will mark the 25th year of intercollegiate sports at Felician. DiNallo has been employed by the athletics department for all of the first 24. He started at the then-Felician College as a part-time assistant coach of women’s basketball and softball.
“In Year One (1996-97), we had four sports, and we didn’t have residence halls,” DiNallo recalls. “The two men’s sports (soccer, basketball) figured out some form of off-campus housing, but in the two women’s sports (basketball, softball) we tried to keep the recruiting local. The basketball teams were going to places like Bergen Tech and Wood-Ridge High just to practice, and the men’s team actually played two home games in the Immaculate Conception High gym.”

The following summer was one of the most important in the history of the institution. “Before Year Two, we purchased the Rutherford Campus from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and that gave us more of a true feel of college athletics,” DiNallo said. “There were glitches, like we still had the old scoreboard in the gym from FDU, which didn’t always work. But we now had residence halls, which allowed the women’s teams to branch out their recruiting, and a true home for the basketball teams.”

Fall 1998 saw Felician hire DiNallo full-time as Assistant Athletics Director, Sports Information Director, and head coach of both women’s basketball and the brand- new women’s soccer team. The growing pains continued, but so did the excitement.

“Every year got a little better,” DiNallo said. “It wasn’t always ideal. The two soccer teams would practice on the same field at the same time. The soccer teams and the basketball teams would just about always travel together to conference doubleheaders. In a way, though, that made it fun. What few athletes we had were very tight-knit.”

Amid those humble conditions rose success. Felician won Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference titles in men’s soccer and the newly added men’s cross-country in both 2000 and 2001, and the 2001 women’s soccer team won the league regular-season crown. In 2002, the softball team set the school record for wins which still stands, and the baseball team, founded two years earlier, won its first of six CACC regular-season titles.

In his current role as Felician’s Athletics Department’s leader, DiNallo knows that not much of what happened two decades ago would be acceptable today. At the same time, he tries never to forget the Golden Falcons’ spartan roots.

“This is an NCAA Division II program and there should be high expectations.” he said. “There’s no disputing that. But very few of our people realize what we made do with in the early years. We need to continue to evolve, but in doing so, hopefully we don’t lose perspective on how far we’ve already come.”

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About Felician University

Felician University engages over 2,300 undergraduate, graduate, and adult students through programs in Arts & Sciences, Business, Nursing, and Education. Universal Franciscan values of social justice, compassion, and respect for human dignity serve as an inclusive foundation for transforming the lives of tomorrow’s leaders. Felician University’s education is ranked 3rd best return on investment for private colleges in New Jersey 2018 by the PayScale.com College ROI Report and is ranked #1 safest college campus in the state by niche.com.