LIU’s Ribner: Everything’s Coming up Sharks

Change is never easy, and over the past three years, Long Island University’s athletics department has undertaken a monumental renovation, one perhaps unprecedented in modern NCAA Division I athletics. Joining two geographically separate campus athletics’ program—with different mascots, separate histories, and one a DI program, the other a DII school—has proven to be an audacious and painful process.

Along the way to losing both the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, whose identity was one of the most storied in New York City long basketball history, and the LIU Post Pioneers, a perennial power in DII field hockey, football and soccer, the university embraced a plethora of new programs—men’s lacrosse, women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s hockey,

After suffering the lumps—and scorn—from alumni and student athletes alike, Lloyd Ribner, the LIU Associate Athletic Director who is a fixture on LIU’s Downtown Brooklyn campus, may finally experience the benefits of what has been a high risk / reward proposition.

In the past few week, the Sharks—a mascot name adopted for the new combined DI (except in football, which is DI AA) athletics department that encompasses 32 intercollegiate sports—played for five Northeast Conference championships: men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, men’s golf and women’s tennis, That they won twice—men’s golf and women’s—might disappoint some, but those fans can appreciate that for the 12th time in the past years, LIU women’s volleyball won the NEC and advanced to the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Alas, the Sharks were a first-round victim to Pitt. But, they were in the big show.

This spring saw a tremendous milestone achieved by Laura Fekete; the university’s first-ever NCAA individual title. She defeated Notre Dame’s Kaylin Hseih to capture the epee title at the NCAA National Championships in State College, PA.

And, there’s more to come. In its second year of existence, the schools women’s water polo team captured its conference top spot. The Sharks (7-0; 7-0 MAAC) were the top seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s 2021 Championship, which takes place today and tomorrow at Marist’s McCann Natatorium. A MAAC title comes with an automatic berth in the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament; it would be the first-ever for an LIU aquatics program—a possibility which ended yesterday when the Sharks withdrew from the tournament.

Another staple of LIU success is its softball team. Head Coach Roy Kortmann is gunning for an 11th NEC title; with a 25-3 record, the Sharks are likely to host the 2021 NEC Softball tournament this month.

After LIU water polo won its first-ever match in the Steinberg Wellness Center, their home pool, Ribner spoke about the team’s and his program’s recent string of success.

- It’s a great run for LIU Athletics at the moment. How do you put this into context?

Everybody across the country’s had a really tough year. Luckily, we’ve got a great group of individuals. You win with people and we’ve come together as a group and overcome a lot of adversity that’s come our way. That’s created excellent results both on the field and in the pool and in the classroom for our student athletes.

We’re very proud of our five NEC appearances; water polo basically in their first year a top-25 ranking—so exciting—a national champion in fencing.

One of the things that I’m most proud of is that over the past year we won the NEC academic award for highest GPA for our entire department.

That’s the people we have who our working here: our great coaches, great support staff and unbelievable student athletes.

- Because of COVID-19, you’re doing all this to some extent in a vacuum—which must have its frustrations. You’ve got a brand-new athletic field which no one can see, you’ve got a beautiful pool with an undefeated polo team which fans can’t enter. How are you adjusting to the reality that fans—who make such an impact on athletic competition—are not allowed in?

Are student athletes have done an unbelievable job playing in front of nobody. What we’ve done as a department is step-up our live-streaming efforts, including our water polo events—the same way we’re live-streaming our basketball and football games.

We’re trying to provide the same level of content for fans, parents and student athletes from all our teams, to make sure they have access to [matches].

We cannot wait to invite Shark fans back to our campus. We look forward to having the success from this year roll into next year. Winning breeds winning, and we’re excited to invite our fans and families back and have them be part of it.

Out on the Post campus for any of our outdoor sports, we are allowing two family members per athlete. At least they’re allowed to be there—it’s different because they need to be socially distant.

With the lack of seating area in Downtown Brooklyn, safety is paramount to us. We have to make sure that our student athletes and visiting student athletes are safe. That’s why we’ve stepped up our streaming efforts and we look to continue that for all our families and fans around the country.

- It’s nice when the stream delivers good results for LIU fans, including recent matches for Sharks polo—including a win a home win on Thursday, the first ever at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

It’s unbelievable for our first-ever home water polo event to see the girls out there have an unbelievable offensive output, play some great defense and play as a team.

I’m very proud of Coach Juarez and everything they’ve put together with this program.

I couldn’t have asked for more with our first water polo event.

- What’s impressive is Juarez has not only tapped into domestic polo talent—she has convinced fantastic athletes from all over the world to come play in Brooklyn.

All of our teams dip into international waters when it comes to recruiting. We’re a national and international institution and have students from all across the globe. You see that with our water polo program and it’s something we’re very proud of.

Being in Downtown Brooklyn in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, we’re a destination that—no matter where you grow up, you know where New York City is. When you come here, the city is your campus, and that’s something that speaks to our student athletes.

They’re able to have a dorm life here on campus and so many other things we can support—and then they’re able to walk outside the gates into the greatest city in the world.