Dear Keydet Nation,
My previous letter was written in March so let's pick up where we left off and wrap up the spring season. Water Polo finished the season with seven wins; it marked the first time since 2019-2020 that the program has won seven or more games in consecutive seasons. Ten Keydets represented VMI Rifle at the Junior Olympic Championship in Alabama. Lacrosse, under first-year Head Coach Taylor Mendoza, qualified for postseason play for only the third time in program history. Coach Mendoza also recorded the most wins as a Head Coach in a debut season at VMI. Baseball finished the season with twenty-eight wins, that marked the fourth consecutive time the program has won twenty-five plus games each season. Track & Field's Cameron Thomas (pole vault) and Morgan Fraser (high jump) both captured SoCon titles at the Outdoor championships. This month
LaRon Bennett was named the new Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. I'm thrilled about the future of track and field and cross-country program under Coach Bennett's leadership!
New Opportunities & New Achievements In April, we announced a first ever multi-sport NIL partnership with
Promino. Eight cadet-athletes will serve as brand ambassadors for a global company geared to promote healthier, more active lifestyles. In year one of our partnership with the NIL store, VMI Athletics finished
4th (highest selling school category) and VMI Football
5th (highest selling men's program category) in Group II, which is every school across all NIL store merchandise (excluding ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and SEC). In June, we announced that our Spring Term GPA of 3.05 was our highest term GPA ever recorded. It takes a Whole Damn Team effort to reach academic marks like this, I'm truly grateful for our coaches, administrators, support staff and more importantly our cadet-athletes for their commitment to academics. This month, the Virginia School Board Association selected VMI Athletics for recognition as a member of the 2026 VSBC Business
Honor Roll for our efforts around the community. We will continue to lend a helping hand to the City of Lexington and Rockbridge County communities.
We have reached an agreement with
Estes Express Lines to become our official court sponsor of VMI Basketball. This multi-year partnership is a revenue generation opportunity for the athletics department, and it provides Estes the opportunity to enhance their brand through ESPN broadcasts. Rest, Refuel and Recovery has been a focus for our athletics department. This past Fall, our department developed a partnership with a company called Enduraphin. Enduraphin is performance nutrition product, our cadet-athletes have been seeing favorable results since we began the relationship. VMI Auxiliary services and Parkhurst Dining (Institute's concessionaire) learned about Enduraphin and in the spring added a Performance Dining wing in the mess hall for the entire Corps of Cadets. Every cadet an Athlete! The Institute has hired its first ever full-time nutritionist for the Corps of Cadets. Ms. Hannah Brewer has stopped by to meet with the department and has already begun coordinating meetings with our Head Coaches, Strength and Conditioning staff and Athletic training staff to help provide quality education and resources for our cadet-athletes.
Summertime Grind Basketball and Football cadet-athletes have started their transition back to barracks for summer camp. Summer Session II is underway and the Summer Transition Program (STP) begins July 6. Football season
tickets are on sale so please buy tickets and tell a friend or family member to buy a pair too. The Moe Zone is back with a couple new additions for our VMI supporters. Our Athletic department is building a lot of MOEmentum, General Furness is supporting our vision, and we will do our best to represent VMI to the highest levels. Thank you all for your support of VMI Athletics.
Rah Virginia Mil!
Value Makes Impact!
Jamaal Walton Director of Athletics
Virginia Military Institute
