University of Detroit Mercy - Athletics

Athletics

Main article: Detroit Titans See also: Calihan Hall

The Titans compete in NCAA Division I's Horizon League. The men's basketball team has consistently contended for the Horizon League title. On April 12, 2008, UDM announced the hiring of Ray McCallum as Men's Basketball Coach. McCallum is a veteran of more than 20 years in college basketball, most recently as assistant head coach at Indiana University.

McCallum's predecessor Perry Watson led a successful program at Detroit's Southwestern High School before coming to UDM after some years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan and maintained strong recruiting ties within the city's public league. Watson guided Detroit Mercy to 10 winning seasons, three league titles, two NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT Final Four during his 15 years with UDM. The Titans' two NCAA appearances also included victories over St. John's and UCLA. Between 1997-98 and 2000–01, the Titans had four straight 20-victory seasons.

Dick Vitale, ESPN's most well-known college basketball commentator, was the University of Detroit men's basketball Head Coach for four seasons (1973–1977) before becoming the school's Athletics Director for 1977-78. The following year he left to coach the Detroit Pistons. In his final year as a college head coach in 1977, "Dickie V." led the Detroit Titans to a school record 25 victories and the Round of 16 in the 1977 NCAA Tournament before losing to Michigan, 86-81. Vitale rolled up a 78-30 career record as head coach of the Titans. Vitale went on to coach the Detroit Pistons before beginning his broadcasting career with ESPN in 1979 and was the color commentator for the first college basketball game carried by the new network. As its lead college basketball analyst, he helped make the network an integral part of the game's popularity. An author of six books chronicling his love affair with basketball, Vitale received the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award (1998), won the NABC Cliff Wells Appreciation Award in 2000 and was admitted to the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Since 1996-97, Detroit Titans athletic teams have won 14 league championships and 15 teams have competed in NCAA championships. The men's golf team won the 2007 Horizon League championship. In 2009-2010 season the men's and women's golf teams won the Horizon League championship. The University was the host institution for the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional and 2009 NCAA Final Four men's basketball tournament at Ford Field in Detroit.

All home basketball games feature the Titan Pep Band which serenades audiences throughout the game.