From the Desk of AD Mark Alnutt
12/2/2025 2:50:00 PM | General
Bulls Family:
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving surrounded by friends, family and loved ones. We are now officially in the holiday season, and I want to thank you for your tremendous support of the Blue and White. What we have accomplished, and what we will continue to accomplish, is absolutely a credit to you. I wish I could personally call and thank every ticket purchaser, donor, community member and former student-athlete. Each of you is making a real difference in what we're building.
We're in the midst of crossover season, one of the most hectic stretches of the year, and I'd be remiss if I didn't thank our staff. They continue to put in extra hours and move between facilities to ensure you and our teams have a great experience.
Football season has ended, and although it didn't finish the way we hoped, I remain confident in what Coach Lembo and his staff are building. Our program has a clear direction and a strong foundation.
Linebacker Red Murdock will be honored at the National Football Foundation Awards Dinner on December 9 as a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, given annually to the best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. He has also been named to the AFCA Allstate Good Works Team for his extraordinary commitment to community service and will be honored in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl.
Our men's basketball team is off to a hot 8-0 start — just the second time in our Division I era that Buffalo has opened a season 8-0. Their buzzer-beater win over Bucknell to claim the Fort Myers Tip-Off Challenge was one for the books. This team is fast, fun and scores in a hurry. If you haven't already, it's not too late to secure your season tickets at Alumni Arena.
On the women's side, our reigning WNIT champions are competing at home for the final time this calendar year against local team Niagara as they prepare for conference play beginning December 31 at Toledo.
Wrestling is also underway and will be back home on December 13 against Gardner-Webb and Kent State. Swimming and diving return January 9–11 for the UB Diving Invite — another great chance to support our student-athletes.
Swimming and Diving hosted Canisius and Niagara at the UB Invite, where the Bulls won 12 events across three sessions. Women's Soccer continued to excel academically with six student-athletes earning spots on the 2025 CSC Academic All-District Team — Frederique St.-Jean, Jasmine Guerber, Sarah Woods, Ellie Simmons, Eva Blatz and Maya Galko. Cross Country posted personal bests at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, with the men recording their best finish since 2022 and the women their best since 2017.
Volleyball also added to its postseason tradition as Manoela Forlin and Emerson Matthews earned second-team All-MAC honors, with Matthews also named to the All-Freshman Team. Under Coach Scott Smith, the program has now collected 26 All-MAC awards since 2015.
Our Bulls Championship Fund — an inclusive giving initiative that brings all our philanthropic efforts under one umbrella — continues to grow. We gladly welcomed new members into the 1958 Society, our major giving group for commitments of $25,000 or more. Our goal is to build sustained competitive excellence in all our sport programs. Growing our resources in the revenue share and NIL space allows us to do that. Every dollar, major or annual, truly makes a difference as we build toward our goal.
I invite you to consider connecting with our BCF team and learning more about the impact you can have at bullschampionshipfund@buffalo.edu. With our community's continued and growing support, I believe we can accomplish extraordinary things here at UB.
As we wrap up the year, I want to wish you a joyful holiday season and again express my appreciation for your time, energy and support. As you consider any end-of-year giving, we hope you'll consider supporting one of our funds that directly impacts our Bulls student-athletes.
Happy Holidays — and Go Bulls!
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