The eighth annual Trinity Athletics Giving (TAG) Week set new records for both the number of donors and total dollars raised, with 2,713 people contributing $1,706,561 to support Bantam athletics.
TAG Week, which ran from February 23 through March 2, 2026, brought together alumni, parents, and supporters in a team-based fundraising competition designed to drive participation and generate critical support for Trinity’s athletic programs.
The football team raised the largest amount this year, marking the first time that a program has exceeded $300,000 in funds raised during TAG Week. The women’s rowing team achieved the highest percentage of donors above its goal—at 286 percent—and became the first women’s program to exceed $100,000 in TAG Week history.
Director of Athletics and Recreation Gavin Viano said that TAG Week powers the endeavors of 800 Bantam scholar-athletes. “TAG Week reflects the pride, loyalty, and belief our community has in our student-athletes,” Viano said. “It fuels the growth our student-athletes’ experience on our fields, courts, rinks, and rivers. It sharpens their training. It strengthens our facilities. And most importantly, it gives our student‑athletes the chance to discover who they can become—not just as competitors, but as scholars, leaders, and teammates.”
Viano said that Trinity has an energy and a passion that you can feel the moment you step on campus. “It’s a spirit that’s unmatched in the NESCAC,” he said.
In reference to the national titles won by the women’s squash, men’s basketball, and men’s rowing teams in spring 2025, Viano said, “Three national championships in four months… that kind of success tells you something powerful about a community.”
That success continues this spring, as the Trinity men’s squash team won its 18th national championship.
Funds raised during TAG Week support key program needs including travel, equipment, recruiting, and technology. New this year, teams worked toward dollar goals that unlocked additional coach wish list items, directly enhancing their programs.
Alumni and parents rallied around the football team in part to ensure that the team will be prepared for a first possible opportunity to compete in the NCAA postseason in fall 2026. Starting next season, the NESCAC team that finishes at the top of the standings will earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Football Championship tournament.
Tom Schaible ’72 said that he wants his generous support of the football program to help give current student-athletes the same growth opportunities he had when he was on the team. “It was one of my formative experiences at Trinity,” Schaible said. “I took away from that a lot of learnings about the values of teamwork that served me well in my career.”
Being a student-athlete, Schaible said, offers a learning experience that may not occur in the classroom. “I think being on a team, in many ways, is a microcosm of life,” he said. “Coach [Jeffrey M.] Devanney [’93, professor of physical education and head football coach] uses the word ‘grit’ a lot—that, to me, is resilience. A team won’t always be successful in every play or win every game. Grit is the ability to overcome that, learn from it, and get better as a result. It’s an attitude for success.”
Schaible credited the legacy of Trinity football coaches—including Dan Jessee and Don Miller, after whom the Jessee/Miller Field is named—for building a strong program. “Coach Devanney is continuing that legacy now,” Schaible said. “I think football players are aware of that, and I hope it continues to produce a loyalty to the program so that players today who become alumni in the future will continue to support it. It’s a brotherhood in the best sense of the word.”
Devanney said that he was grateful for and humbled by the outpouring of support during TAG Week. “In speaking to many of our alums, I heard that the momentum around President Lugo’s leadership and the fact that we can now earn a place on the national stage like so many of our other Trinity teams was the impetus for such generosity,” he said. “I know that our players feel the support and it adds to their motivation. It certainly was special to see such strong financial support across so many different eras of Trinity Football.”
Among the alumnae leaders of the women’s rowing team’s winning TAG Week efforts was Louisa Wright ’85, who created one of the donor challenges for the team and helped to coordinate outreach among alumnae and parents. “An important component of the success was the great enthusiasm of the parents,” Wright said. “I have never seen coaches unify and excite parents the way [Head Women’s Rowing Coach] Peter Graves [’07] and his team do. It’s just magical.”
Wright said that it was a lot of fun to encourage involvement from the team’s supporters. “I’m so proud when I look at the breakdown of the giving this year,” she said. “The alumnae led the charge at 40 percent, and then 23 percent of donors were parents, which is a great number, and 9 percent were students.”
Rowing has always been a part of Wright’s life. “I learned to row at Trinity. I was not a distinguished rower on the team, but I was enthusiastic! It was an awesome part of my freshman and sophomore years,” said Wright.
Today, Wright said she is proud to make supporting the Trinity women’s rowing team the cornerstone of her annual giving. “It’s all about supporting these student-athletes,” she said. “I truly hope these ladies will use their best talents to sculpt their best futures.”
Graves said that the fundraising success will allow the women’s rowing team to purchase a new boat and to travel to future national and international regattas. “The support is a massive boost of confidence for the current team,” he said. “It feels great to know that people believe in us and are investing in the value and ultimately the success of the Trinity rowing experience.”
The coach added that the program’s successful TAG Week would not have been possible without the leadership of passionate alumnae. “Elizabeth Guernsey ’06, Gwen Grimm ’14, Louisa Wright ’85, Martha Bacigalupo ’85, and Debbie Packer ’76 have moved mountains for this program financially by rallying the support of others to help build this community,” Graves said. “The team and I are very grateful for their support. This tremendous group of alumnae, parents, former parents, and friends of the program will do whatever it takes to accomplish what they set out to. That ‘whatever it takes’ mentality is exactly what makes this team and this school so special.”
The Trinity College men’s squash team defeated Harvard University in the 2026 College Squash Association’s championship match on March 8, capturing the Potter Cup and the program’s 18th national team title.
Trinity alumna hockey player and former assistant hockey coach Kim Weiss ’11 has advanced her career quickly and is now assistant coach of the Colorado Eagles, the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. “I always knew I wanted to coach,” she said.
The Trinity College men’s ice hockey team welcomed a fourth-grade student as a new member through Team IMPACT, which matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams.
Marta Mazzocchi ’28 is representing her home country of Italy on its women’s national ice hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
