COMMITTEE:          University Athletics Committee

 

MEETING DATE: May 5, 2009

 

PERSON PRESIDING: David Dosser

 

REGULAR MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:   

Cal Christian, Lori Flint, Mark Moore, Scott Below

 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:  

David Dosser, Nita Boyce, Tim Metcalf, Nick Floyd, Jarrett Newby

 

OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:      

Gary Overton, Rosie Thompson Smaw, Tyler Richardson, Jessica Krasny,

 

ACTIONS OF MEETING

 

Agenda Item: Approval of minutes

Discussion: Approved as written.

Action Taken: Approved minutes.

 

Agenda Item: Report from Nick Floyd.Pirate Club donations (pledges) are up from last year at this time. Season ticket sales are at 15,300 at this time; this time last year, sales were at just over 20,000. We budgeted for a 10% decline, but are hoping for only a 5-6% decline, and are carefully examining other budget (spending) items. Items to be examined for cost-savings include competition schedules, and more.

 

Facility projects are moving forward. The design phase for softball is still on for summer. Other projects will come in behind softball. The design-planning for the addition of 7,000 new seats in the far east end zone is proceeding so it will be ready to go even if it must be temporarily postponed. Designing it now will allow for a one-year-to-completion timeline at any given time.

 

This past weekend was the PCS Phosphate Breakfast of Champions where Jessica Johnson, softball, and Hunter Mehaffey, swimming, were honored student athletes of the year.

 

The Pat Draughon Conference Room will begin $300,000 reconstruction process May 18th. Funding came from the athletics budget and from donors.

 

The women's golf team received another NCAA tournament bid. This starts Thursday, May 7th. The softball team is at UTEP right now. The H1Ni virus situation is being monitored and will continue to be so, though the conference competitions will remain uninterrupted at this time.

 

Discussion: David Dosser would like to see conference become more innovative in response to changing budgetary needs. Discussion about stadium expansion and that we do not wish to provide these seats until we can definitely fill them. Since construction costs are so reasonable at this time, it could be beneficial to proceed once we know we can fill most of the seats.

 

Tyler Richardson remarked that student athletes should not expect to see any major changes in the level of services delivered to them.

 

Action Taken: N/A

Assigned additional duties to: N/A

 

Agenda Item: Report from Jessica Krasny, here as a former student athlete and current advisor for men's basketball and academic improvement plans. She has put together a plan to have players connect with academic side and post-sports life. This plan was implemented for men's basketball seniors, but should be available for all teams and student athletes this fall, especially with student athletes with exhausted eligibility. The first phase is the self-exploration phase where student athletes start to identify more as a student than an athlete.  Second phase looks at opportunities beyond sports. Third phase focuses on career assessment, made available to all student athletes via FOCUS II, a self-directed, online, ability and interest inventory. In the fourth phase, matches are made with appropriate majors and appropriate career paths.

 

The APR committee met with men's basketball to help get them through to graduation, and would like to see more meetings with former pro-athletes, especially those from revenue sports. More career and academic mentors would help with job exploration through internships, as well as with networking and resume building skills and opportunities.

 

Discussion: Discussion ensued about the usefulness of the FOCUS II career assessment as part of the COAD course.

 

Action Taken:  N/A

Assigned additional duties to: N/A

 

Agenda Item: Nita Boyce mentioned that student athlete exit interviews will take place in the baseball press box. She also shared the program from the PCS Phosphate Breakfast of Champions, and has submitted information about this to the Pirate's Chest monthly. She encourages faculty to advise Athletics about all awards earned by student athletes, and to submit "snapshots" of particularly meritorious student athletes.

 

Action Taken:  N/A

Assigned additional duties to: N/A

 

No new business.

 

NEXT MEETING:  Fall semester, 2009.

 

 

ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED:

TBA

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Lori J. Flint

Secretary, University Athletics Committee