October 20, 2016

IAC Meeting

Attendance:  Bassa, Benson, Blackwell-Starnes, Bradley, Chu, Creel, Dupre’, Holmes, Hubbard, Monroe, Spina, Trylowsky, Henderson, Thill – Special Guests:  Trey Clark, Will Davis

October 20, 2016

Meeting called to order at 2:02pm

Minutes from previous meeting were approved.

Trey Clark – He ran at Lamar University, was an Assistant Coach and now the Head Coach.

• Technically coaches 6 sports (Men’s & Women’s cross country, indoor track, outdoor track). In-season all year. 
• Most schools focus on outdoor, but we focus on cross country and then indoor and outdoor.
• Men’s cross country have won the last 9 out of 10 titles. This year the men should win, women could be 2^nd – 5^th. 
• For the 6 sports, last year the average team finish was 4^th.
• Women’s team GPA was 3.00. Men’s team GPA was 2.80.
• We are very committed to the academic side of athletics. Trey was a male student-athlete of the year as a senior.
• All incoming recruits want to be engineers. We try and convince and guide them to where they should be.  Some end up as general studies majors because decisions are not made early on.  We try to stress that you should get a degree that has a job at the end.
• UAC and career center can help with the steering process for majors.
• We stress to our student-athletes that they should be an active participant in their academics.
• Recruiting issue – base is within a 3 hour radius of Beaumont. It’s a small pool of recruits that we look at.  Because of this, we reach out internationally.
• For the international students, education is number one selling point.
• Encourage all of our professors to complete progress reports.
• We have had 8 Academic All-Americans

Will Davis – Head Baseball Coach – Son of a college baseball coach, basically grew up in the dugout.  Coached at LSU prior to Lamar.  Started recruiting last season during Coach Gilligan’s last season.

• We had a good roster last year, but not all division I type players. This year, we have all division I caliber players.  It will get better as we go along.
• Each year, the goal is to recruit better and better players.
• Look for guys who want to win. My obligation is to setup players for lifetime of earning power.
• Point and guide them towards a degree. The goal is to get a degree and to help players realize that can get their degrees.
• Likes kids that play hard, they care enough on the field and in the classroom. Three possible Mirabeau scholars in the upcoming class.
• Work hard and have good grades.
• Goal is to graduate all of our student-athletes, not necessarily just come in here and play baseball.
• Big selling points in recruiting for baseball is college of engineering and college of business.
• Parents of kids that were here previously are being recruited. A lot of ties to previous baseball players has assisted in recruiting.
• There is no place I would rather be than at Lamar University, including LSU.

Dr. Chu let both coaches know that the IAC is a group that is a bridge between athletics and the President.  Another avenue for athletics and academics to come together.

Trey - Track facility has open access.  Some concerns are early morning and late at night safety at the track.  It’s perceived as a safe place to walk, but isn’t always the safest.

• Trey will contact the police when coming back to campus for meets. The police can make sure the student-athletes get back to Cardinal Village safely.
• Hope for more security lights to improve safety. Possibly put a safety phone inside the track.

Jason –

• IAC is invited to the Head Coaches’ meetings. Helene will send out a reminder for the meetings.
• President’s and AD’s in the Southland Conference met last week with President Emmert from the NCAA. He did share the NCAA spent $20,000,000 on legal fees last year.
• Discussed the strategic plan with the presidents and AD’s should have a report to the Presidents by May 2017. It was good to hear ideas from the Presidents.  We don’t meet as a group very often.
• Progress reports are very beneficial. Class attendance is mandatory and addressed numerous times throughout the semester.

Cross Country championship is October 28.

Soccer – not having a great year, but recruiting has gone very well.

Volleyball – they are playing better and making strides this year.

Football – 3 wins in a row.

Homecoming is October 29.

Tip-off luncheon for basketball is Saturday, October 22 at 12:30.

Montagne Center has a new video board/screen, new lights and a new sound system.

Meeting adjourned at 2:52pm.