September 21, 2017

IAC Meeting

Attendance:  Bello-Oguno, Bowen, Bradley, Carroll, Chu, Henderson, Holmes, Thill, Trylowsky, Zaloom

September 21, 2017

Meeting called to order at 2:11pm

Introduction of Council Members

Dr. Chu – Discussed the charge of the council and that it acts as a liaison between the athletics department and President Evans.  Monitor the activities within the athletics department and provide support to the student-athletes.

Mr. Henderson – Thanked the members for serving on the council.  Discussed the difficulties everyone has had with Harvey and within the athletics department.  In the aftermath, student-athletes have stepped up to assist people in the community with recovery.

Football is 1-2 this season and are on the road this weekend at Southeastern Louisiana.  It is a winnable game.  Last game, the team had 15 penalties against Northwestern State.  Lots of mistakes, but practice has been better this week.

Soccer – 6-2-1, 1-0 in conference play.  It’s the best start in history of soccer program.  They are at UCA and Northwestern State this weekend.

Volleyball – Played a lot on the road to start the season and the home tournament was cancelled because of Harvey.  They beat Prairie View on Tuesday and play Northwestern State tonight.  They will also play at home on Saturday against UCA.

Cross Country – They have not run yet in competition.  The first event was cancelled because of Harvey and the second was missed because of an accident on I-10.  They will run this weekend at Texas A&M. The men have a good chance at winning conference and the women should be in contention.

Men’s Golf – Placed 10^th at the first tournament.

Women’s Golf – Placed 2^nd at the first tournament and Eva Martinez-Calavia won the individual title.

Men’s Tennis – Benny Schweizer won the individual title.

Women’s Tennis – placed 2^nd at the first tournament in Cancun, Mexico.

Baseball and softball began fall practice last week.

We are down one academic advisor and are currently in the process of hiring a new one.  Mr. Henderson and Ms. Thill have split up the at-risk football student-athletes for weekly meetings.

We didn’t lose any student-athletes due to Harvey.

Dr. Bello-Oguno asked about student-athletes and the focus of academics.  Mr. Henderson discussed the academic advising staff (4 full-time) academic advisors.  We send out travel letters when student-athletes will miss class.  We send progress reports at least three times per semester and we meet weekly with all at-risk student-athletes.  Teams also conduct study hall on the road.  All of this contributes to higher graduation rates and graduation success rates.

Dr. Zaloom offered advice to make sure student-athletes are meeting and asking for assistance from non-student-athletes in their classes.

Mr. Bowen said that as a student-athlete at another institution, they were required to take around a paper at the beginning of the semester, which showed which classes they were going to miss.

Mr. Henderson said that we do that, but work through GradesFirst and do it electronically.  We do not allow coaches to contact professors directly.  Everything must go through our academic staff or Mr. Henderson.  All freshman and transfer students have 8 hours of required study hall hours.  Academics is our top priority and always comes first.

Dr. Chu asked Mr. Henderson to discuss the Academic Progress Rate.  He discussed the importance of retention and eligibility and the formula that determines the Academic Progress Report.

Dr. Evans joined the meeting and asked the council what they wanted to discuss.  Dr. Chu asked what his vision is for the athletics department.

Dr. Evans discussed aspirations to move to another conference, possibly the Sunbelt, in the next 4-5 years.  Facilities would need to be upgraded and budgets would have to increase to be competitive.  Football and Title IX are concerns when looking at the options.

It’s public knowledge that LU has one of the largest budgets in the Southland, but not at the level athletically with other institutions with smaller budgets.

The basketball program has shown improvement.

The new football staff is bringing improvement, but still need to recruit better talent in the classroom and on the field.  Football is a tied to how good an athletics department is and contributes to increased enrollment at universities.

We are pleased with the baseball, golf and tennis programs, but the big sports (football and basketball) must improve.

Dr. Evans believes that the APR cut score will increase to 940 in the next 2-3 years.  We have one program that would currently be under that and must improve academically.  We must improve caliber of play and the academics.

Athletics is a tremendous recruiting tool for the institution.  It increases brand recognition.

We made the decision a couple years ago to put in an increase for cost of attendance.  We made decision to spread it out to all student-athletes, not just football and basketball, like other institutions.

More discussion about academics and student-athletes.  The new football coaching staff is more focused on academics.  Men’s Basketball’s Coach Price shows up to check class and has changed the academic culture of the team.

Dr. Evans discussed graduation rates and that the campus would kill to have the rates that athletics has.  Some programs have been mirrored on campus, but can’t do everything that athletics has in place.

Mrs. Trylowsky asked about getting more faculty and staff members at athletic events.

Dr. Evans said that if teams do not win, fans will not show up.  Discussed publication frequency of events and more interaction with marketing department.  Nicole Kummer has gotten the greeks more involved and has helped with attendance.

Mr. Bowen discussed Greek Week and that they have put in new incentives for year round participation.  Organizations get points for every athletics event they attend throughout the year.

Dr. Evans discussed the Basketball tip-off breakfast.  Free to season ticket holders and all money raised from auction will go to community service efforts and recovery efforts for Southeast Texas.  The cost of the breakfast may be paid for by a sponsor.

The football banquet was cancelled and there may be something else planned for the spring.

The charge to the council was given by Dr. Evans and he suggests the council work on everything discussed.  With student-athletes active in the community, it indicates that we care about Lamar University and the Southeast Texas community.

Dr. Evans discussed the NCAA and the dysfunctional operation that is going on.  There will be major changes in the next decade and believes there will be another shift in conference alignment.

Meeting adjourned at 3:08pm