Dear Tiger Nation,
The start of a new school year is underway, and all of our fall
sports here at Towson are in full swing. It is amazing to me it is has
already been almost two years since I became your Director of Athletics on
Sept. 26, 2010. For me it has been a whirlwind as we have been laying a
foundation that will guide our department into the future as we all EXPECT SUCCESS and continue to
build a department focused on three foundational priorities: Academics, Winning and Relationships.
As I looked back over the last 23 months, I thought I should use
this AD Corner letter as an opportunity to reflect where we have been, see what
we have accomplished, and look into the future. As I reviewed everything I
wanted to tell you about, I realized I would need more than one letter. Over
the next three weeks (Sept. 3, Sept. 10, Sept. 17) I will be doing a letter
each Monday to discuss different aspects of the department. To make sure this
was a two-way conversation with you, our loyal fans of Tiger Athletics, I will
also be accepting questions from you via Twitter (@TowsonTigerAD) and
Facebook (www.facebook.com/TowsonTigers) and will
respond to questions with a fourth letter on Sept. 24.
My hope is to bring you an all-around look into the workings of
our department and the over 500 student-athletes, coaches and staff.
Student-Athlete
Welfare
Academic
Achievement
As the Director of Athletics, my first and foremost responsibility
is the welfare of our student-athletes on a daily basis. Not only does that mean
their safety but also providing everything they need to reach their potential
on the field, in the classroom and in life after college.
When I arrived on campus, we began examining our entire department
in search of how we could make the biggest improvement to help our
student-athletes. After a short time, we were able to identify improvements we
could make in areas of Academic Achievement, Sports Medicine and TOTAL TIGER/Student
Success - three areas that deal closest with our student-athletes.
The Academic Achievement unit, which is led by Assistant Director of
Athletics Bobbi Madison, was staffed with five people covering almost 500
student-athletes. That kind of ratio did not lend to providing all of our
student-athletes with the kind of support they needed to achieve the ultimate
goal of receiving a diploma from Towson University. To adjust the ratio and to
place more emphasis on academics with our primary sports of men and women's
basketball, we added two additional positions: an academic advisor and a
learning specialist.
These new positions have made an immediate impact. We have seen
dramatic improvements with the men's basketball team improving its Academic
Performance Rate (APR) from 800 in 2010-11 to over 938 in 2011-12 - 13 points
above the NCAA minimum of 925. The team also saw its GPA go from a 2.725 to
2.852. These changes unfortunately do not keep the men's basketball team from
receiving the penalties based on the team's cumulative academic performance
prior to my arrival (click here for
complete details), but we are moving forward with a solid foundation for our
future.
While the improvement was dramatic in men's basketball, the entire
department continues to see its academic performance on the rise thanks to our
comprehensive class attendance policy. This new way of approaching academic
accountability launched in the fall of 2011 and mandated that our
student-athletes attend every class unless they have an excused absence.
Student-athletes missing more than four (4) unexcused classes during a semester
face steep penalties, including the chance of losing their financial aid at the
end of the semester.
After Year 1 of this new policy, Towson Athletics has seen 11
teams improve their cumulative GPA from the previous fall and the overall
department GPA climb to a 3.07 average among the 20 sports. Overall, 56 percent
(272-of-485) of our student-athletes posted a GPA above 3.0 in 2011-12, while 125 made the dean's list with an average of 3.5 or above.
The hard work being put in by the student-athletes and academic
achievement staff is impressive, but they also need the resources to continue
this improvement.
Within the next month, we are going to more than triple the amount
of space this department has been using in the Towson Center by moving the
Student Success and Academic Achievement units to the newly-renovated Linthicum
Hall in the heart of campus. The symbolism of this move is critical, as
Athletics must operate as a part of the overall academic setting. The newly
renovated complex will feature two group study areas, one individual work area
as well as offices and conference rooms for the entire staff. The biggest
advantage will be the location of the offices in Linthicum. Instead of the
student-athletes having to find time to come over to the Towson Center during
their busy class schedules or wedging in time just before or after practice,
they will be able conveniently stop in between classes and get the appropriate
attention they need.
Every day we come to work our goal is to graduate 100 percent of
our student-athletes. We might not reach that goal, but I can guarantee you
that every person in this area works as hard as they can, looking for
perfection. One place we will see perfection is in our teams exceeding the NCAA
Academic Performance Rate minimums going ahead and reaching new heights for all
sports by the end of the 2016 strategic period.
Sports
Performance
Beyond the academic wellness of our student-athletes, their overall
physical health and condition is just as important. To be at the top of your
game mentally in the classroom or physically on the field, having a healthy body
is a requirement.
After the retirement of former Head Athletic Trainer Terry O'Brien
just before my arrival, I knew we had to find someone with T.O.'s high
standards who could lead our Sports Medicine area into the future and provide
a program that could provide a 360-degree evaluation of our student-athletes.
After the completion of a comprehensive assessment of both Sports
Medicine and Strength & Conditioning, we conducted a national search and
welcomed James Shipp to Towson to lead our new Sports Performance Unit. James
has more than 15 years of experience in the field of sports medicine &
college athletics administration, and has a strong background in creating
partnerships that can enhance our overall operation.
Since joining Towson Athletics, Shipp has implemented a new structure
to the areas of Sports Medicine and Strength and Conditioning by integrating
the two areas for improved cohesiveness. This new concept of 360-degree healthcare
for student-athletes is innovative and has begun to take hold in different
schools across the country, putting Towson at the forefront along with our new
hospital partner MedStar Union Memorial. This partnership provides our
student-athletes with access to the area's top medical doctors and specialists
so we can perform our best on the field of play as well as get them back on the
field as quickly as possible in case the need arises.
To provide the high-level of care our student-athletes needed and
deserved, we had to change the make-up of our staff. When Shipp arrived on
campus in Jan. 2011, he was one of four full-time sports medicine professionals
who were filling the seven spots we had to the department. Since then, we have
filled those three spots and added three more, bringing our Sports Medicine
area to a total of 10 athletic trainers working daily with our
student-athletes. Beyond that, our new partnership with MedStar Union Memorial
has helped the area by adding two additional team doctors and three fellows,
totaling now seven doctors on staff - up from two in 2010.
On the strength and conditioning side, the area had just three
full-time coaches working with an average of over 150 student-athletes prior to
Shipp joining the staff. With the addition of a strength and conditioning coach
that spends a majority of his time with men's and women's basketball, each
student-athlete is able to receive more individual attention.
As we move forward in both Sports Medicine and Strength and
Conditioning, they will both require additional space. With the opening of
Tiger Arena and the renovation of the basement of the Towson Center, both areas
will receive new spaces that will give them bigger areas as well as
state-of-the-art equipment.
As we continue to implement our new model of Sports Performance,
Towson will stay at the forefront of these critical areas with our partners and
the support of the University.
Total
Tiger Program
As we have discussed the preparation of the mind and the body of
our student-athletes, there is also an important component we cannot ignore - a
need to provide student-athletes with an all-around integration into their
communities and their lives after sport.
Some years ago the NCAA created such a program called
CHAMPS/Life Skills. This program puts an emphasis on preparing the
student-athletes for their lives after college. At Towson, we have expanded
that program since my arrival and named it TOTAL TIGER.
The idea of our TOTAL TIGER Program exists to complement and
enhance the Towson University Athletics' CHAMPS/Life Skills program. To be
blunt, many schools talk about their Life Skills programming and put very
little effort into making it an asset. Upon being named the AD at Towson, I
made this area a priority and worked with our leadership team to completely
rework this programming for 2012-13, creating a curriculum which is based in
one-on-one relationships, group and individual counseling, along with mentoring
and life coaching. We also work hard to establish impactful, strategic
community outreach and service-learning partners for our coaches, staff and
student-athletes. We also work to provide team-oriented and focused athlete-specific
life skills programs such as branding, social media management, media/interview
education programming.
To reach these lofty goals, we felt it was important to invest in
this program and hired Antwaine Smith, a Baltimore native, who came to Towson
after two years at East Baltimore's Franciscan Youth
Center to be the Director of the TOTAL TIGER program. Smith is a former college
athlete at Northeastern, who also played in the Canadian Football League (CFL)
and worked with the Center for Sport and Society. Antwaine has spent the last year and a half
engaging our student-athletes and developing relationships with them while
working with the community to help our student-athletes give back and make a
difference in other people's lives.
To engage the Towson and Greater Baltimore communities, Tiger
student-athletes, coaches, and administrators completed more 6,250 hours of community
service throughout the surrounding area. This accomplishment is second to none
in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and places Tiger Athletics near the
top nationally for community service. It will be this kind of outreach that
will affect our student-athletes at a personal level and show them the
importance of giving back to their friends, family and community.
The 6,250 hours
is an impressive number, but it is shy of our goal for 2012-13 when we look for
our student-athletes, coaches and staff to spend 10,000 hours in the community. If you feel like there is
place for our student-athletes to make a difference in the lives of people in
our community, do not hesitate to contact us and let us know. In many ways, we
can make a difference in more lives by our volunteerism than what we can do on
the field.
I look forward continuing this conversation over the coming weeks as
we look at the external side of the department including marketing, communications,
corporate sales, and ticketing.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I want this to be a conversation
so please send me any questions you have via social media or email.
Thanks for your support of the Tigers!
With Black and Gold Pride,
Mike Waddell
Director of Athletics
