Letter from AD John Currie Good Afternoon K-State Nation! Today is the first day of spring semester classes, and it was great to see our students coming and going when I was on campus in historic Anderson Hall for President Schulz’s cabinet meeting this morning. Speaking of history, yesterdays holiday honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., always reminds us of the fact that on January 19, 1968, Ahearn Field House was the site of Dr. Kings last campus address prior to that tragic day in Memphis. In fact, the notes that he used for the Ahearn address were found in his pocket after he was assassinated. Building on this legacy, K-States Office of Multicultural Programs and Diversity, led by Dr. Myra Gordon, provides terrific leadership in building an inclusive campus climate that fosters mutual understanding among diverse groups. Click here for more information on the universitys multicultural programs. Just to the south and east of Ahearn you can view the special pedestal bust honoring Dr. King and marking his speech here. Last week was also a historic one for college athletics, starting with the inaugural College Football Playoff championship game in Arlington last Monday and concluding with the NCAA convention in the Washington DC area. It was an honor to be able to attend both, but I must admit I was very glad when my American Airlines flight touched down in MHK Sunday night (totally full and a few minutes early I might add), and I am enjoying a stretch of at least seven straight nights in my own house! My flight to the NCAA convention arrived in DC on Friday afternoon in time to have a great visit with former K-State fullback Larry Brown, who played at K-State for the late Vince Gibson before an all-star eight-year NFL career in Washington, including being named MVP in 1972. In his post-playing days Larry has had a successful career in finance and commercial real estate. It was fun to hear his stories about first coming to Dodge City Community College and then to Manhattan. I then hopped in a cab and attended a spirited K-State Alumni Association reception with over 50 Wildcat grads and fans. These DC gatherings remind us of the service and leadership of K-Staters - especially in the military. Among those in attendance were senior officers from the Army and Navy and Air Force Brigadier General Ken Lewis, Jr., and his wife Micki. If you are a DC area alum be sure and link up with the outstanding chapter there by clicking here. Saturdays meetings were highlighted by the first-ever Autonomy Business and Voting sessions where five conferences, the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC, met to consider various reforms and enhancements for student-athlete welfare. Each of the 65 schools (including Notre Dame) has one vote, and then each conference has three voting student-athlete representatives for a total of 80 votes. I was so impressed with the comments from the student-athlete representatives, many of which were counter to what popular media opinion might have expected. Of the many topics discussed, the majority of the attention was focused on the cost of attendance, four-year scholarships and concussion protocol proposals – all were passed, although most of these proposals were redundant to Big 12 bylaw enhancements announced in November. I have said many times that there has never been a better time in the history of intercollegiate athletics to be a student-athlete, and we continue to work to make that experience even better. The cost of attendance measure alone will mean $100+ million additional aid dollars being directly allocated to student-athletes annually beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. Our own President Kirk Schulz was elected as the new Chairman of the NCAA Board of Governors and will lead the organization’s highest-ranking leadership group, which is comprised of 20 presidents and chancellors from all three NCAA divisions. This is incredible testament to the national appreciation of President Schulzs leadership. Click here for a full recap of the meetings by Big 12 correspondent Wendall Barnhouse. Let’s get to a few other updates. Wildcat Weekend Lives Up to its Billing In and out of various meetings at the convention I was able to follow our track and tennis triumphs via our official twitter feed (@kstatesports), the mens basketball game on the WatchESPN app and then our womens game live on K-StateHD.TV while at dinner with a few other athletic directors. There are not too many arenas in the country that hosted 20,000+ fans for college basketball on Saturday, but Bramlage Colisuem did just that with a sold-out crowd of 12,528 for the mens game vs Baylor and a season-high attendance of 7,816 for the womens game vs. Iowa State. It was clear on television and ESPNs Mitch Holthus made repeated mention of the incredible and electric atmosphere inside Bramlage Coliseum for the men’s game against Baylor. I was so proud of the fight and energy displayed by our team and playing with that mentality of Goal No. 10 – Never Give Up! And that goes for our crowd, too! The Cats are now in first place in the Big 12 standings at 4-1 heading into tonight’s road matchup at Iowa State. I also would like to congratulate our women’s tennis team for giving Coach Steinberg her first win at K-State following a 6-1 win over Northern Iowa at Mike Goss Tennis Stadium. And Coach Rovelto’s track and field teams picked up a win in the KSU Triangular over Wichita State and KU in a highly competitive meet inside Ahern Field House. The night wrapped up with a terrific women’s basketball crowd for “Pack the House” against Iowa State, but our team fell just short of making it a 4-for-4 day. We are delighted that our student sections will be at full strength for our next home contests on Saturday (men) and Wednesday (women). Coach Snyder Elected to Hall of Fame By now, Im sure most of you have heard that Coach Snyder has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as he was introduced in Dallas earlier this month as a part of the Class of 2015 to be inducted next December in New York City at the annual National Football Foundation dinner. Coach Snyder joins only Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno and Joe Gagliardi as active coaches who have been inducted into the Hall! I know the entire K-State Nation joins me in saluting Coach Snyder, Sharon and their family, and the impact they have had on Kansas State University and Manhattan since their arrival in 1989 is incalculable. Coach Snyder’s leadership and mentoring are truly remarkable and inspirational, and his legacy of integrity and commitment to excellence transcends not only football but perhaps all of intercollegiate athletics and higher education. Join me one more time in congratulating Coach Snyder, and click here for our official release. Streb Continues to Impress on PGA Tour Earlier this fall we made mention that former Wildcat Robert Streb qualified for the prestigious Masters Tournament with his win at The McGladrey Classic in October. Robert has used that momentum to continue his solid play and climb up the PGA’s FedEx rankings. And if you take a look at this week’s standings after last weekend’s Sony Open in Hawaii, Robert currently sits at second in the overall standings! So far this season, he has totaled four Top 10 finishes in seven appearances and is coming off a 17th-place finish this weekend in Hawaii. Be sure and follow Robert by clicking here, and we wish he, his wife Maggie and their entire family the best of luck the remainder of this season. Another Successful Fall in the Classroom Earlier today, the Big 12 Conference announced that a total of 269 Wildcat student-athletes were named to the Fall 2014 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for achieving a 3.0 GPA or higher this past semester. The 269 student-athletes earning the honor are the most since I have been at K-State and marks the third straight semester we have placed over 250 on the list. Congratulations to the 39 student-athletes who registered a GPA of 4.0 in the fall semester, while 10 of our athletic programs placed 50 percent or more of their fall rosters on the honor roll – football, women’s basketball, volleyball, rowing, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s tennis, equestrian, men’s track and women’s track. That will do it for today. We look forward to seeing you Saturday morning for our 11 a.m. men’s basketball game against Oklahoma State which will include a special recognition of our mens basketball alumni and one extra special legend. And stay tuned in the next week or two for an exciting announcement surrounding the 2015 Purple/White Spring football game! Go Cats! John Curri
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:07:54 +0000
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