July 18, 2006
It has been nearly a year since I came on board as athletics director at the University of South Carolina. With the outdoor track & field championships complete, the final chapter of the 2005-06 athletic campaign has been written. I would like to take a few minutes to reflect on my first year in the Gamecock Nation.
First, let me say I am very honored to be here and to represent the University of South Carolina. Although there have been many challenges we have faced along the way, Pauline and I are both very happy living in Columbia. We appreciate all the support we have been given, both personally and professionally, since our return to the Palmetto State.
I have had the opportunity to meet many of our student-athletes over the past 12 months and have been very impressed by what I have seen. As a whole, our student-athletes possess the characteristics that will make them successful in whatever future endeavor they choose. You should be proud of what they have accomplished while facing the challenges of balancing athletics with academics. I have also been very impressed by the quality of our coaches. They are true professionals who not only want to win, but win with class.
During the past year, the Gamecocks have enjoyed many successes both on the field of competition as well as in the classroom. Allow me to mention a few of the Gamecock successes:
• South Carolina was the only school in the Southeastern Conference and just one of 11 schools in the country to have its football team play in a bowl game, have both its men’s and women’s basketball teams compete in post-season play and have its baseball team advance to the NCAA Regionals.
• Our women’s track & field team finished third in the nation during the outdoor season and crowned a pair of individual national champions in Amberly Nesbitt and Shalonda Solomon. The equestrian team captured the national hunt seat crown, its second consecutive national title. Our men’s soccer team won the conference championship and automatically qualified for the NCAA post-season, while both our men’s and women’s tennis and golf teams advanced to NCAA post-season play.
• The baseball team has advanced to the Super Regionals six of the past seven years, one of only three schools in the nation to do so.
• Women’s golfer Erica Battle won the prestigious Dinah Shore Trophy, which combines success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. She became the second Gamecock to win the award in the past three years, joining Adrienne Gautreaux, who was the 2004 recipient.
• Our men’s basketball squad became the first team since 1944 to win back-to-back NIT championships.
• During both the fall and spring semesters, 12 of South Carolina’s 17 athletic programs posted a 3.0 GPA or better. In the spring, the overall GPA of USC’s 454 student-athletes was 2.992, the highest on record.
In addition to these tangible successes, we believe it is imperative that our student-athletes have the necessary skills to help them succeed, not only for the four or five years they are on campus, but for the next 40 or 50 years of their lives. To that end, we are in the process of adding several seminars, such as an Etiquette Seminar, Dress for Success Seminar, and Career Seminars, as part of our CHAMPS Life Skills program.
We also have taken great strides to improve the infrastructure of the athletics department. We have evaluated every aspect of the department, including nearly every policy and procedure, looking for ways we can make improvements. One of the more significant upgrades has been in our new computerized ticketing system. With the addition of online ticketing and instituting a bar code system for the tickets at our venues, we will be better able to service our customers. We also have initiated focus groups comprised of a cross-section of stakeholders to provide feedback and suggestions for enhancing our game day atmosphere. Over the next few years we will incorporate many of these ideas into our game-day presentation.
The goal of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees and of the USC athletics department is to have a nationally-prominent program across the board. Over the next several months, we will unveil a long-range master plan for facilities and begin a major capital campaign to raise the money for these much-needed facility upgrades, with the baseball stadium and an academic learning center at the top of the list. We all recognize that the University of South Carolina is a special place, and we want the best and the brightest prospective student-athletes to recognize our commitment to excellence.
Thank you again for all of your support. This is a great time to be a Gamecock, and we look forward to building on the successes enjoyed during the 2005-06 campaign.
Sincerely,
USC Athletics Director
