Courtesy: Jason Kaufman/Western Illinois Athletics

The 2006-07 academic and athletic year was marked by some very interesting, yet not surprising situations and results. The 2005-06 year was arguably “our best year ever”, with more conference championships than in the past 10 years and more post-season competitions than ever before. Academically, our student-athletes once again established high honors, out-performing the general student population in terms of semester grade point average and graduation. Fiscally, during the FY ’06, the athletics department encountered a dramatic budgetary “perfect storm”, which resulted in the development of a task force to study Western Illinois University’s funding structure for intercollegiate athletics. The future remains very promising for Western Illinois University Intercollegiate Athletics.

ACADEMICS
Academically, Western Illinois University’s student-athletes continue to perform very well in the classroom. Academic results from the Spring 2006 and Fall 2006 semesters are:

Spring 2006

40.73% of all student-athletes earned 3.00 GPA or better

20.10% of all student-athletes were recognized with University Honors

38 student-athletes earned perfect 4.00 GPA

2.90 overall student-athlete GPA

Women’s Soccer, best women’s team GPA, 3.59

Men’s Golf, best men’s team GPA, 3.08

Fall 2006

49.88% of all student-athletes earned a 3.00 GPA or better

19% of all student-athletes were recognized with University Honors

31 student-athletes earned a perfect 4.00 GPA

2.83 overall student-athlete GPA

Volleyball, best women’s team GPA, 3.43

Men’s Golf, best men’s team GPA, 3.19

Football student-athlete Steve LaFalce was named to the NACDA IAA Athletics Director’s Academic All-America first team

48 student-athletes were named Academic All-Conference by the Mid-Con

72% Graduation Success Rate and 93% Exhausted Eligibility Graduation Rate is among the highest in the state and among both conferences

Jarrell Johnson named to NCAA National SAAC, representing Western Illinois University and the Mid-Continent Conference.

Lisa Sullentrop named Psychology Department Scholar

Lori Pankratz named Spring 2007 recipient of the Roy M. Salee award as most outstanding freshman in Biological Sciences

Despite the fact that there is only one full-time academic advisor for the Athletics Department, serving over 400 student-athletes, our coaches and staff have done a terrific job of advancing and supporting academic excellence. Academic excellence is embedded within the Athletics Department’s mission statement and based on the statistics mentioned above, student-athletes continue to succeed academically. In 2004, the NCAA implemented a new standard to measure student-athlete academic success. The Academic Performance Rate (APR) tracks each student-athlete’s retention and eligibility, semester to semester. A “cut line” score of 925 (1,000) (92.5%) is the statistical threshold. Western Illinois University’s score is 948. Each sport program is also measured against the 925 threshold. Again, this year, Western did not suffer any contemporaneous penalties. The APR will be the new standard by which student-athlete success is measured. This new NCAA measurement will also measure the Athletics Department’s overall academic success and commitment. An additional full-time academic support position is very much needed and is included in our APR plan. The APR plan was required by the NCAA.

ATHLETICS
In 2005-06...Our Best Year Ever

More Western Illinois teams won conference titles than in any of the past 10 seasons.

More Western teams participated in postseason than any previous year in Division I.

2006-07 Athletic Accomplishments thus far……….

Men’s soccer claimed its third consecutive conference title, 3rd NCAA Tournament berth

Volleyball earned its highest finish ever in the Mid-Con standings, most conference wins

Women’s soccer advanced to its first-ever Mid-Con Tournament championship game

Baseball recorded most wins in school history (Spring 2006) with 32 victories

Men’s Tennis, NCAA Tournament (Spring 2006)

Karra Johnson was named women’s golf Mid-Con Player of the Year (Spring 2006)

Matt Wieclaw was named Mid-Con Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year

Stephen Paterson was selected as Mid-Con Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Year

Martin Browne was voted as the Mid-Con Men’s Soccer Newcomer of the Year

Eric Johnson was named Mid-Con Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year

Nathan Mundt was named Mid-Con Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach of the Year

Anthony Holzhauer advanced to NCAA Diving Championships

Eric Campbell advanced to NCAA Diving Championships

Madeha Farrar broke school records in 100 and 200 breast stroke

Ashley Baker was named Mid-Con Volleyball Co-Player of the Year

Ashley Yancy was named Mid-Con Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year

Nikki Klier was named Mid-Con Indoor Track & Field Newcomer of the Year

David Jackson became Western’s first 1,000 scorer since the 1996-97 season

Herb Donaldson set sophomore school record in rushing yards

Jerome Bennett led the nation (NCAA Division I-AA) in forced fumbles

Kosuke Kimura was drafted by the Colorado Rapids, Major League Soccer

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COMMUNITY SERVICE
In concert with the University’s Strategic Plan and four core values, student-athletes accept their social responsibility and participate in community activities:

In FY ’06 student-athletes raised $14,587.00 for local/regional charities and contributed 2,176 volunteer hours

Thus far in FY ’07, student-athletes raised $9,823 and volunteered 2,036 hours for community service.

For the sixth straight year, a Western Illinois student-athlete has been selected to attend the NCAA Leadership Conference. This year, Martin Bostrom (men’s tennis) will attend.

BUDGET
A common theme for the past few years has been “these are difficult budgetary times”. These difficult times have directly impacted the Athletics Department as well. With the annual declining state allocations to higher education, the institutional funding directed to the Athletics Department is reduced as well. Given the limited institutional funding, coupled with a static funding structure from student fees, more and more pressure is placed on external forms of revenue generation. Increasing membership in the Western Athletic Club, corporate sponsorships, and special events are critical to the financial stability of the Athletics Department. Nonetheless, FY ’07 was marked by a unique and dramatic fiscal “perfect storm”.

In FY 07, the Athletics Department generated:

$248,918.51 in WAC memberships (723 members)

$103,143 generated from sponsorships

$74,544.06, 17th Annual Purple and Gold Gala and Auction (best ever)

$510,200 in game guarantees (YTD)

Football $350,000

Men’s Basketball $105,000

Women’s Basketball $34,500

Baseball $18,500

Others $2,200

$389,989 received from NCAA

$110,641 from Megathon Fundraising efforts

In light of our budgetary perfect storm, internal cost saving measures were incorporated in FY ’07. These cost saving efforts included:

Senior Level Administrative staff position on hold (approximately $80,000)

Essential personnel only on travel

No administrative travel (conventions, staff development), for certification only

Limits on coaches attending conventions

Review of all equipment and apparel purchases

Per diem restrictions

Recruiting travel

Evaluate all purchases over $100

Purchases/spending on a “wants, needs, essentials” basis

These are difficult budgetary times. Yet, the Athletics Department remains committed to providing the very best student-athlete experience possible. We remain committed to a broad-based athletics program, providing as many student-athlete opportunities as possible, while maintaining a clear eye on our commitment to gender equity and a gender neutral environment. We will endeavor to continue to provide the necessary services to our student-athletes which are consistent and on pace with NCAA Division I institutions similar to Western Illinois University (locally and regionally).

FACILITIES/FUND-RAISING
As Western Illinois University endeavors to be the “first choice” for students among state universities, the Athletics Department also strives to be the first choice while recruiting prospective student-athletes. One of the primary vehicles coaches use to recruit the very best possible Division I caliber student-athletes is facilities. As the University engages in improving the physical plant of the University, the Athletics Department also recognizes the imperative need to improve facilities. In FY 06, the Athletics Department embarked on three major construction projects. In April of 2006, construction was completed on Alfred D. Boyer Baseball Stadium, a three year project, with a final price tag of $1,000,000. Fund-raising efforts are on-going. Also in Spring 2006, the Kathy J. Veroni Softball Locker Room was completed. This is a $50,000 project and fund-raising is on-going. Finally, the Marion Blackinton Strength and Conditioning Center was completed in Spring 2006. This project was funded with a financial commitment from Dr. Marion Blackinton. Both the Veroni Locker Room and the Blackinton Weight Room were constructed in cooperation with the Department of Kinesiology. During FY ’07, a huge single philanthropic gift was secured, $387,500, the largest historical single gift to Athletics. Fundraising continues for several facility improvements, along with planning for the Capital Campaign.

MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS
During the 2006-07 season the Marketing & Promotions secured the following sponsorships:

43 total sponsors

$103,143 generated from sponsorships

8 new sponsors for FY ’07 totaling approximately $13,000 in new money

16 Game Sponsors (football and men’s basketball) at $1,000 each in FY ‘07

Sponsorships for FY ’08 are currently at approximately $43,000 (cash), including 9 returning sponsors with 7 of these with multi-year contracts

In 2006-07 group outings continued to grow for Western Illinois Athletics during the football and men’s and women’s basketball seasons. During the Leathernecks football season thirty-three different groups attended a game including churches, area athletic teams, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-H members. Men’s and women’s basketball saw more of the same with twelve groups attending a game. In addition, six area groups participated in half-time performances including the YMCA Youth Basketball League, House Arrest II, and Dana’s Dance and Tumbling Groups. A larger number of groups were encouraged to attend games through free admission, which exposed more groups and individuals to Western Illinois University Athletics. In addition, Western Illinois worked with community and University groups in joint promotions throughout men’s and women’s basketball with seven combined promotions working with the National Girls and Women in Sports Day Committee, and the Department of Agriculture (AG Day). The Macomb Junior Football League and the Macomb Lil’ Bombers played during halftime of our games.

MEDIA SERVICES
During the early months FY ’07, the Athletics Department secured a partnership with XOS Technologies to coordinate and manage our department website. During the first reporting period our new website generated the following:

25 Television Broadcasts….Rocky Vision (Television broadcasts of Football and Basketball)
Average of 124 viewers per basketball game (since Jan. 1, 2007)
27 total subscriptions

Rocky’s Locker Room (On-line merchandise sales)
Average $200 per month in sales
Average 1,800 visitors per month

Web site statistics (Most recent data = first two months of operation)
Average visitors per day: 2,196
Average hits per day: 15,631
Unique users per month: 37,482
8.2 percent of visitors come from 49 countries outside the United States (Global exposure)

Each visitor:
hits 4.2 pages
stays 7 minutes, 18 seconds
returns every 24 hours, 13 minutes

Several new “pages” have been developed including a compliance page, Rocky’s Locker Room, Community Service page, and several feature pages dedicated to examples of coaches, staff and student-athletes’ involvement and commitment to the University’s Four Core Values.

NCAA SELF-STUDY
With respect to the NCAA Self-Study (completed in May 2005), we will monitor and endeavor to implement the recommendations provided by the NCAA Peer Review Team (academics, rules compliance, equity). With continued cooperation from a variety of institutional units, full-compliance can be achieved.

We continue to advance our efforts towards a gender neutral environment and our commitment to gender equity.

Looking ahead to FY 08, the Athletics Department will continue to focus on providing the very best student-athlete experience possible. We have experienced some staffing attrition and have been evaluating the reallocation of staff and salary. In terms of staffing, our needs are centered on improving student-athlete welfare. Specifically, we will look to secure the following staff positions.

Staffing Needs for FY ‘08

Full-time Academic Advisor (supported by NCAA APR Plan)(student-athlete welfare)

Full-time Certified Athletic Trainer (cross-divisional position with Kinesiology)(welfare)

Additional External Affairs staff member (development position)(capital campaign)

Increase contract length of four assistant football coaches to 12 month contract positions

Increase 10 month Equipment Specialist position to 12 months (student-athlete welfare)

Certified assistant for strength and conditioning (graduate assistant position)

Each of these staffing positions is a critical component of the NCAA Self-Study and Certification recommendations and will truly improve student-athlete welfare.