IAC 9/26/2019
2:03pm
Attendance: Born, Carroll, Chu, DuPre’, Gummelt, Minaldi, Mulvaney, Thill, Spoeri, Zaloom Guests: Kristin Willeford, Dan Darcy
Dr. Chu introduced new student that is part of IAC.
Marco introduced Kristin Willeford, Assistant Athletics Director – Sports Medicine and Dan Darcy, Director of Strength and Conditioning.
Dan Darcy – 14th year in strength and conditioning. Came to LU in 2016. Added a third GA this year. Oversee all strength programs for all 17 sports. See how student-athletes respond to adversity. More than just strength training. Student-athlete safety and welfare is most important. Dietician hired in department. Assist student-athletes with nutrition and well being. Educate the student-athletes on how to handle the nutritional needs.
Kristin Willeford – Started a mental health program. Monthly meetings with a specific group to identify any mental health problems student-athletes are dealing with. Work with the counseling center in the health center. We have it setup for immediate response. On the medical side, work with nurse practitioner in the health center for illness and immediate injuries. Sports medicine – 9 GA’s, 3 full-time and Kristin. Student-athletes are instructed to come to the staff for any medical issue. It is then referred to the proper person. Concussion – if a student-athlete has one, communication is made with the professors. Mental health – Dan and Kristin see a different side of the student-athletes and anyone that may have a concern are referred to the counselors. Coaches are not usually involved, unless they need to know.
Dan – Mental health intervention is in place and we are introducing communication and more education in mental health to the student-athletes.
Kristin – QPR is an important suicide prevention training that we are working on getting staff trained in.
Kristin – Heat is an issue and we are educating the student-athletes on how they can be prepared for a hot day of training. Constant education with nutrition and hydration. Monitor the wet bulb (temp, humidity and wind speed). Extra breaks during practice. If a student-athlete is overheated, the process starts with a rectal thermometer. Cold plunge pool until temperature goes down to 101. They are properly cooled before they are transported by ambulance.
Marco – Kristin and staff has reviewed and revamped several policies.
Dr. Chu – Dr. Evans will be at the next meeting to give the charge to the council.
Marco – Event with Julius Erving to benefit the basketball programs. New hires over the summer. Kristin replaced Josh Yonker. Replaced all of the sports medicine staff. Obie Benavides – revamped the
drug testing policy. Jon Washington, Jonathan Swalley in marketing. Janell Howland – new women’s golf coach. Janell is a former player at LU and has bridge some gaps with donors.
Goals for the department – 3.10 GPA for the athletics department, single year APR of 985, win the southland conference commissioner’s cup, top 200 in the Learfield cup (NCAA accomplishments), increase community services hours by 25%, 100% athletics staff giving to the university.
Did not establish a quota for each team, but an increase overall.
Brought in John Shukie, APR expert. Analyzed all APR data and how we can improve. Met with every team and how to improve APR. Met with all teams this week to review APR data. Assisting with writing waivers and adjustments for improved APR. Coaches need to be more proactive with recruiting. An incoming student-athlete that have a 2.80 core GPA and/or less than 900 SAT is considered an at-risk student-athlete. Anyone in this position, must be approved by Marco to further recruiting process.
Football homecoming is this weekend. Hall of honor banquet on October 5.
Adding new football games for future years. We will not play any additional power 5 schools. Most of our teams will be involved in the homecoming parade.
Ginger Gummelt will assist with our Title IX training.
Recruiting student-athletes with higher academic standards to assist with APR and graduation rates. If you hit certain APR standards, there is now revenue distribution attached to it.
If we do recruit a higher risk student-athlete, we want to make sure we have the resources in place to assist them.
Adjourned 2:42