June 8, 2016
Dear Huskies,
Over the past two weeks, I have been on the road with our head coaches and administrative staff as we visited with fans, alumni and friends in Chicago, Schaumburg, Rockford and Aurora during our third annual Huskie Summer Circuit. One of my favorite aspects of the annual trek around northern Illinois is hearing each of our head coaches review the academic, athletic and community success stories of their individual programs from the past year. They speak with such pride about their student-athletes and show such passion for the accomplishments of all of our Huskie teams, it energizes ME for the upcoming year.
As Huskies, each of us should carry that same pride because it is very obvious to me that we have programs filled with quality student-athletes, led by outstanding coaches and a hard-working administrative team. The Summer Circuit reinforces my belief that NIU Athletics is getting it done - competitively, academically and in the community.
Academically, NIU continues to be a leader in our conference and in the MAC in all of the metrics - from the Academic Progress Report (APR) to Graduation Success Rate (GSR) to good old GPA! The 2015-16 year saw 71 NIU student-athletes earn their undergraduate degrees and that's what it's all about!
For the 10th consecutive year, each of our sports programs surpassed the academic progress standards set by the NCAA which measure retention and eligibility through the APR. Three of our teams - men's tennis, women's tennis and gymnastics - achieved a perfect four-year APR of 1000 and received a NCAA Public Recognition Award, while seven NIU programs ranked in the top half of the MAC, including football, whose 970 APR tied for second in the league.
Meanwhile, NIU's 87 percent Graduation Success Rate, released this fall, led the MAC and ranked four points above the national average. Seven Huskie men's teams posted a GSR of 81 percent, with football's latest GSR of 86 percent ranked tied for 11th nationally among FBS programs and tied for third among public institutions. On the women's side, NIU's impressive GSR of 98 percent also led all MAC schools.
Academic accolades collected by our student-athletes included 84 named Academic All-MAC so far in 2015-16, while 23 were honored in the fall and winter as MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes. Emily Naegele became the seventh NIU student-athlete in five different sports to be named an Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America in the last five years when she was a first team selection in softball. In addition, women's tennis senior Cristina Alvarez was an Academic All-District selection.
Emily capped off a record-breaking season and Huskie career by becoming the Huskies' first All-America softball player since 1997, and one of just five all-time. She joined football's Shawun Lurry as NIU All-Americans in 2015-16, with a pair of NIU student-athletes named freshman All-Americans as both offensive lineman Max Scharping and pitcher William Anderson earned that honor. Shawn Scott of wrestling finished his run at the NCAA Championships just one win shy of All-America honors as he fell in the round of 12.
Seven Huskies from four teams were named to an All-Region team by their respective coaches organizations. Junior Joo-Young Lee became the first Huskie ever selected to the Golf Coaches Association of America All-Midwest Region team, and Luke Read of men's soccer was the first NIU player to be selected All Great Lakes Region since 2011.
Volleyball and softball each had multiple All-Region choices with T'ara Austin and Jenna Radtke of volleyball on the AVCA Midwest Region team. Emily Naegele was joined by first baseman Kayti Grable and pitcher Alex Frenz on the All-Great Lakes Region team.
NIU's success wasn't all about individuals, either. NIU teams won MAC West titles in football, softball and volleyball with the volleyball team claiming the league's regular season title for the third time in school history and the first time since 2011, led by MAC Coach of the Year Ray Gooden. The Huskies sent a record number of student-athletes to NCAA Regionals in outdoor track and field (6) and gymnastics (6), with four wrestlers advancing to the NCAA Championships, the highest number since 2007. The NIU men's tennis team won at least 15 dual matches for the fifth consecutive season
In all, five Huskie men's and seven women's teams improved or matched their MAC finish from a year ago. After a fourth place (highest in school history) finish at the MAC Indoor Championships, the NIU women's track and field team followed that with an all-time best third-place finish outdoors. Baseball went from a 9-15 MAC record a year ago to a 14-10 mark in 2016, and the Huskies were in contention for a MAC West title late in May. Softball won 35 games, its most since 1999, to record the eighth 35-win season in school history.
Women's golf broke its school record for a MAC Championship by 40 strokes with strong play in its final round with a line-up featuring just one senior. Men's golf contended until the final round, and saw underclassmen Joo-Young Lee and Jordan Wetsch place in the Top 10 with Joo taking second place for the highest finish by a Huskie at the MAC Championships since 1983.
As detailed in last month's Frazier's Corner, our banner year for NIU Athletics extended to our fundraising and revenue generation efforts in 2015-16. Gifts to the Huskie Athletic Fund - including unrestricted, gift-in-kind and premium area donations - totaling a record $2,332,937 in calendar year 2015. In addition, significant revenues realized from our contracts in concessions and catering, multi-media rights, equipment and trademark licensing contributed toward an additional $1.2 million of revenue this fiscal year.
While progress on the Facilities Master Plan was slowed by the state budget impasse, that did not stop us from completing several facilities projects in 2015-16 which enhanced the game experience for our fans, honored our tradition and positively impacted our student-athletes.
At Huskie Stadium, the new End Zone Club provided a field-level view of the action, and LED scoreboard panels were extended on the East and West fascia. The look and sound of the Convocation Center were improved with a new sound system, relocation of the latest Hall of Fame panels to the North Lobby and the addition of the World War II Memorial and Jim Bradley Sports Illustrated photo displays.
Last month, the gymnastics practice area under Huskie Stadium was enhanced with a vault pit which will allow our gymnasts to remain on campus to practice. This year also marked the first full winter that our tennis teams were able to practice on campus on the new indoor courts in Chick Evans Fieldhouse. The hours of travel saved made a difference for those student-athletes! In just one year, NIU will host the NCAA Men's and Women's Golf Championships on back-to-back weeks in May at the home of the Huskies, beautiful Rich Harvest Farms. You'll be hearing much more about the NCAA Championships - the first ever to be hosted by NIU - throughout the year with opportunities to attend or volunteer. This is a great event televised by the Golf Channel and I hope you will get behind our efforts to make it the best NCAA Golf Championships ever!
Mark your calendars as well for the Second Annual Victor E. Ball which will be held on April 29, 2017. Our premiere fundraising event - which resulted in revenues of $181,000 toward supporting Cost of Attendance funds for our student-athletes - moves to the spring with a new location in 2016-17. More information on this very important second-year effort will follow in the coming months.
Here I go again, looking ahead! I'm excited about the future of NIU Athletics and want you with us every step of the way - from the first soccer match in August through the NCAA Golf Championships. Stay tuned to NIUHuskies.com for all of the latest news and get your season tickets for football and volleyball now!
It won't be long until our student-athletes are back on campus and we are kicking off the 2016-17 Huskie sports season. Until then, have a great summer and as always,
Go Huskies!
Sean T. Frazier
Associate Vice-President & Director of Athletics
