Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt's Monthly Comments

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Athletics Director Kirby Hocutt welcomes your comments and ideas. Your email will be read by Kirby and answered by either him or a member of the Ohio Athletics staff. Please include your name and hometown, and if you are a Bobcat let us know your class year. Thank you for your interest, your participation and your support of Bobcat Athletics.

October 21, 2005

What a great time to be a Bobcat! As I wrap up my first two months as Athletics Director at Ohio University, I am more excited than ever to be here! My first few weeks in Athens have been truly remarkable. The welcome I have received from the University, Athens community, friends of the program and our student-athletes and coaches has been great. I am exceptionally fortunate to have the opportunity to work with a group of extremely talented student-athletes and coaches whose enthusiasm for our program is contagious.

As an Athletics Department, we are tremendously fortunate to have the leadership of President Roderick McDavis. President McDavis has established a vision for our university that not only enhances our position as a leader in higher education but elevates the performance of our athletics programs to the top of the Mid-American Conference. It will be our goal to become the model athletics program in our conference by focusing our efforts on two main areas: 1) providing academic opportunities and services allowing all of our student-athletes to leave Ohio University with their degree, and 2) providing our programs the resources and facilities to consistently compete for MAC championships.

We are extremely proud of the way our student-athletes are performing in the classroom. Recently our football team was honored by the American Football Coaches Association as being one of only 25 Division 1-A programs to have a graduation rate of over 70%. Additionally, our women's volleyball program was recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association for earning a team GPA of over 3.3. We are extremely proud of these teams and all of our student-athletes who are making progress toward their degrees!

As I have had a chance to meet and visit with each of our head coaches, it is evident that our athletics facilities are a tremendous point of pride. Ohio University has made a significant investment into these facilities over the past ten years and we will continue to provide first-class facilities.

Currently, we are in the process of taking another step toward that commitment with a $1.3 million renovation of Peden Tower. The Peden Tower project provides our student-athletes and teams with a renovated and expanded sports medicine center equipped with a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy rehabilitation area. The project also accommodates the football team with refurbished meeting rooms featuring the latest video technology to analyze practice and game tapes. Additionally, we are currently reviewing architectural drawings to improve the football staff offices and enhance the existing recruiting space.

Support for the Peden Tower Renovation Project has been tremendous. To date, $1.1 million has been donated toward a project goal of $1.3 million. More than $230,000 was raised in one evening at a fundraising event held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Walter. This tremendous support and generosity is a great sign of the renewed excitement toward our athletics program and the arrival of our first-year head football coach, Frank Solich.

Speaking of excitement, how about that football game against Pitt? If you were not able to see the game in person, I hope you were able to watch it on ESPN2. The atmosphere was electric with the stands and Victory Hill filled to standing-room only capacity. That Friday night Bobcat fans turned out in record numbers, resulting in a Peden Stadium attendance record of 24,545. The student body plays a large role in creating atmosphere at a college athletics venue and that night over 7,000 students were on hand, helping to generate tremendous enthusiasm. As I watched our post-game celebration and firework show, I was extremely proud of how hard our young men competed and the outstanding manner by which our entire university community supported the football program. With over 1.4 million viewers watching the game on ESPN2, our great university was showcased throughout the country. We must continue to build our program to replicate that atmosphere for each and every home game, recognizing what an amazing home-field advantage it can create.

Head Volleyball Coach Geoff Carlston can tell you a little bit about home-field (or home-court) advantage. The Bobcat Volleyball team now holds the nation's longest home winning streak (currently at 34) and have received their highest ever ranking of 23rd in the nation. They are positioned to capture a third consecutive Mid-American Conference Championship and another appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Over the past few months, the department has added a few new faces. In our continuing commitment to the health and well-being of the student-athlete, Dr. Will Rosenberg is the newest addition to the sports medicine team. Dr. Rosenberg comes to Athens from Oklahoma and will assume day-to-day care of Bobcat injuries. Two of our women's sports programs have new head coaches. Allison Valentino joins the program as Head Lacrosse Coach. Coach Valentino had previously been at Maryland as an assistant coach and, before that, spent six years as assistant at Duke. Also new to the department is Head Softball Coach Jill Matyuch. Coach Matyuch comes to us from the University of Texas, where she was an assistant for five years and helped lead the Longhorns to three NCAA Tournaments and two College World Series appearances.

In addition to staff members, you may have noticed something else that is new… the look of ohiobobcats.com! Ohio Athletics has partnered with CSTV, the leading college sports online network, to bring you the most up-to-date information, news and events. We hope you find the new appearance to be more appealing and easier to navigate. We are adding to the content and archive libraries daily, and are developing multi-media concepts that will only improve your online experience with us.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has helped me get settled in my new role as your Athletics Director. Diane, my wife, and our boys Drew and Brooks and I made our permanent transition from Oklahoma to Athens two weeks ago, spending two days driving across the country. We look forward to becoming an integral part of Ohio University and the Athens community.

Go Bobcats!

Kirby