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.

May 9, 2007

Dear Bobcat Fans,

I hope this finds each of you doing well. Springtime in Athens has finally arrived! It is indeed one of the best times of the year in Southeast Ohio.

Academic Progress Rate:
I would like to begin this column by congratulating all of our student-athletes on their hard work and dedication in the classroom. The NCAA recently released the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report and every one of our teams scored above the NCAA requirement score of 925. In fact, for the second straight year, the volleyball and men's golf programs scored a perfect 1,000 and were recognized among the nation's top 10% in their sports. Overall, 11 teams scored above their sport's national average for Division I. I know each of you share the pride we have in our student-athletes and their commitment to academic excellence.

Welcome New Corporate Partner:
I would like to welcome our newest corporate partner, The Citizens Bank of Athens. We sincerely appreciate their continued commitment to our community and support of Ohio Athletics. We are looking forward to a long-term relationship with The Citizens Bank of Athens and their President and CEO, Bryan Starner.

Ohio Bobcat Club Caravan:
I am excited to announce that we are in the process of planning the Ohio Bobcat Club Summer Caravan. Our coaches and staff will be traveling to various cities and towns this summer, spreading the Bobcat Pride throughout the state of Ohio. We understand how difficult it can be for out-of-town Bobcat fans to attend contests during the year, so we are bringing the tailgate to you!

The Ohio Bobcat Club Caravan will provide the opportunity for Bobcat fans to meet and chat with members of the Ohio Athletics staff and coaches. These events will be designed as a thank you to loyal Bobcat fans and provide a way for us to remain connected through the summer months. More details will be coming in the next few weeks, so keep an eye on our website to see if we are coming to a town near you!

Clarification regarding Lights:
I would also like to take this opportunity to address some false claims that have been made regarding the expense to operate the lights at Peden Stadium. In reality, the use of those lights is inexpensive. The following information has been provided by the Facilities Management department and explains in great detail the expense to light Peden Stadium.

Peden Stadium field lighting contains 256 total fixtures using 1,500 watt lamps for a total of 384,000 watts or 384 KW (kilowatts). As an industrial user, the electric rate for Ohio University is $0.0227 per kilowatt-hour, about 50% of your household rate! This results in a base cost of $8.72 per hour of lighting if all fixtures are on.

As well, the cost to operate these lights must share in the "demand cost" for all electric use across the campus. Adding this "demand cost" to the cost per KwH raises the average cost per KwH to $0.0433 per kilowatt-hour. The final answer to the question raised is: 1 hour of lighting in the stadium, day or night is (384,000 watts-hr/1000 watts/KW) x ($0.0433/ KW-hr) x (1 hr) = $16.62.

In summary, it costs less than $17 per hour to have all the lights on at Peden Stadium. Furthermore, our records show that those lights have been turned on for approximately 114.5 hours during the current fiscal year, which began July 1, 2006. This total is all inclusive- games, practices, and all other events for which the lights were on. That means the total cost of the Peden Stadium lights this year has been less than $2,000. Reports of spending in excess of $39,000 just to turn on the lights for recruiting visits are inaccurate.

I assure all supporters of Ohio Athletics that we continue to operate this department in a fiscally-responsible manner and will remain focused on increasing revenue to enhance the overall student-athlete experience.

On behalf of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, thank you for your continued support of Ohio Athletics!

Go Bobcats!
Kirby