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.

January 16, 2008

Dear Bobcat Fans,

Happy New Year! I hope this correspondence finds each of you enjoying a healthy and prosperous 2008. With the beginning of the New Year comes the start of the winter academic quarter. The beginning of the winter quarter always provides tremendous excitement as students get back to campus.

I want to begin this column by congratulating Ohio's student-athletes on a tremendous 2007 fall academic quarter. In brief, the fall academic report showed Ohio student-athletes posted a 3.023 grade point average. All of our women's teams, and our men's cross country and men's golf teams each posted a GPA above a 3.0. This accomplishment is a true credit to their hard work, both in and out of the classroom.

I also want to take this opportunity to share with you the tremendous success that the Ohio Bobcat Club is experiencing this academic year. As of January 12, 2008 over 1,350 individuals or families have contributed $615,000 to the Ohio Bobcat Club. This surpasses the 2007-2008 goal of 1,200 donors and represents a 31% membership increase from last year. Our diverse membership includes Bobcats both close to and far from Ohio University. 27% of Ohio Bobcat Club members reside in Athens and 31% live outside the state of Ohio. It is great to see that we have the support of loyal Bobcats from all areas of the country.

The 2007-2008 giving campaign extends until March 31, 2008. If you haven't made a gift this year, please consider supporting Ohio student-athletes by contacting the Ohio Bobcat Club at 740-593-1119. There is great strength in numbers - please recognize the difference that you can make in the lives of our outstanding student-athletes.

This year Ohio Athletics has worked to continue the development of ongoing relationships between all former student-athletes and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. With the help of former Bobcat student-athletes Julie Cole '75, Caroline Mast Daugherty '86, and Todd Snyder '72, we were able to contact over 5,000 former student-athletes to update them on the success of our sports programs. On behalf of our department I would like to personally thank Julie, Caroline and Todd for their time and commitment to this initiative.

As a part of this outreach, we are in the process of updating our database of former student-athletes. If you are a former student-athlete please visit the Former Student-Athlete page at ohiobobcats.com to update your information so that we will be able to contact you more directly and keep you informed of the activities within your sport and the department.

I am also pleased to share with you a very exciting announcement. On November 3, 2007 the Ohio University Foundation Board of Trustees approved the creation of an ad hoc athletics fundraising committee to expand the philanthropic fundraising efforts of the Ohio Bobcat Club. This initiative will serve as a tremendous opportunity to increase private support for Intercollegiate Athletics.

I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Foundation Board of Trustees for their continued leadership of our University. Their support for Intercollegiate Athletics is extremely important as we continue to strive for excellence in each of our endeavors and position Ohio Athletics at the top of the Mid-American Conference.

In closing, on behalf of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, thank you for your continued support of Ohio Athletics. We look forward to seeing each of you at an upcoming Bobcat event!

Go Bobcats!
Kirby