From the AD: Time to Double Down

From the AD: Time to Double Down

August 21, 2024, 2:00 PM

As the new school year at SIUE starts this week, I am blessed to be starting my second full year as the Director of Athletics.

The start of a new year brings excitement, energy, new faces, opportunity, and the dreams of what we will accomplish this year. What trophies will we win? What championships will be claimed? Who will experience the NCAA Tournament? What records will fall because of the standout performances and efforts of our student-athletes?

The start of the new year also brings some natural anxiety and uncertainty. Freshman, transfers, and new staff are building relationships and navigating a new environment. How will a new group of student-athletes click in the locker room? For some student-athletes, uncertainty around their health as they recover from injury.

As we approach 2024-25, the anxiety and uncertainty are also palpable around our industry. Our industry has never changed so fast, almost unrecognizable when viewed through national headlines.

All of this brings questions, for me as the AD, for SIUE Athletics, and for our industry. What does this mean for SIUE? How are you going to react to the changes? What are you going to do to overcome the challenges? What are you going to do differently?

As these questions are asked, and as I think about SIUE Athletics heading into year two, the phrase "double down" keeps surfacing. The questions are fair and reacting to the national landscape, overcoming challenges, navigating uncertainty, and handling uncontrollable adversity are all important, but what if we spent more time doubling down on what we can control?

Here are 5 things SIUE Athletics intends to double down on in 2024-25:

Double Down on our Core Values: The Cougar Core was implemented in August 2023 as the new core values of SIUE Athletics. As we reflect, reset, and recharge for 2024-25, we'll double down on the core values of the Cougar Core - Commitment, Optimism, Unity, Growth, Appreciation, and Resilience.

Double Down on People: Woody Hayes, former Ohio State head football coach, coined the phrase "You Win With People." Last year, we were fortunate to add a number of amazing people to our SIUE Athletics team of coaches and staff. I've told our student-athletes that it is my belief we have the best staff in the OVC. The addition of new staff, assistant coaches, and graduate assistants means new energy and talent is joining our squad as we start 2024-25 and double down on the character, abilities, and work ethic of our people.

Double Down on Unity: One of the core values referenced above is unity, and the one I think could be most important to SIUE Athletics and our collective success in and out of competition this year. As we navigate an industry and a society that is becoming increasingly more individualized and divisive, let's double down on unity, double down on supporting each other, and double down on celebrating each other's successes.

Double Down on Community Engagement: We made a lot of progress over the last year in terms of building relationships and visibility with our community. We're proud to be the Metro East's Division I University. We're proud of how our student-athletes engage with our community through camps, community service, and interacting with fans at our events. We're proud of the growth we've seen in terms of attendance, sponsorships, and fundraising. As we move forward, we'll double down on building these mutually beneficial relationships with our community that will be instrumental to our success and growth.

Double Down on Progress: I tell every recruit and student-athlete that they are at a place that is constantly striving to become a better version of itself, just like they have the opportunity to do individually while in college - academically, athletically, and personally. SIUE Athletics will double down on being solution-oriented and focused on progress this year, so we can continue to become a better version of ourselves.

We hope you will join us as we double down on the Cougar Core, People, Unity, Community Engagement, and Progress this year!

Roll Cougs!

Andrew Gavin
Director of Athletics