Putting 'student' back in student athlete
Jimmie Walker
Issue date: 3/17/10 Section: Sports
Echoed throughout Northwestern State University's field house are the cornerstones of the athletic department.
Laminated signs that read "academic achievement, personal responsibility and competitive success," sit in the offices of the building and are used to reinforce the mission of the athletic department.
Those cornerstones helped NSU emerge as a leader on a state, conference and national level in terms of student athlete academia.
"The tone is set on a daily basis," NSU Athletics Director Greg Burke said. " Academic achievement is expected in our department and it starts with me.
"It continues with our coaches and ultimately to our student athletes."
NSU leads the Southland Conference in representatives on the 24-man 2009 Academic All-SLC Football Team with six.
The Lady Demons' tennis team has the highest team grade point average of all sports on campus with a cumulative GPA of 3.656.
Five of the eight Lady Demons' tennis players had a GPA of 4.0 in the fall semester.
Tennis is followed by softball with a team cumulative GPA of 3.339 and soccer with 3.332.
Surprisingly, baseball ranks fourth with a team GPA of 3.19.
"On a national level, baseball has been a sport that struggles with academics because of the many players that transfer schools, amount of travel the teams do and midweek games the teams play," academic coordinator Jodie Heinicka said. "Demon baseball is different. Our team GPA is 3.19 and that is unusually high for baseball."
Baseball is the only sport that the NCAA requires the players to remain eligible year-round and not just the semester prior to the season.
"Three things go into having a successful student athlete program," Executive Director of Athletics William Broussard said. " You have to have a lot of support for your student athletes.
"You have to be committed and you have to recruit the right kind of players."
Broussard believes that success of the student athletes in academia should be top priority to every athletic department.
Laminated signs that read "academic achievement, personal responsibility and competitive success," sit in the offices of the building and are used to reinforce the mission of the athletic department.
Those cornerstones helped NSU emerge as a leader on a state, conference and national level in terms of student athlete academia.
"The tone is set on a daily basis," NSU Athletics Director Greg Burke said. " Academic achievement is expected in our department and it starts with me.
"It continues with our coaches and ultimately to our student athletes."
NSU leads the Southland Conference in representatives on the 24-man 2009 Academic All-SLC Football Team with six.
The Lady Demons' tennis team has the highest team grade point average of all sports on campus with a cumulative GPA of 3.656.
Five of the eight Lady Demons' tennis players had a GPA of 4.0 in the fall semester.
Tennis is followed by softball with a team cumulative GPA of 3.339 and soccer with 3.332.
Surprisingly, baseball ranks fourth with a team GPA of 3.19.
"On a national level, baseball has been a sport that struggles with academics because of the many players that transfer schools, amount of travel the teams do and midweek games the teams play," academic coordinator Jodie Heinicka said. "Demon baseball is different. Our team GPA is 3.19 and that is unusually high for baseball."
Baseball is the only sport that the NCAA requires the players to remain eligible year-round and not just the semester prior to the season.
"Three things go into having a successful student athlete program," Executive Director of Athletics William Broussard said. " You have to have a lot of support for your student athletes.
"You have to be committed and you have to recruit the right kind of players."
Broussard believes that success of the student athletes in academia should be top priority to every athletic department.
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