Tommy Bell monthly Newsletter — June Edition
06/30/2017 | 8:54:00 | General
Greetings, Saluki Nation!
There are so many reasons to be proud of your Saluki student-athletes, and the month of June provided a few more! Last month, I mentioned that we are up to 92 Academic All-Americans in our history, the most of any school in the Missouri Valley Conference. That number grew to 93 this month when track star Kyle Landon won his third Academic All-American award. If you don't know Kyle's story, the Chester native lost a parent at an early age and struggled with school for much of his childhood. To see all that he has accomplished at SIU as a champion high jumper and Academic All-American is truly heart-warming, and he has been an outstanding ambassador for SIU.
Another remarkable story during the month of June is that of track athlete Freya Block. She came to SIU as a walk-on, and hails from tiny Neponset, Ill. - a village in Bureau County with a population of 473. Earlier this month, she became an All-American by placing seventh in the hammer throw. That's what it means to be a Saluki. Nothing is handed to you. Success is earned through training, discipline and perseverance, combined with good coaching. In the storied history of Saluki Track & Field, we have had 140 First-Team All-Americans. That's more than any school in the MVC and almost twice as many as our closest competitor (Indiana State has had 74).
Here are some more stats that will make you proud to be a Saluki. During the past academic year, Saluki student-athletes logged more than 1,000 hours of community service that benefited 20 different organizations. Some of their success stories include collecting 1,028 items for local food pantries and raising $19,815 for local charities through events such as Souper Bowl Saturday, Trivia Night, SIU Dance Marathon, Lip Sync Battle and Relay for Life. How impressive that, on top of the demands of sport and higher learning, our student-athletes find time to give back to the community!
Wouldn't you like to be part of an organization that supports the work of these student-athletes? You can! I urge you to join the Saluki Athletic Scholarship Fund that helps pay for the scholarships of athletes such as Kyle, Freya and others. Today happens to be the final day in which you can give to the SASF and have it count toward our FY17 total. You can quickly and easily make a contribution on-line.
The Ask the AD in-box was busy this month...
Todd wrote in to ask for my assessment of the Baseball program and what we're doing to get SIU back to the NCAA Tournament? It has been 27 years since we have made an NCAA Tournament appearance, and I believe the biggest reason for that lengthy dry spell was the inferior facility we played in during much of that time. Itchy Jones Stadium opened in 2014 and has helped level the recruiting playing field for our program. I think we're beginning to see some progress in the Win/Loss column, though perhaps not the dramatic improvement we would prefer. The team finished 11-10 and fourth place in 2016, and 10-10 and fourth place again in 2017. Those are respectable marks, but I'd like to see the program take the next step and challenge for a conference title. Understand that since 1997, the program has had a winning record in the MVC only seven times. Winning a league title would be unprecedented for Saluki Baseball in the modern era, however, I feel it is definitely attainable.
Andrew asked about our plans for ESPN3 for the upcoming season. We anticipate an even larger slate of games for the 2017-18 season, in the neighborhood of 70 broadcasts. Many of our team schedules are not yet complete, so we haven't finalized a broadcast schedule. We're getting close to announcing our fall broadcast schedule for football and volleyball. The volleyball schedule has experienced a slight delay due to the recent coaching change. Rest assured, ESPN3 will continue to provide great exposure for SIU and our league, as well as provide excellent hands-on training for the students involved in the telecasts.
Ken asked a question about men's basketball recruiting, and in particular, my assessment of our recent track record of recruiting high school seniors. I happen to have a historical chart on my desk of all of our recruiting classes dating back to 2005. It's a good way for me to monitor our success rate when it comes to recruiting. I looked through our last three men's basketball recruiting classes and found that we signed 12 players (not including two players who did not qualify academically). Of those 12 players, seven were junior college players, four came in as freshmen from high school, and one transferred from a four-year institution. So, yes, I'm aware that our recent recruiting tilts in favor of juco players over high school seniors.
Several people asked about the status of the men's basketball schedule, including the destination for our annual Multi-Team Event. There are bits and pieces of scheduling info. out there already, such as the Nov. 21 game at Louisville and the MVC-Mountain West Challenge game against San Jose State on Dec. 2. Coach Hinson is putting the finishing touches on the rest of the non-conference schedule and we expect to announce it next month. As it stands right now, we will play seven home games, four road contests and two neutral-site games. We originally intended to play an MTE event in Nashville, but that fell through, so we are working on another MTE that would involve a trip to Las Vegas.
Keep the questions coming!
With Saluki Pride,
