Appalachian State fans and supporters can reach out to Director of Athletics
Doug Gillin each month with questions regarding Appalachian State Athletics. Please submit questions via email at
AskTheAD@appstate.edu.
JUNE 2019 – ASK THE A.D.
With all of the construction on campus, what's the latest on parking for the fall?
With the P3 housing construction project taking place in the area that previously served as the Stadium Lot, we've been working hard to implement plans for football parking in 2019, and we appreciate everyone's patience as we make daily progress on the exciting housing and facilities projects that will greatly enhance Appalachian State University for years to come.
Since the April 30 deadline to renew season tickets, work has begun on preparing what lots will be available to each season ticket holder.
Spaces in each lot will be individually numbered, and a minimum contribution of $2,500 annually to the Yosef Club is required to receive assigned parking in the Champions Lot, the Top of the Rock Lot (replacing the tennis courts adjacent to the Champions Lot) and the Mountaineer Lot (spaces in both the Eggers/Bowie lot and the adjacent parking deck rooftop that will be flush with the Eggers/Bowie Lot). Additional spaces will also be created in the shot put/discus "throws" area between the softball stadium and Sofield indoor facility.
With work on the new parking deck moving closer and closer to completion — an egress will be established to help with traffic entering or exiting the garage — our plans call for no decrease in the number of West Side parking spaces as we transition from 2018 to 2019.
The parking plan in the Greenwood Lot is also scheduled to include options for RVs for the 2019 football season, so be sure to check AppStateSports.com or follow @appstatesports on Twitter for parking updates as they become available.
What is the Bubas Cup and how are the standings calculated?
The Bubas Cup is given out every year to the top athletics department in the Sun Belt, and we recorded our best finish in 2018-19 since joining the league.
Points are awarded based on regular-season finish (with one extra point going to the Championship winner) or just Championship finish (if there's no regular season schedule), and ties lead to teams splitting the combined points for their positions. App State Football, for instance, totaled 10.5 points thanks to a two-way tie for the best regular-season record in a 10-team league (9.5 points) and a win in the Championship game.
In 2018-19, we totaled 110.5 points and posted our best finish ever by placing fourth among the 12 Sun Belt schools. Championships by football, women's cross country and women's tennis helped us challenge first-place Texas State for the top spot all year, and it's worth noting that a regular-season championship in wrestling didn't contribute to the point total because we compete in the Southern Conference.
Strong finishes from sports such as men's cross country and women's basketball, along with accomplishments like softball tying a school record for wins and baseball qualifying for the Sun Belt Championship for the first time, helped App State improve on a seventh-place finish in 2017-18 and reach 100 points for the first time.
We strive to keep climbing the standings and bring the Bubas Cup to Boone. As fans, the best ways you can give our student-athletes and coaches the resources to be as successful as possible are
joining the Yosef Club,
buying season football tickets and
contributing to A Mountaineer Impact, A Drive for Excellence. Your support is critical!
Where does App State rank academically in the Sun Belt?
There are a lot of different ways to measure the academic success of students and student-athletes, and we're proud of the results from the NCAA's latest release of APR scores, which measure eligibility, graduation and retention each semester.
App State led the Sun Belt and set a school record with 14 perfect single-year scores of 1,000 for the 2017-18 cycle. More than three-fourths of our teams and every single women's team had a perfect score.
The APR scores for 2018-19 won't come out until next year, but our student-athletes finished the spring of 2019 with a GPA above 3.0 for the 14th straight semester. The 3.11 GPA was just below the school-record average of 3.12 set in 2018.
Additionally, our student-athletes are giving back to the community at a record-setting rate. They recorded approximately 10,500 hours of community service in 2018-19 to set an athletics department record and rank No. 6 among all Division I schools in the country!
We want our student-athletes to be successful in the classroom, in the community and as competitors. The numerous academic and service honors in May were a great way to end a memorable year.
Thanks for your support, and Go Mountaineers!
