Dear App Family,
As the calendar has turned to 2021 and the start of the spring semester at App State, I wanted to thank you again for your loyal support throughout a tumultuous 2020.
We experienced a wide range of highs and lows last year, and the App Family was critical to App State Athletics moving forward and making continuous efforts to achieve comprehensive excellence throughout our department.
Our student-athletes achieved a 3.0 cumulative grade point average for the 17th straight semester when fall grades were tabulated. With all the challenges of online learning and changes to their daily environment, our Mountaineers showed tremendous resilience in earning App State's best student-athlete cumulative and semester GPAs on record. We could not be prouder of our student-athletes, coaches and staff in their continued efforts to compete in the classroom.
Our fall sports (with the exception of field hockey) were able to compete, and the football team won its sixth straight bowl game – something no other FBS program has accomplished in its first six years of bowl eligibility.
Shawn Clark had the most wins of any first-year FBS head coach, and App State's 63-15 record over the last six years trails only Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
Our student-athletes really stepped up to the many challenges they faced in the fall, and they're already doing so as we compete in winter sports and prepare for spring seasons. It cannot be overstated how difficult it is to stay on top of their studies, train for competition and follow all of the important and necessary COVID protocols. I'm so proud of their dedication to doing things the right way and their perseverance to strive for success.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges that we've never before faced in college athletics. Substantial losses in our revenue streams have left us financially strained. Capacity limits at our sporting events have kept our passionate fan base from gathering together. Weekly COVID testing has presented both a financial challenge and a mentally taxing process for our student-athletes and staff. Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Your annual Yosef Club donations, ticket contributions, major gifts and giving to our Keep Climbing initiative has helped ease some of the financial burden.
In September, we launched the Keep Climbing initiative to raise additional resources to help us fulfill student-athlete scholarships and sustain our operations through our current financial situation. With your generosity, we have raised close to $1 million. We still need your support, as expenses related to testing, scholarships for returning student-athletes and other areas continue, while uncertainty remains with traditional revenue streams.
Generous gifts like the
Harrill family's commitment to men's basketball, the
Steve and Marcia Wilks Post-Graduate Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship, the
Deloras and John A Banks Sr. Opportunity Scholarship,
Liz and Jeff Mick's commitment to A Mountaineer Impact, and many others, are how you help us ensure we can provide our student-athletes a world-class experience as App State Mountaineers.
I'm so proud to be the Director of Athletics at App State. Since March, we have experienced the biggest trials many of us have ever faced. There are still challenges ahead, but we have the university leadership, dedicated fans, supporters, coaches, staff and student-athletes to rise to the moment and keep climbing. Our vision is to come out of this time positioned for even greater success in the classroom and competitively.
THANK YOU for your generosity, and please continue to support our student-athletes who give their ALL for App State.
Go App,
Doug Gillin
Director of Athletics
