Dec. 15, 2015 Dear Bears Fans-
As we end the fall semester and begin the spring semester, I wanted to pass along some of the things we have accomplished recently as well as some of the priorities we will be working on in the near future.
This fall we graduated 48 student-athletes -- the most December graduates on record. I'm very proud of that fact because it's why we do what we do. All of the praise goes to our student-athletes, coaches and academic staff for making academics a priority.
Congratulations goes out to our women's volleyball team for its great season. They qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time under Coach Melissa Stokes. Many of you probably are aware of Lily Johnson as a phenomenal athlete - MVC Player of the Year, All-American, etc. -- but she is equally as successful in the classroom and as a student. Lily represents Missouri State and the MVC as our representative on the NCAA National SAAC Advisory Board. She is a tremendous leader and representative of our university. The good news is she's only a sophomore! Lily is one of the many outstanding student-athletes we have at MSU.
Very soon Athletics will be unveiling a new five-year long-range plan. This will coincide with the MVC's long-range plan as well as the University's new long-range plan. The process by which the plan was created involved representation from student-athletes, coaches, administrators and our Faculty Athletics Representative, Dr. Jim Hutter. We have been working on the plan since the middle of the semester, and the action items we want to accomplish will be reviewed annually to make sure we adjust as our priorities, resources and circumstances change. This approach, I believe, better allows us to respond in the present. My thanks to all the committee members, especially Dan Raines, director for the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Academic Achievement Center, for his leadership in this process.
Many of you have asked about how Coach Stec is doing both physically and after his first season as the Bears' head football coach. I'm happy to report he's doing well on both fronts. He is recovering according to plan after his eye surgery in late October, and he continues to be very bullish on our ability to have a successful winning football program. He has laid the foundation for our team to succeed. He and his staff have been on the road recruiting, and I expect a great class to join our MSU family. Thank you to all our fans who came out to support our team. We will need your support in the future, and BearFest Village continues to be the place to be in the Ozarks on Saturday afternoons.
I've heard great reviews from our new ESPN3 product. The access to games has been welcomed with great excitement in addition to the quality by which the games have been produced. As part of The Valley on ESPN initiative, we hope this on-line channel creates more programming for our fans, a revenue source, help in recruiting and exposure for our University. It has certainly accomplished all of these goals in the short time it has been implemented. The number of events and number of sports available on the platform will grow as we develop into next year and beyond.
Both our basketball teams have played very difficult non-conference schedules to help them get ready for conference play. Both teams are exciting to watch, full of young talent and are worth a trip to JQH Arena if you've been unable to see them play in person. The Lady Bears have two road wins over SEC teams, and the men picked up a thrilling win at Big XII Oklahoma State in early December. All signs of good things ahead this season for the Bears and Lady Bears. Get behind your team and show them how much basketball means to this community.
I hope you have enjoyed our new LED ribbon board at JQH Arena so far. We are still adding elements and understanding how to fully utilize this new and exciting game-day enhancement. I also hope you have noticed our intention to reduce the amount of on-court promotions and make the atmosphere fast and fun. We are still tweaking the integration of our band and spirit squads, and how to get our students more involved. However, we want to thank all the fans who have applauded our initial efforts. We listened and responded.
Congratulations to Coach Bill Thomas for his selection into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame this March in St. Louis. We also retired a ceremonial jersey in his honor on December 10. He remains a loyal supporter of our department and University. Once a Bear always a Bear!!
Across our campus, the fall semester had its share of challenges, as many of you know from watching the news. However, I'm proud of our administration led by President Clif Smart. I know the intention and direction President Smart wants Missouri State University to be portrayed, and we are a better University they we were five years ago because of the initiatives he has helped put into place. As in athletics, there is never a finish line. We continue to try and improve, exceed our goals and make the experience for our students the best we can. From our perspective, I'm certainly very proud of our student-athletes and how they conduct themselves on behalf of Missouri State University wherever they go. As a unit, MSU student-athletes compiled a 3.10 GPA for the fall semester with 247 individual student-athletes compiling a 3.0 or better for the term. They continue to be great ambassadors on and off the court!!
As always, as we come to the end of the year and you make decisions regarding gifts and taxes, please think of the Bears Fund. To those of you who have donated to Athletics this year, a sincere Thank You! We really appreciate and need your support.
I hope you take the time to spend the holidays with your loved ones and friends and hopefully stop by JQH Arena for a ball game. We have so much to be thankful for at MSU. On behalf of Leeann and myself we wish you a blessed, happy and safe holiday.
Go Bears!!
Kyle Moats
