housel.txt

>From the Desk of David Housel

A successful Athletics Department has to do four things: win, educate its student athletes, pay its bills and abide by the rules.
Educating Our Student Athletes
The term Òeducating student athletesÓ is used rather than Ògraduating student athletesÓ because a personÕs education in not measured by the degree that person holds.
An education is measured by what an individual comprehends, by the questions he or she still seeks to have answered and by the ability of that individual to search out answers to those questions.
Degrees are but an outward and visible symbol that an individual has successfully met a standard of requirements designed to prepare that individual to become an educated person.
The purpose of Auburn University is not to grant degrees. The purpose of Auburn University is to educate.
It is in this context that the Auburn Athletic Department seeks to educate its student athletes and help them earn degrees, the outward and visible symbol that they are on the threshold of becoming educated men and women.
The Student Services staff, under the direction of Virgil Starks, currently has seven academic counselors and two staff members serving the needs of approximately 450 student athletes.
Counselors are instructed to have the welfare of the student athlete as their primary goal.  Eligibility is important, but the studentÕs future is more important.  If a football player is eligible for four years under current NCAA, SEC and Auburn rules and regulations, he will be within touching distance of a degree. 
It is the counselorÕs job to help the student athlete maintain eligibility while making satisfactory progress toward a meaningful degree of his or her choice. Also, to instill in that athlete a desire to earn a degree and an appreciation for learning and the true meaning of an education. It is a big job, but it is a job that defines what we as a University and as an Athletic Department should be about.
While there might be some discussion about improving the academic quality of the high school athletes recruited to Auburn, studies have shown that Auburn is usually recruiting the same prospective student athletes other major universities are recruiting. What seems to matter most is what we Ð Auburn and other institutions Ð do with these student athletes once they come to campus.
In terms of the outward and visible symbol, the graduation rate, Auburn has been consistently close to or above the national athletic average of 50 to 55 percent. Our ultimate goal is to graduate our student athletes at a rate equal to or better than Auburn University as a whole. If we meet that goal, we will more than surpass the national athletic average. This year, for the first time, Auburn student athletes graduated at a rate higher than the student body as a whole, 67 percent to 66 percent. 
Technology and good study habits are critical to academic success Ð and Auburn must ensure that its student athletes have ample access to state of the art technology and quality study opportunities Ð but the ultimate success of the program comes back to what is described in the Auburn Creed as Òthe human touch...Ó
The young men and women who choose to come to Auburn commit their lives, their minds and hearts, their hopes and dreams to Auburn. Auburn, and the many people who make up Auburn, must be true to that trust. 
ÒOperation Follow Through,Ó as in Òfollow through with your commitment and our commitmentÓ is the code name for one of our most important and cherished programs. It assists former athletes in coming back to Auburn and earning a degree, sometimes long after their eligibility is over and an anticipated pro career is but a memory. 
Gerald Robinson, Harry Mose, Myles Patrick, Earl Banks and Freddy Smith are but a few of the former athletes who have come back to Auburn to finish their education. Their degrees will not count in AuburnÕs graduation rate, but will count in their lives and in the lives of their children. That is a far more important consideration than any statistical unit could ever measure.
An educated person is not the man or woman who knows all the answers; itÕs the person who knows where to start looking for the answers. Auburn has to help in that search.
Ð In Two Weeks: Fiscal Responsibility: Paying Your Bills Ð