From the Desk of Ross Bjork
Jun 14, 2021 | General
Howdy!
As the saying goes, there is nothing permanent except change. College athletics is constantly evolving and Texas A&M continues to be a leader on and off the field. Student-athletes continue to be at the forefront of everything that we do and therefore, earlier this month we announced our Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) program: AMPLIFY. This innovative and comprehensive program will equip and empower our student-athletes with the best-in-class education and resources related to personal branding, networking, finance, media training and more.
As we enter this new era of college athletics, this opportunity allows Texas A&M to be a leader in the NIL space. In Athletics, we are constantly striving to put our student-athletes in the best position both on and off the fields of play, and this program allows us to continue to do just that. To provide premier resources, AMPLIFY will expand current partnerships with INFLCR, while also working with COMPASS and Game Plan. You can read more about the details of AMPLIFY here.
Texas A&M student-athletes have the unique opportunity to grow and develop their personal brand with best-in-class resources that only A&M can offer. Whether it is through the premier Southeastern Conference, SEC Network, 12th Man Productions, 12th Man Creative or the phenomenal Aggie Network, we have an incredible chance to equip our student-athletes to reach their full potential. Check out our FAQ page to learn more about NIL.
As our Department continues to move forward, Kyle Field and all of our other athletic venues will operate at full capacity and Aggies will have a full experience. To reach that "full capacity", we need everyone to purchase your tickets at 12thman.com/tickets. I am counting down the days until the 12th Man is back on campus yelling for our student-athletes!
Speaking of momentum, I am very excited to welcome several new head coaches to the Aggie Family! At the beginning of June, we removed the interim tag from Brian Kortan and named him as head men's golf coach. Brian did a phenomenal job leading our team this past year and I look forward to the impact that he will continue to make. Joining Coach Kortan on the links is our new women's golf coach, Gerrod Chadwell. Gerrod joins us after serving as the head coach at the University of Houston since 2013. At Houston, he took his team to the NCAA Regionals and Championships numerous seasons and was named American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year three different times. The future is bright for both of our golf programs!
The latest coach added to the Aggie Family is Jim Schlossnagle, who we announced last week as the new coach for Aggie Baseball. Coach Schlossnagle has a tremendous history of success including numerous NCAA tournament appearances and five trips to the College World Series. I am thrilled for all three new head coaches and I am confident they will make a positive impact for our student-athletes both on and off the fields of play. See below for even more information on these impressive coaches.
Congratulations to our phenomenal student-athletes and Center for Student-Athlete Services staff! Though this past year brought many challenges academically, our department did not falter. The discipline and excellence in the classroom shown is extremely impressive. They recorded a 3.079 cumulative GPA, the highest ever recorded. See below for more details on the academic records they set!
A perfect example of the excellence displayed in the classroom can be seen through track and field's Jon Bishop. Last month he was named the 2020-21 Southeastern Conference H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year. This is the highest honor that a student-athlete can receive in the SEC and I am so proud of Jon for all that he has done!
Have a great summer and get some rest for a great 2021-22. There are exciting things to come in Aggieland!
Gig 'Em!
Ross
H. Boyd McWhorter Award
Track & field's Jon Bishop was named the 2020-21 Southeastern Conference H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and became the third Aggie and second track & field athlete to earn the prestigious award. Swimming's Sarah Gibson earned the award in 2017, while track and field's Nathan Hite garnered the honor in 2019. The SEC first began presenting the award in 1986.
Bishop was chosen by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from SEC universities and will receive a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship.
The McWhorter Award adds to a long list of academic and athletic achievements for Bishop.
He has been a success story on the field of competition and in the classroom. The College Station, Texas, native was the 2020 SEC Indoor and Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He also earned USTFCCCA Academic All-America Second Team honors. In total, he has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll on six occasions.
In competition, Bishop was a NCAA Cross Country Championships qualifier in 2017. He is a two-time All-SEC finisher, once in the indoor 3000m and once in cross country. Bishop has four Texas A&M all-time top-12 marks to his name, including the fourth-best indoor 3000m time of 8:06.53.
Already a graduate with his bachelor's in Applied Mathematical Sciences, Bishop is currently pursuing his master's in computer science.
Mike L. Slive Award
Dr. Shawn Gibbs, the Dean of School of Public Health here at Texas A&M, along with the other 13 members of the Southeastern Conference's Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force were named recipients of the Michael L. Slive Distinguished Service Award.
The group of volunteer medical professionals appointed by each of the SEC's member universities provided continuing guidance as the SEC conducted intercollegiate athletics competition during the 2020-21 academic year.
We could not have competed this season the way that we did without their guidance and leadership.
Dr. Gibbs is an industrial hygienist whose expertise is in the disruption of highly infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and Ebola virus disease. His research has helped to determine national policies, procedures, and best practices for responders and healthcare workers to safely treat patients with Ebola virus disease, COVID-19, and other highly infectious diseases. Gibbs is sought after to lend guidance to national and international organizations, such as his appointment to the United States Environmental Protection Agency Board of Scientific Counselors-Homeland Security Subcommittee as well as work with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command.
Coaching Hires
This past month was a busy one as we made three very important coaching hires in baseball, men's golf and women's golf.
In baseball, we hired two-time National Coach of the Year Jim Schlossnagle as our 20th head coach in program history. He has enjoyed tremendous success during his 20-year career as a head coach, including the last 18 seasons at TCU. He guided the Horned Frogs to five College World Series, making their Omaha debut in 2010 and adding four consecutive CWS trips from 2014-17. TCU was one of just three schools to appear in five of the last 10 College World Series. The Horned Frogs posted an 11-10 mark in Omaha, including being one of the last four teams standing in 2010 and 2017.
We welcomed Coach Schlossnagle and his family to Aggieland with a special celebration, which you can see here.
In men's golf, we made the easy decision to remove the interim tag from Brian Kortan's title. Coach Kortan has been involved with our men's golf program for a long time and we know that he has what it takes to win us another national championship. Kortan guided the Aggies to a spot in the NCAA Championships, a pair of tournament victories and the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Championship after taking over the team on an interim basis last August.
Under Kortan's guidance, junior Sam Bennett enjoyed one of the greatest individual seasons in school history. Entering 2020-21 without a collegiate victory, Bennett earned first-team PING All-America honors after winning three tournament crowns, including the Cabo Collegiate which came with a PGA Tour exemption to the Valero Texas Open. Bennett was 2-0 in match play at the SEC Championship and he also tallied a runner-up finish at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional.
In women's golf, we were able to hire one of the best coaches in the country in three-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year Gerrod Chadwell. Chadwell is the fifth head coach in program history, and is coming to Aggieland after spending the previous eight seasons as the leader of the University of Houston women's golf team. He took the Cougars to six-consecutive NCAA Regionals, and saw three individuals compete at the NCAA Championships.
Chadwell built the Cougars' program from the ground up after being appointed as the first head coach in program history in May of 2013. He guided Houston to three AAC Championships (2016, 2018, 2019), and was voted as the conference's coach of the year on three occasions (2016, 2018, 2019).
He coached three AAC Players of the Year, and last season saw Karen Fredgaard become the first first-team All-American in program history. During his time at Houston, 19 Cougars earned all-conference honors and he won eight team tournaments.
Athletics Hall of Fame
The Texas A&M Lettermen's Association's Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2021 will usher in nine Aggies because of their individual accomplishments and team success.
This year's class of legends will be inducted at the 43rd Burgess Banquet, which will be held on Friday, Sept. 17 prior to the New Mexico football game. Tickets for the banquet can be purchased here.
Joining the best of the best in the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame are (alphabetically):
- Randy Bullock '11 (football)
- Selena Collins Patterson '04 (softball)
- Sydney Colson '11 (women's basketball)
- Dante Hall '99 (football)
- Austin Krajicek '11 (men's tennis)
- Christine Marshall '09 (women's swimming & diving)
- Gabby Mayo '11 (women's track & field)
- Matt Rose '04 (men's swimming & diving)
- Antoine Wright '05 (men's basketball)
Additionally, this year's Hall of Honor inductee is Dave Coolidge '88 (football). Individuals who are ushered into the Hall of Honor are recognized because they have gone above and beyond in contributions and support of the athletic programs at A&M.
Cliff Thomas '73 (football), a member of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, is the Lettermen's Lifetime Achievement Award winner. The prestigious award recognizes lettermen who have gone on to gain prominence through efforts in industry, commerce, technology, athletics, their professions or other worthy endeavors after graduation.
Sport Updates
The track & field program finished second on the women's side and sixth on the men's side this weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The women's team scored 63 points, the most in school history. They recorded three event titles; Tyra Gittens (heptathlon), Athing Mu (400m) and Tierra Robinson-Jones, Charokee Young, Jaevin Reed and Mu (4x400m). The 4x400m relay set a collegiate record with a time of 3:22.34. Prior to the collegiate record relay, Mu bettered her 400m collegiate record by .11 winning with a time of 49.57. Gittens won the heptathlon with 6,285 points. The men's side was highlighted by national runner-ups Brandon Miller (800m) and Bryce Deadmon (400m). In total, the Maroon & White recorded 14 All-Americans. Next up, multiple current Aggies and former student-athletes get set to compete in the Olympic Trials in Eugene June 19-28.
Baseball's Will Frizzell was named to the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I All-America Second Team. The recognition comes on the heels of Frizzell being named All-SEC First Team. He ranks third in the SEC and eighth in the nation with 19 home runs. He led the SEC and ranked fifth in the country with 140 total bases. He also led the league and ranked 38th in the country with a .686 slugging percentage. The Rockwall, Texas, native batted .343 with 46 runs, 13 doubles, 19 home runs, 50 RBI. He also drew 39 walks and sported a .451 on-base percentage.
Frizzell's four-year numbers at Texas A&M include 177 games played with a .292 batting average, 102 runs, 33 doubles, 30 home runs and 115 RBI. He climbed the Aggies' home run charts in 2021, ending the campaign ranked fourth on the single-season list and eighth on the career scroll. It marks the seventh consecutive season the Aggies have boasted an All-American.
Men's basketball head coach Buzz Williams announced the hiring of assistant coach Steve Roccaforte. Coach Roc served on Williams' staff for four years at Virginia Tech where he helped the Hokies reach back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids and three consecutive 20-win seasons.
Additionally, incoming transfer Jordan Hall was named to the USA Basketball U19 World Cup Training, held at TCU from June 20-22. Hall is one of 27 athletes set to compete at the training camp in hopes of being named to the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the FIBA World Cup from July 3-11 in Riga and Daugavpils, Latvia.
Women's basketball head coach Gary Blair announced the hiring of Christina Richardson as the director of operations. Richardson spent four seasons in the same role for the George Washington women's basketball team. In her role, Richardson oversees all operations of the GW program and worked in conjunction with coaches and support staff to meet all team needs. She returns to Aggieland after serving as a student manager from 2011-14. She was a part of the Aggies' 2011 National Championship team and 2013 SEC Championship squad.
Sam Bennett from the men's golf team received first-team PING All-American honors after enjoying one of the most dominant seasons in school history. Bennett, who entered 2020-21 without a collegiate victory, won a trio of tournament crowns as a junior with first-place finishes at the Cabo Collegiate, the Old Waverly Intercollegiate and the Aggie Invitational. Bennett's win at the Cabo Collegiate came with a PGA Tour exemption to the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. Bennett's three victories were the third-most in a season by an Aggie in school history. In 10 tournaments, Bennett posted five top 5 finishes and led the Aggies with a 70.53 scoring average, which was the second-lowest in school history.
Softball's Haley Lee was named an NFCA Third-Team All-American. The award marks the 40th time a Texas A&M player has been selected to an All-American team and the 18th time under head coach Jo Evans. Lee wrapped up her junior campaign with a .422 batting average, leading the team in hits (65), home runs (25), RBI (51), total bases (147), slugging percentage (.955), walks (36), and on-base percentage (.536). She set Texas A&M single-season records for home runs and slugging percentage in 2021.
The men's and women's swimming and diving teams will be well represented at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials held in Omaha, Nebraska. Eighteen Aggies from the men's side and 13 from the women's team qualified for the trials, which runs from June 13-20. The U.S. Olympic Team will be named on June 20.
Men's tennis earned the No. 11 slot in the 2021 Tennis Recruiting Network final spring recruiting rankings. One of the premier signing classes in the nation, head coach Steve Denton's staff welcomes a pair of highly-touted student-athletes in Luke Casper and Giulio Perego. Both prospects earned TRN's coveted blue chip distinction, the highest recruiting designation possible in men's college tennis. Casper, a native of Santa Cruz, California, reached as high as No. 4 in TRN's junior player ratings and booked a career-best 12.80 UTR in late 2019. Perego originally hails from Milan, Italy, but has spent the last few seasons training in Naples, Florida. He reached a career-high UTR of 12.90 and ranked as high as No. 5 in the TRN player ratings.
Women's tennis senior Tatiana Makarova was named an ITA All-American in singles and doubles, while junior Jayci Goldsmith received an All-America designation in doubles. After reaching the NCAA Individual Championships Doubles Quarterfinals earlier last month, Makarova and Goldsmith earned an automatic designation as an ITA All-America doubles tandem. The pair finished the season with a 20-12 overall doubles record, including a stellar 7-1 slate in tournament action that catapulted them into the No. 15 final ranking. Makarova was awarded ITA Singles All-America status after posting a 26-7 overall record in the 2020-21 season. Her 26 victories on the year paced A&M's roster, while her eight ranked wins stands as the most in a season by an Aggie since Pierson finished with 11 in 2017.
Head coach Mark Weaver inked the nation's No. 2 recruiting class by Tennis Recruiting Network. The incoming group features four of the highest rated student-athletes from across the country headlined by Gianna Pielet, Mary Stoiana, and Jeanette Mireles, who each earned the coveted blue-chip status from TRN, with an additional five star product in Ellie Pittman. Pielet, a native of El Paso, Texas, ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation and currently stands as the No. 2 product from the state of Texas. Stoiana, a native of Southbury, Connecticut, arrives in Aggieland as the No. 10-ranked player in the nation and the highest rated player in New England. Mireles, a Houston native, ranked as high as 23rd in America and holds a career-best 10.93 UTR. Finally, Pittman hails from Indianapolis and comes to Texas A&M as the top prospect from the state of Indiana, also boasting a career-best 10.93 UTR.
Academic Update
Despite all of what 2020 threw at us, our student-athletes once again persevered. Academically, it was one of the best years we have ever had. Our cumulative GPA was a record high 3.079, while the Spring 2021 GPA was the second-highest ever recorded at 3.133.
We had 65 student-athletes record a 4.0, and 12 teams tallying a team GPA of 3.0 or higher, both of which rank No. 2 all-time.
A record number of student-athletes were named to the Dean's Honor Roll (24), which is given to those with a 3.75 semester GPA or higher, and 23 were named Distinguished Students, which is awarded to students with a 3.5 semester GPA or higher.
356 student-athletes garnered AD Honor Roll accolades, which is given to those with at least a 3.0 semester GPA, and I can't wait to celebrate with them on Kyle Field during a football game this fall.
Our equestrian team had the highest team GPA at 3.508, while baseball had the highest men's team GPA at 3.233.
This is a testament to our student-athletes as well as our Center for Student-Athlete Services staff, who work tirelessly to put our student-athletes in the best position possible.
Aggie Commitment
Back in February, our Aggie Commitment initiative debuted "Unified Voices", a platform designed to provide our student-athletes, coaches, and staff an uncensored space to share their own unique experiences and journeys. Please take the time to watch these videos, and check out our newest one featuring men's track and field star Bryce Deadmon.
Sustainability
This month we announced the Athletics' 12th Man Sustainability program. Its mission is to lead in environmental and social sustainability for Aggies, Aggieland and beyond. The program, with backing from Dr. Brian McCullough from A&M's Laboratory for Sustainability in Sport, applied for and was awarded a Green Fund Grant from the Office of Sustainability to support the establishment of a sustainability GA position within the department. We are excited to announce Lauren Lichterman into the position to help us stay on the forefront of environmental and social sustainability.
Check us out on Twitter and Instagram @12thManSustain.
#AskRoss
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