2013-14 ohio athletics annual report 1

2013-14 OHIO ATHLETICS ANNUAL REPORT 1

2013-14 OHIO ATHLETICS ANNUAL REPORT2

head coach Frank Solich speaks to the Ohio Football team prior to its Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl game matchup versus East Carolina. The Bobcats’ matchup with ECU marked Ohio’s fifth-consecutive bowl game.


TABLE OF CONTENTSA MESSAGE FROM THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ..................................................4

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS ............................................................................5-7

ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS ................................................................................8

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS ............................................................................9

ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS ....................................................10-11

GROWTH OF ATHLETICS ........................................................................12-13

2013-14 TIMELINE .....................................................................................14

The Ohio volleyball team celebrates its eighth Mid-American Conference regular season title following a 3-0 sweep victory over Central Michigan on Nov. 16. The ‘Cats would go on to win the 2013 MAC Tournament.


A MESSAGE FROM THE

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

JIM SCHAUS - DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

The 2013-14 athletics season proved once again that this is a great time to be an Ohio University Bobcat.

Through the hard work and dedication of our coaches, staff and administrators all working together toward our shared mission of - successfully developing the stu-dent-athlete as a person, student and athlete - we as a department have accom-plished great success in the classroom, in the community and on the field of compe-tition throughout this past year.

This booklet serves as a snapshot from the past 12 months, a period of time that will will be remembered as another memorable athletics campaign. This report provides a platform for each of our departments to reflect on this past year as we head into the future.

Celebrating success is something we have done before and it is something we will continue to do as we continue to strive for excellence.

This past year, four of our Bobcat squads earned spots in postseason play, while the women’s volleyball and softball teams added to our athletic department’s rich histo-ry as they earned Mid-American Conference tournament championships.

Our success is a team effort. It involves our student-athletes, coaches, donors, season ticketholders, fans and support from university administration.

Thank you for making a difference helping us reach our goals.

We look forward to celebrating more success with you as we take on the challenges of another upcoming season.

GO BOBCATS!

Jim SchausDirector of Athletics


PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTSBASEBALL-Ohio posted victories over NCAA tournament qualifiers Georgia Southern and Liberty.-The Bobcats finished the year ranked in the Top 50 of double plays turned per game.-Junior Jake Madsen earned All-MAC Second Team hon-ors. -Madsen also kept his consecutive games start alive as he started in all 51 games during the 2014 campaign. Dating back to his freshman season, Madsen has started in 156-consecutive games. -Madsen and teammate Tyler Wells both surpassed 200 career hits. -Freshman centerfielder Mitch Longo led the team with a .346 batting average. -Ohio featured five players, that posted batting averages of .270-better.

MEN’S BASkETBALL-The ‘Cats posted a 25-12 record (11-7 MAC) in 2013-14. Ohio reached the 20-win plateau for the third-straight season and the 15th time in school history. Ohio’s 25 wins were tied for the second-most in program history.- The Bobcats won two games in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in the team’s school-record fifth-consecu-tive post-season appearance. It marked the program’s 21st all-time post-season appearance.-The Green and White won 10 road games for just the second-time in program history and first since 1985-86. The ‘Cats swept the MAC East on the road (5-0) for the first time since divisional play began in 1997-98.-The “Cardiac ‘Cats” became known for a series of dra-matic second-half comebacks this past season. Ohio won seven games when trailing by 10 or more points in the second half in 2013-14.-Ohio’s senior class of Nick Kellogg, Ricardo Johnson, T.J. hall, Jon Smith and Travis Wilkins finished their careers as the all-time winningest class in program history (97

wins).-Kellogg put together an outstanding senior campaign while earning NABC All-District First Team and All-MAC Second Team honors. he became the MAC’s all-time 3-point king in March and finished his career with 290 career triples.-Junior forward Maurice Ndour enjoyed a breakout sea-son en route to All-MAC Second Team honors. he became the first Bobcat big man since Brandon hunter (2003) to average at least 13 points, seven rebounds and one block/game in a season.-Following the 2013-14 campaign, Ohio hired former North Dakota bench boss Saul Phillips as its new head coach.

WOMEN’S BASkETBALL-Posted program’s first victory over arch rival Miami in three years.-RPI improved by 80 points from previous season.

-The 2013-14 schedule featured 10 teams that qualified for postseason play – including one NCAA Final Four qualifier (Maryland), one NCAA Elite Eight qualifier (Lou-isville) and one NCAA Second Round qualifier (James Madison).-Ohio set a MAC record for three-point attempts in a sin-gle season with a total of 810. -The ‘Cats set a school and conference single game record by knocking down 19 treys -- just four shy of breaking the NCAA record - in an 84-36 wire-to-wire win over UMBC on Dec. 30, 2013, during the third-place game of the James Madison University Invitational.-Ohio placed two players on the MAC postseason all-league team as sophomore guard Kiyanna Black was named honorable Mention, while fellow guard Quiera Lampkins was selected to the All-Freshman team.

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY-Ohio closed out the 2013 campaign on a high note as it placed fourth at the MAC Championship.

-The Bobcats’ fourth-place finish was their best finish since 2007.-Sophomore Jacob Stephens led the way for the Bobcats at the MAC Championship as he finished 19th in a time of 25:46.59.-During the 2013 season, Ohio posted winning perfor-mances in the Ohio Invitational and the Pre-National Invitational White Race. -The Bobcats closed out the year with a 14th-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY-Senior Juli Accurso became the first runner in Mid-Amer-ican Conference history to win three straight league titles as she won the 2013 championship in a time of 20:37.46.-Accurso would then go on to capture her second straight NCAA Great Lakes Regional title as she posted a school record mark of 20:00 to earn a spot in the 2013 NCAA Championship.

-During the NCAA Championship, Accurso would go on to claim All-America honors for the third-consecutive season. -As team, Ohio opened the year on a high note as it claimed the 2013 Ohio Invitational for the fourth-con-secutive season. -Following its strong start to the 2013 campaign, the Bobcats raced to a strong performance the following week at the Wake Forest Invitational, finishing runner up to Florida State.

FIELD HOCkEY-Ohio finished the 2013 season with a 7-10 mark and earned the No. 2 seed in the MAC Championship after posting a 3-2 conference record. The ‘Cats fell to No. 3 Miami, 1-0, in the MAC semifinals.- The Green and White defeated MAC rivals Kent State (3-2 2OT) and Miami (1-0) during the regular season. Ohio also earned non-conference victories over California (1-0) and William & Mary (2-1).


-The ‘Cats posted three walk-off wins in 2013, including the victory over Kent State and wins at Missouri State (3-2 OT) and Towson (2-1 OT).-Senior Luli Gomez Teruel was named to the NFhCA All-Region Team and became the fifth MAC Player of the Year in program history. -Gomez Teruel led the MAC in goals and goals/game and was second in points and points/game-Senior Jessica Jue was named to the All-MAC First Team for the second time in her career, while sophomore Adele Sammons garnered All-MAC Second Team accolades-The Bobcats received four MAC Player of the Week hon-ors in 2013. Gomez Teruel was named MAC Offensive Player of the Week twice, while Jue earned the honor on Nov. 5. Junior goalkeeper Brittany Walker garnered MAC Defensive Player of the Week accolades on Sept. 17.

FOOTBALL-The Bobcats finished the 2013 season with a 7-6 record and earned an invitation to the 2013 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla.-Ohio’s appearance in the Beef `O’ Brady’s Bowl marked the Bobcats’ eighth bowl appearance all-time.-By earning a bid in the 2013 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, Ohio became one of only 21 teams in the country to appear in five straight bowls. -Ohio also is one of only three schools in MAC history to appear in five straight bowl games. Northern Illinois and Marshall are the only other schools in league history to appear in five straight bowl games.-The Bobcats opened the year with a 4-1 record and post-ed victories over North Texas and Marshall. Both North Texas and Marshall would go on to earn postseason bowl bids. -Following the regular season, Ohio placed six players on the postseason All-MAC team. Travis Carrie and Devin Bass both were selected First Team as a punt and kickoff returner, respectively to highlight all postseason honors.-Defensive end Tarell Basham also made a strong impact during the 2013 campaign as he registered 7.5 sacks en route to being selected as Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association. -Ohio averaged 27.4 points per game, offensively, while the defensive line tallied 36 sacks.

MEN’S GOLF -Ohio earned its best finish of the season with a fourth-place showing at the Ball State Invitational April 21-22. The ‘Cats put together a 72-hole total of 1130 to garner the solid finish.-The ‘Cats placed eighth at the MAC Championships held May 2-4 in Carmel, Ind. -Freshman Peyton White put the finishing touches on an outstanding freshman campaign with a t-23 finish (301, +13) at the MAC Championship.-White garnered MAC Golfer of the Week on two occa-sions in 2013-14 and finished in the top-10 of the league in stroke average. he put together five top-20 finishes and a pair of top-10s on the year.

- The ‘Cats earned an eighth-place finish at the Pinehurst Invitational March 10-12. During the second round of competition, Ohio teed it up on the famed Pinehurst No. 2, the site of the 2014 Men’s and Women’s U.S. Opens.

WOMEN’S GOLF-Ohio finished seventh at the 2014 MAC Championships-Freshman hailey hrynewich posted a strong rookie campaign with the Bobcats as she placed 10th at the 2014 MAC Championships.-hrynewich was named MAC Golfer of the Week on March 27 after garnering a third-place finish at the 2014 Morehead State University Ocala Spring Invitational, shooting a school-record 218 (+2).-Ohio posted a 920 (+56) combined team 54-hole total - good enough for the third-best in program history – at the 2014 Morehead State University Ocala Spring Invita-tional.-Senior Kara Brinkmann achieved a hole-in-one on the 15th hole, a par-3, at the 2014 MAC Championships.

WOMEN’S SOCCER-Ohio finished the 2013 regular season with its first non-losing record since 2009 (7-7-5).-The Bobcats posted five road victories -- the most wins away from home for the program since 2004.-Ohio tallied 26 goals -- the program’s most in a decade.-Bobcat rookie Alexis Milesky was selected to the 2013 MAC All-Freshman Team.-Senior goalkeeper Mattie Liston concluded her colle-giate career as the most decorated goalkeeper in pro-gram history, totaling 403 saves (fifth in MAC history).

SOFTBALL-Ohio capped a magical 2014 campaign by winning its first MAC Tournament title in program history-Following its victory in the 2014 MAC Championship, Ohio qualified for the NCAA Championship for the first time since 1995.-With its 32 wins, Ohio tied the 2001 squad for the sec-ond-highest total in program history.-The Bobcats tallied wins over fellow NCAA Champion-ship qualifiers South Carolina and Northwestern State in addition to victories over Big Ten Conference foes Ohio State and Iowa.-The Bobcats went 10-5 vs. other programs from the state of Ohio.-Ohio opened the year on a high note as it posted a pro-gram-best 10-2 mark to start the year. -Following the year, sophomore pitcher Savannah Jo Dorsey was named to the 2014 National Fastpitch Coach-es Association (NFCA) All-Mideast Region Second Team after she set single-season program pitching records for strikeouts, wins, innings pitched and complete games.-Dorsey (Second Team) along with teammates Amanda Dalton (First Team) and Casie hutchinson (Freshman Team) earned All-MAC postseason honors. -Dorsey posted a dominating in the 2014 MAC Champi-onship and would go on to earn Tournament MVP honors


after going 4-0 with four complete games and three shutouts – including a perfect game against top-seeded Ball State – to go along with an 0.21 ERA and 46 strike-outs over 34.0 innings of work, while allowing just one earned run on 18 hits and six walks.-Senior Alyssa Wolfe and junior Dakota Pyles also earned 2014 All-MAC Tournament Team honors.

SWIMMING AND DIVING-Sophomore Addison Ferguson qualified for the 2014 NCAA Championships in the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly. She also was honored as a 2014 First Team All-MAC selection following her victories in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly during the league championships.-Ohio also featured strong performances from junior Morgan Srail and sophomore haley Clark. Srail captured the MAC Championship in the three-meter dive, while Clark earned Second Team All-MAC honors.-Following the 2014 MAC Championship, Russ Dekker was selected as the 2014 MAC Diving head Coach of the Year.-Srail along with teammates Kristin Capcik and Mary-Rose hillstrom all posted qualifying performances to earn bids to the NCAA Zone C Championships.-Following the 2013-14 campaign, Ohio hired former Louisville assistant and Olympic Gold and Silver medalist Rachel Komisarz-Baugh as its new head coach.

TRACk AND FIELD-Ohio finished 11th at the MAC Indoor Championships and placed 10th at the MAC Outdoor Championships, which were hosted by the Bobcats May 15-17 in Athens-Junior Donyelle Brown set a new school record in the weight throw (18.33m) on Feb. 21 during the indoor season, while fellow junior Chanda Cuckler broke the Ohio record in the pentathlon that had stood for more than 20 years. her mark of 3,732 points was more than 100 better than the previous program record

-Brown also broke the school record in the hammer throw during the outdoor season. After setting a new top mark (56.89m) on April 11 in Cincinnati, Brown shattered her own mark a week later at the Jesse Owens Classic (57.41m).-At the MAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, senior Juli Accurso was named the MAC Most Outstanding Track Performer after winning both the 5000m and 10000m runs at the event. It marked Ohio’s first MOP honoree since Kari Summers in 2009-Accurso’s time in the 10,000m run (34:32.59) set a new MAC Outdoor meet record-Accurso and Brown both competed at the NCAA East Regional May 29-31 in Jacksonville, Fla.

VOLLEYBALL-Ohio finished the season with a 27-6 record, including a 14-2 mark in MAC Play-The top-seeded Bobcats swept all nine sets in the 2013 MAC Tournament in November en route to the eighth championship in program history-Ohio also won its eighth MAC regular season title in 2013, capturing both the regular season and tournament titles for the sixth time in school history-The ‘Cats advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in program history and fell to No. 20 Michigan State in first round action in Lexington, Ky.-The Bobcats were ranked in the AVCA Poll for five weeks from Sept. 16-Oct. 6, peaking at No. 18 in the nation. Ohio earned the ranking after winning at No. 8 Oregon (3-0) and No. 21 Western Kentucky (3-1) en route to a 10-2 mark in pre-season tournament action-The Bobcats captured both the Oregon Classic and WKU Invitational Tournament titles after combining for a 6-0 record in the two events. The WKU title included wins over UNLV and Virginia-Junior outside hitter Kelly Lamberti and sophomore Abby Gilleland were named AVCA All-America honorable Mention, marking the first time in program history Ohio earned multiple All-America honors in a season

-The duo also was named to the AVCA All-Region Team, while graduate middle blocker Alexis Pinson earned AVCA All-Region honorable Mention accolades-Gilleland was named the 2013 MAC Player of the Year, while Lamberti, Pinson and sophomore middle blocker Karin Bull joined Gilleland on the All-MAC First Team.

WRESTLING -The Bobcats posted one of the best seasons in school history this past year as they posted a 13-4 record and a fourth-place finish at the MAC Championships. Among Ohio’s 13 wins in dual competition, six of those victories came at home. -Senior Jeremy Johnson and redshirt sophomore Cody Walters both captured individual titles at the MAC Cham-pionships. Johnson collected his second heavyweight title, while Walters successfully defended his MAC title at 174 pounds.-Following the league championships, Ohio received a program-best six bids to the 2014 NCAA Championships. Johnson, Phil Wellington, Walters, harrison hightower, Sparty Chino and Tywan Claxton all earned bids to the NCAA Championships. -Over the past two seasons, the Bobcats have sent 11 individuals to the NCAA Championships.-During the NCAA Championships, Ohio had four individ-uals advance to day two competition. -Johnson earned his second career All-America honor after he defeated fourth-seeded Adam Coon from the University of Michigan. -With the win, Johnson became just the fifth individual in school history to earn multiple All-America honors. his All-America honor also marks the third-consecutive season an Ohio wrestler will step on the awards stand.-Johnson led the squad in wins (41), most major deci-sions (10) and top winning percentage (89 percent) as he closed out his record-breaking career at Ohio University.

Senior Jeremy Johnson celebrates his 3-1 victory over Michigan’s Adam Coon to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. he is just the third Bobcat in school history to earn multiple All-America honors.


ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTSTwelve of the Bobcats’ 16 sports have multi-year APR rates of 970 or above. In addition, softball, women’s soccer, women’s indoor and outdoor track and field - posted their best multi-year score since the APR began in 2004-05. Three teams- softball, women’s cross coun-try, volleyball-posted perfect multi-year scores. None of Ohio’s 16 teams face any penalty for low or substandard APR scores.

FALL SEMESTERTerm GPA: 3.094Accumulative GPA: 3.094• 118 student-athletes were named to the Dean’s List.• 289 student-athletes had a GPA of 3.0 or above.• 158 student-athletes had a GPA of 3.5 or above.

SPRING SEMESTERTerm GPA: 3.110Accumulative GPA: 3.131• 109 student-athletes were named to the Dean’s List.• 283 student-athletes had a GPA of 3.0 or above.• 153 student-athletes had a GPA of 3.5 or above

VOLLEYBALL: The program posted a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for 2012-13. Junior Kelly Lamberti and sophomore Abby Gilleland earned Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors while redshirt junior Liis Kullerkann garnered Academic All-MAC honorable Mention. MEN’S BASkETBALL: The program posted a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for 2012-13. Redshirt sophomore Treg Setty and senior Tra-vis Wilkins garnered Academic All-Mid-American Confer-ence honorable Mention.

WOMEN’S BASkETBALL: Junior guard Mariah Byard earned a spot on the Academic All-Mid-American Con-ference squad and received MAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week recognition.

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: Brandon O’Malley was named to the Academic All-MAC team.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: Juli Accurso, Maureen Dean, Caroline hildebrand, Melissa Thompson and Tessa Weigand were each selected to the Academic All-MAC team.

FOOTBALL: Ohio University football players Travis Car-rie, Josh Kristoff and Kurt Laseak were named to the 2013 Academic All-MAC Conference Football team in a vote conducted by the league’s faculty athletic repre-sentatives. Carrie, Laseak and Kristoff were three of 41 student-athletes that were named to the team. Laseak also earned a bid to the Capital One Academic All-Dis-trict Team.

FIELD HOCkEY: The squad received the National Field hockey Coaches Association Team Award and placed nine student-athletes on the National Academic Squad -- including seniors Katherine Fenzel, Luli Gomez Teruel and Riley higgins, juniors Ashley Cureton, Caelyn hartley and Danielle Rissmiller, sophomore Clarissa Leickly and freshman hannah Kingsbury on the National Academic Squad. Gomez Teruel, hartley and Leickly earned Aca-demic All-Mid-American Conference honors while Cure-ton, Fenzel, higgins, Rissmiller and junior Kristine Gegas received Academic All-MAC honorable Mention.

MEN’S GOLF: The program posted a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for 2012-13. Redshirt senior Bradley Lucas and sophomore Andrew Mlynarski earned Academic All-MAC honorable Mention.

WOMEN’S GOLF: The program posted a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for 2012-13. Seniors Kara Brinkmann and Kristen helmsdoerfer and junior Julie Lechner and sophomore Lauren McKinzie were named Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars. helmsdoerfer and Lechner also garnered Academic All-MAC recognition while Brink-mann received Academic All-MAC honorable Mention. helmsdoerfer was named Ohio’s 2014 Female Schol-ar-Athlete of the Year at the annual CATSPYS Awards.

SOCCER: The program posted a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for 2012-13. The squad earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Academic Award. Senior mid-fielder/forward Maggie Murnane garnered Academic All-MAC honors. Junior midfielder Annie Beard, sopho-more defender Grace Campbell, junior defender Gabby hausfeld, redshirt freshman midfielder/forward Sasha haverchak and sophomore defender/midfielder Leah

Sandercock received Academic All-MAC honorable Men-tion.

SOFTBALL: The program earned a NCAA Public Recog-nition Award for finishing in the top 10 percent of all Division I softball squads and posting a perfect score of 1,000 in the Academic Progress Rate (APR) in 2012-13. Junior outfielders Adrienne Gebele and Dakota Pyles and senior outfielder Alyssa Wolfe earned spots on the Aca-demic All-MAC Team, while senior outfielder Erin Lashley garnered Academic All-MAC honorable Mention.

SWIMMING & DIVING: Redshirt senior MaryRose hill-strom received CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District 5 Women’s At-Large team selection. hillstrom and senior Kristin Capcik earned Academic All-Mid-American Con-

ference laurels. Sophomore haley Clark, junior Michelle Gasior and junior Morgan Srail garnered Academic All-MAC honorable Mention.

TRACk & FIELD: Senior Juli Accurso became the first Ohio student-athlete to earn CoSIDA Capital One First Team Academic All-America honors after garnering her second straight CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District 5 selection. She also earned an Academic All-MAC se-lection, along with sophomore Caroline hildebrand and senior Melissa Thompson.

WRESTLING: The Ohio wrestling team was recognized by the National Wrestling Coaches Association as having the 11th-best team grade point average in all of Division I wrestling. The NWCA also named Spartak Chino, Jeremy Johnson and Cody Walters to the All-Academic team. The Bobcat trio also earned Academic All-MAC honors.


COMMUNITY SERVICEGREENSNEAkERS SHOE DRIVE-Ohio participated and collected 107 lbs of athletic shoes to donate to the GreenSneakers foundation.

RECESS WITH RUFUS -Over 40 student-athletes and Rufus attended recess at Morrison Elementary and West Elementary with elemen-tary-age children and engaged in kickball, pick-up touch football, swings, jump roping, and other various recess activities.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY-Men’s Golf and Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country student-athletes participated in the Salem Road habitat for humanity build in the fall.

HOMECOMING-Over 65 student-athletes who represented the Stu-dent-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) walked in this year’s homecoming parade.

STUDENT ALUMNI BOARD “PAINT THE TOWN GREEN” FOOD DRIVE-Student-athletes collected the most non-perishable food items in this year’s “Paint the Town Green” food drive put on by the Student-Alumni Board. Ohio stu-dent-athletes helped to donate over 2,980 lbs. of food to the Southeast Ohio Food Bank for the holiday season.

TORCH OHIO kICkBALL FOR CANCER-Over 15 wrestling student-athletes participated in the Torch Ohio Kickball for Cancer tournament and helped to raise over $1,700 toward the fight against cancer.

COLOR RUN-Student-athletes from the softball team volunteered at the 2013 Color Run hosted in Athens.

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM – ATHENS COMMUNITY CENTER-Over 35 student-athletes and Rufus visited the Athens Community Center to play games with the after-school children in the gym and also read with them in their classrooms on various occasions.

RUFUS READS-The women’s soccer team and Rufus visited East Ele-mentary to read to 6 different classrooms of children ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade.

BARE ON THE BRICkS-The Wrestling team ran in the Student Alumni Board’s Annual “Bare on the Bricks” and helped to donate cloth-ing items to those less fortunate.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMSCAREER NIGHT-Professionals from the Southern Ohio Copperheads and the Ralph and Lucy Schey Sales Centre presented at the Ohio SAAC Career Night about resume building, network-ing, and opportunities for student-athletes within their organizations.

STUDENT-ATHLETE SEMINAR COURSE-Ohio Athletics offers a 2-credit hour course designed to assist in the engagement of first-year student-athletes. This year, student-athletes participated in an on-campus scavenger hunt, conducted a group research project, met guest speakers from various campus departments, and also created a career portfolio researching their an-ticipated career field, in addition to learning the NCAA eligibility benchmarks and Ohio Athletics departmental policies.

WENDI FOx FEATURED PRESENTEROhio University SAAC hosted Wendi Fox as this year’s Mid-American Conference Drug and Life Skills featured presenter. Wendi’s program focused on helping Ohio student-athletes discover their personal journey through life and encouraged student-athletes to take ownership of their past, present, and future endeavors. Over 400 student-athletes attended the presentation during the fall semester.

CATSPYSThe Ohio SAAC held the third annual CATPSY Awards Show at a new venue, Memorial Auditorium, to cele-brate another outstanding year of Bobcat Athletics. Over 400 student-athletes, coaches, administrators and staff members attended the awards show, which featured 11 awards to recognize the outstanding moments, players and team highlights from this past season.

CHAT WITH THE ‘CATSStaff and coaches from the Ohio Athletics Department met with faculty members at Baker University Center for the first annual Chat with the `Cats event. This event was hosted by the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee and featured casual discussions and light refreshments. The event provided faculty members an opportunity to inter-act with athletic department members for an hour and a half. The topics discussed included academics, budget, compliance and facilities. Faculty members enjoyed the event and getting to learn more about the department while mingling with staff and coaches.


IMG-This past year, more than 105 companies supported Ohio Athletics on the local, regional and national level.-Ohio IMG has produced year-over-year revenue growth of almost 10 percent.-Ohio IMG Radio Network produced more than 190 hours of Ohio programming during the 2013-14 year including 49 live game broadcasts (13 football/36 basketball)-Ohio received major engagement from nationally rec-ognized brands, which included hershey’s, UPS, Allstate, Keurig and Panasonic-Seven Ohio University colleges and/or departments be-came involved with Ohio Athletics to further its academic and/or branding initiatives, including Russ College of En-gineering and heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

TICkET REVENUE-Football tallied the highest revenue on record, a 34 per-cent increase over the previous high set in 2012.-Fans recorded the No. 1 (Marshall) and No. 2 (Central Michigan) revenue games in Ohio Football history.-Men’s Basketball recorded the highest revenue on re-cord, a 17 percent increase over the previous high set in 2012-2013.-Fans recorded the No. 1 (Northern Iowa), No. 5 (Miami) and No. 9 (Toledo) revenue games in Ohio Basketball history.

OHIO AND MAC REVENUE RECORD- The combined football and men’s basketball ticket sales revenue increased 23 percent over the previous high set in 2012-2013.- This combined total is the highest on record in the his-

tory of the Mid-American Conference, breaking the pre-vious record set last year.

ATTENDANCE- Ohio football and men’s basketball both led the MAC in overall home attendance for the 2nd consecutive season.- Ohio football recorded the No. 3 (Marshall), No. 6 (North Texas) and No. 9 (Central Michigan) attendance games on record.- Ohio basketball recorded the No. 14 (Northern Iowa) and No. 22 (Miami) attendance games on record.

LICENSING-Ohio once again set an all-time school and MAC record for licensed merchandise sales in 2013-14. This past year, over $275,000 in licensed merchandise revenue was generated.

STUDENT SUPPORT- There was a 14 percent increase in student attendance for football and men’s basketball in 2013-14.- Ohio football and men’s basketball each had the high-est average student attendance in school history.- Ohio football had the No. 3 (North Texas) and No. 7 (Central Michigan) student attendance games on record- Ohio basketball had the No. 2 (Northern Iowa), No. 5 (Miami), and No. 8 (Toledo) student attendance games on record.

OHIO TICkET SALES TEAMIn its second year, the Ohio Ticket Sales Team contributed to an overall 23 percent increase in combined football and men’s basketball ticket sales revenue. Due to this tremendous success, the sales team will be expanding to

a seven person team for the upcoming 2014-2015 sea-son. This expanded team will continue to work to grow Ohio’s season ticket base, with a new expanded focus on group sales for the upcoming year. The 2013-2014 Ohio Ticket Sales Team members were Matthew Dewire, Tan-ner Bond, Robert Sibbitts, Eric Shainock and Roger Jones.

EISENSTEIN NOMINATED FOR EMMY‘Voice of the Bobcats’ Russ Eisenstein was nominated in the ‘Sports’ Category for the 50th annual Ohio Valley Re-gional Emmy Awards. Eisenstein was one of three nomi-nated in the “Sports” category.

OHIO UNIVERSITY WINS ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR’S “BEST UNDER-THE-RADAR NCAA FOOTBALL ATMOSPHERE” COMPETITIONThe Ohio Bobcats won the Enterprise Rent-A-Car “Best Under-the-Radar NCAA Football Atmosphere” competition and were featured on “Best of College Football 2013” - a feature that was aired nationally on Friday, Nov. 29 on CBS. The winner was wholly-determined by fan vote on Facebook.

OHIO CONTINUES TO GAIN NATIONAL MEDIA ExPOSUREFor the first time in school history, the Ohio University football team had all of its regular season games aired on the ESPN Family of Networks. The men’s basketball program also received a great deal of television exposure as it was featured 10 times during the 2013-14 campaign. In addition, Ohio Athletics was featured in numerous magazines, newspapers and national radio shows throughout the year.

OHIOBOBCATS.COMFor the third-consecutive year, Ohio Athletics’ official website - OhioBobcats.com - surpassed over five million visitors. In addition, the site also saw a 41 percent increase in unique visitors.

The Ohio men’s basketball team’s season opener against Northern Iowa this past November saw over 11,000 fans pass through the turnsiles as the Bob-cats defeated the Panthers 75-64.


OHIO BOBCAT CLUB HIGHLIGHTSBobcat Legend’s ($10,000+) Provided Legendary Annual Giving Support to Ohio Athletics Dr. Vern AldenIvan & Sandra ArnoldJack & Sandy BortleGeo M. Brown and Assoc. IncMr. Brad BuchmanRon & Laura CalhounGreen & White ClubMr. Les CornwellJames & Tamara LittenTim Merrifield/Cubbison CompanyOhiohealthOhio Realty/The Wharton FamilyMr. Tom ParfittDavid & Valerie SchollJoseph & Suzanne SuttonRandy & Janice WallakeMr. Charles Zumkehr

Donors Also Supported Other Areas in a BIG Way in 13-14

DONORS WHO COMMITTED $100,000 OR MORE TO OHIO ATHLETICSMr. James B. KeiserOhiohealthPepsi Cola Bottling Co of AthensAlan & Ruby RiedelDavid & Patricia RobinsonWalter Family Foundation

DONORS WHO COMMITTED $50,000 OR MORE TO OHIO ATHLETICSMr. William A. DillinghamJoseph & Suzanne SuttonRandy & Janice WallakeThomas & Gwen Weihe

DONORS WHO COMMITTED $20,000 OR MORE TO OHIO ATHLETICSTim Merrifield/Cubbison CompanyBruce & Sharon PetersonRobert & Carolyn PetersonCharles & Marilyn StuckeyDavid & Valerie SchollOhio Realty/The Wharton Family

“THE PROMISE LIVES” CAPITAL CAMPAIGN $21,129,469 has been raised overall during the cam-paign for Intercollegiate Athletics.

CAPITAL PROJECTS UPDATE-Construction of the Walter Fieldhouse was completed in June 2014. Bobcat spring sport teams were able to utilize the facility prior to the official opening.

-Nearly $225,000 has been raised to date towards the renovation of the Football Locker Room. Construction will begin during the summer of 2014 with an anticipat-ed completion date prior to fall camp.

OHIO BOBCAT CLUB ANNUAL FUND CONTINUES TO RISEAt the end of the fiscal year, the Ohio Bobcat Club raised $747,053.18 from 1,380 donors, which eclipsed the 12 month total from last year. The Ohio Bobcat Club Annual Fund giving ended up 28 percent above Fiscal year 2013 fundraising total.

NEW INITIATIVES-The Ohio Bobcat Club launched a 110 percent and “All-In” giving challenge and our members answered the call! Through the end of May, 163 donors went “All-In” and in-creased their membership level. In addition, 297 donors increased their giving 10 percent from the 2012-13 year.

Bobcat Black was expanded from 44 courtside seats to 55 at the Convo prior to the 2013-14 Men’s Basketball season.

RYAN WHITE ARRIVES IN ATHENSRyan White took over as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development in August 2013. he arrived in Athens from Charlottesville, Va. where he worked with the Virginia Athletics Foundation for 11 years. Ryan and his wife Kelly have three children.

BOBCAT CARAVANS GET BIGGERThis past spring the Ohio Bobcat Club partnered with the Ohio University Alumni Association to host the spring Bobcat Caravan series. Over six stops, Bobcat fans were treated to program updates from head football coach Frank Solich and new head men’s basketball coach Saul Phillips.

VARSITY OHIO -Varsity Ohio hosted seven reunions this year including the 60th anniversary of the 1953 MAC Championship Football team, 50th anniversary of the 1964 Elite 8 Men’s Basketball team and the 45th anniversary for the 1968 MAC Championship Football team.

-The 2nd annual All-Sport homecoming reunion took place on October 12th. Over 100 Varsity Ohio members were in attendance. The 2014 event is scheduled for Oc-tober 11th.

The $12.5 million dollar Walter Fieldhouse was completed this season. The state-of-the-art facility will serve both the University and Athletic depart-ment’s 16 varsity teams in a varity of different ways for many years to come.


A LOOK BACK AT THE

2013-14 ATHLETICS SEASONSEPTEMBER

NOVEMBER

OCTOBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

SEPT. 7 - The Ohio football team opened its 2013 home campaign in front of 24,511 fans vs. North Texas

>>>>SEPT. 1 - First-year women’s soccer head coach Aaron Rodgers picked up his first career win, following a 5-1 win over EKU

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NOV. 2 - Juli Accurso became the first run-ner in league history to win three-straight MAC titles<<<<

OCT. 21 - Ohio football un-veiled its new white uniforms courtesy of Russell Athletic for Miami week.

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MAY 10 - Cornerback Travis Carrie was se-lected by the Oakland Raiders during the third day of the 2014 NFL Draft

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NOV. 24 - The Ohio volleyball team captured the 2013 MAC Championship to claim the program’s eighth MAC Tour-nament title.

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DEC. 23 - The Ohio football team played in its fifth-consecutive bowl game at the 2013 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Peters-burg, Fla.

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MAY 10 - The Ohio softball team claimed its first-ever Mid-American Conference tournament title.

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FEB. 28 - Ohio introduced Deane Webb to the media as the Bobcats’ 12th volleyball coach in school history

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APRIL 10 - A new era of Ohio men’s basketball began when athletics director Jim Schaus introduced Saul Phillips as the 18th head coach in program history.

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MARCH 22 - Jeremy Johnson placed sev-enth at the 2014 NCAA Wrestling Cham-pionships to earn his second All-America honor

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MARCH 10 - Walter Field-house opened its doors to the Bobcats’ first practice of spring football.

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MAY 17 - Senior Juli Accurso was named Most Outstanding Performer at the 2014 MAC Championships after she won both the 5,000m and 10,000m runs.

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>>>>NOV. 9 - Ohio honored its 2012-13 MAC Regular Season Championship prior to the ‘Cats season opening win versus UNI.


The Ohio softball team captured its first-ever Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship in 2014. The Bobcats’ posted a perfect 4-0 tournament record en route to its first postseason appearance since 1995.

2013-14 ohio athletics annual report 1

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