Post by TrackDemon on Sept 4, 2017 5:10:40 GMT
After re-reading a thread earlier and seeing the leadership at NSU being questioned I figured I would give my own thoughts.
I am going to preface this by being honest. I am a former athlete at NSU (track, obviously). I was fortunate enough to be at NSU during the most successful time in Demon track history. I am very proud of that time. In that time I was directly under Leon Johnson who is someone I look up to and someone I owe much success to.
I read the earlier criticism on Mr. Burke and responded to it. Upon reflection I feel as if I should have done more. I have been a supporter of NSU for 20 years. I have been a huge Demon fan since I first stepped on campus in 1994 and again as a first time student in 1997. Since that time I have been deeply passionate about NSU. As an athlete I have seen first hand how hard the people in this department work. I have seen him rushing from venue to venue to support multiple teams at once.
It is from seeing this that I have developed a deep admiration and respect for Mr. Burke. I have deep respect for the man and as such I feel it is only right if I give the reasons he is, in my honest opinion, the best person to be athletic director at NSU.
I can say that NSU is very welcoming of its former alumni and athletes. I have always felt welcome when returning to NSU.
The following things I have listed are all things that are visible to the public. Nothing listed requires anyone to have any significant knowledge of the department. You can find any of this info with a quick google/facebook search (or a stroll through nsudemons.com) or a simple stroll through campus and the improvements to the facilities are quite evident.
Management
NSU as an athletic department is breaking even financially so he has done a good job managing that aspect of the athletic department (source: sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/ Not every school in the state can state that. It should be pointed out that other schools receive higher allocation monetarily and in percentage of funds allocated.
Athletic Success
I will speak of track because I am a former member of the track program and know this program better than any other. The track complex has recieved very regular upgrades throughout the last 15 years. As a surface our track is as nice as any other facility in the state (not counting LSU).
The track program had its best success under Greg Burke's leadership and Coach Leon Johnson had a stretch between 1996-2005 that will probably never be matched again. The program slipped a bit but did rebound. Greg Burke then hired Mike Heimerman as the successor to one of the all-time great coaches in Louisiana track. Since that hire Coach Mike has grown the program and have brought in some really talented and knowledgeable coaches in that have worked out quite well.
Coach Burke hired Coach Mac which shouldn't need to be elaborated on.
Women's soccer has been a competitive program as well.
In women's basketball he hired Jennifer Graf after the retirement of another legend, James Smith. One criticism of the leadership was that by hiring inside we would be hesitant to remove underperforming coaches. In this instance I believe everyone both inside and outside of the program wanted Coach Grad to be a long term hire. Unfortunately it did not work out. However, she was treated quite well upon leaving the program and is now continuing a successful career at Troy. Greg Burke handled that separation as well as one can ask and both sides were left in good shape. He then hired the Stoehr's who led the LAdy Demons to back-to-back conference tourney titles and NCAA tournament appearances. He followed that up with Jordan Dupuy who has so far been an excellent hire.
Softball was doing great, hit a misfire on a hire that set the program back. Burke then found Donald Pickett who has done a good job in rebuilding the program and reaching the NCAA tournament in 2 of the last 3 years.
Baseball had been THE sport at NSU for years and had tremendous success. The program did fall off a bit but has seen steady growth the past 5 years and Barbier has brought in some very good young talent.
In football he hired Steve Roberts, who brought us a win at TCU and one of the best season in NSU history. Scott Stoker wasn't a bad hire and did have some success. I think Stoker simply wasn't quite ready for the job at first and it caught up to him. Just lacked experience. I really liked the Peveto hire when it was announced. He commanded a tremendous D in his previous time at NSU and was a great ambassador for the school. I thought it would work out and it simply didn't. Don't know how the bottom fell out but it did. I don't believe anyone believed that hire would turn out like that.
Thomas improved in his first year and seemed to have the program on the brink until last year. Last year was bad. However, the Demons seem to be headed in the right direction with noted improvement from last year.
Tennis and Volleyball both are in the midst of some of the best years.
Strictly looking at the athletic side, Burke had overseen some great success, especially at a school with our size and budget. I had fallen into the trap of thinking that the athletic programs hadn't been successful recently. However, looking back we have had some really good success over the last 15 years. I think the stigma of football and men's basketball struggling recently made things seem worse than it actually was. In reality, we have had very recent success.
Marketing/Fundraising
I thought back to it. NSU markets itself very well. I have seen advertisements for our school throughout the state. There was a billboard up in Baton Rouge recently. The thing that hurts us the most is the constant attacks on "FCS" schools. There is constant talk about conferences not wanting to schedule FCS schools and ESPN treats the FCS like a second class citizen.
Simply put, I don't want NSU to be FBS. I know we simply can't compete with the LSU and Michigan's of the world and that's OK. I don't want us to pretend like we can. I want a chance for a us a win a football title and I like the way the FCS is setup. It is up to every FCS school to promote the subdivision properly and also let everyone know that we are Division I institutions.
On staff,Haley Tatiano is constantly raising money for NSU, ditto for Greg Burke and numerous other people in the athletic department. Please glance over to the NSU facebook page, on it you will see numerous pictures of our athletic department in the community and around the state promoting NSU and raising funds. They are working almost around the clock travelling and meeting supporters. They are maxing out every resource they have right now. As such our athletic department has constantly broken even and has had success.
In my opinion, Doug Ireland is the best SID in the state and one of the best nationally. Whenever NSU releases information (press releases/media guides) it is always first class. The work ethic of Doug Ireland and the SID department is second to none. Our media guides are tremendous and our press releases and game reports are constantly among the best.
Athletic Facilities
Our facilities have all gotten a facelift in recent years. Just to name a few; Turpin Stadium has recently installed seats, the field house has had various improvements over the years and the field itself is one of the better ones in the state. As we speak there is a new scoreboard going up in the stadium. Prather and Walter P Ledet have both gotten a nice facelift in recent years as well as some upgrades. We have a new (and nice) softball complex. Brown Stroud has gotten consistent upgrades and are close the renovating the rest of the facilities.
Of course, this work isn't complete, but the evidence is there that we have been investing in the Athletic Department. Just take a quick car ride through the school and the improvements are quite visible.
Conclusion
Have there been mistakes made by the athletic department, sure. I'm quite certain that anyone in the athletic department would admit that. Is Greg Burke perfect, of course not. However, when looking at the big picture I think it is more than clear that he has done an exceptionally good job running this athletic department. The department is in a upswing and as improvements are completed I believe we are due for growth in the near future. We have a very good staff in place. Haley Tatiano is simply phenomenal and possibly the best young associate athletic director in the state. Her work ethic is evident.
I do believe we can definitely make improvements in the athletic department. However, I trust that our department is working hard at making those improvements and correcting mistakes.
While I respect Mr. Burke I do believe he should answer for his mistakes and held accountable. However, the mistakes made are vastly overshadowed by the tremendous amount of success he has brought our athletic department.
I kindly ask everyone that is a huge Demon supporter to take a deep breath and relax. Look at the BIG picture and see that we are in good shape and there is a lot to be optimistic about in the future.
FORK EM DEMONS
I am going to preface this by being honest. I am a former athlete at NSU (track, obviously). I was fortunate enough to be at NSU during the most successful time in Demon track history. I am very proud of that time. In that time I was directly under Leon Johnson who is someone I look up to and someone I owe much success to.
I read the earlier criticism on Mr. Burke and responded to it. Upon reflection I feel as if I should have done more. I have been a supporter of NSU for 20 years. I have been a huge Demon fan since I first stepped on campus in 1994 and again as a first time student in 1997. Since that time I have been deeply passionate about NSU. As an athlete I have seen first hand how hard the people in this department work. I have seen him rushing from venue to venue to support multiple teams at once.
It is from seeing this that I have developed a deep admiration and respect for Mr. Burke. I have deep respect for the man and as such I feel it is only right if I give the reasons he is, in my honest opinion, the best person to be athletic director at NSU.
I can say that NSU is very welcoming of its former alumni and athletes. I have always felt welcome when returning to NSU.
The following things I have listed are all things that are visible to the public. Nothing listed requires anyone to have any significant knowledge of the department. You can find any of this info with a quick google/facebook search (or a stroll through nsudemons.com) or a simple stroll through campus and the improvements to the facilities are quite evident.
Management
NSU as an athletic department is breaking even financially so he has done a good job managing that aspect of the athletic department (source: sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/ Not every school in the state can state that. It should be pointed out that other schools receive higher allocation monetarily and in percentage of funds allocated.
Athletic Success
I will speak of track because I am a former member of the track program and know this program better than any other. The track complex has recieved very regular upgrades throughout the last 15 years. As a surface our track is as nice as any other facility in the state (not counting LSU).
The track program had its best success under Greg Burke's leadership and Coach Leon Johnson had a stretch between 1996-2005 that will probably never be matched again. The program slipped a bit but did rebound. Greg Burke then hired Mike Heimerman as the successor to one of the all-time great coaches in Louisiana track. Since that hire Coach Mike has grown the program and have brought in some really talented and knowledgeable coaches in that have worked out quite well.
Coach Burke hired Coach Mac which shouldn't need to be elaborated on.
Women's soccer has been a competitive program as well.
In women's basketball he hired Jennifer Graf after the retirement of another legend, James Smith. One criticism of the leadership was that by hiring inside we would be hesitant to remove underperforming coaches. In this instance I believe everyone both inside and outside of the program wanted Coach Grad to be a long term hire. Unfortunately it did not work out. However, she was treated quite well upon leaving the program and is now continuing a successful career at Troy. Greg Burke handled that separation as well as one can ask and both sides were left in good shape. He then hired the Stoehr's who led the LAdy Demons to back-to-back conference tourney titles and NCAA tournament appearances. He followed that up with Jordan Dupuy who has so far been an excellent hire.
Softball was doing great, hit a misfire on a hire that set the program back. Burke then found Donald Pickett who has done a good job in rebuilding the program and reaching the NCAA tournament in 2 of the last 3 years.
Baseball had been THE sport at NSU for years and had tremendous success. The program did fall off a bit but has seen steady growth the past 5 years and Barbier has brought in some very good young talent.
In football he hired Steve Roberts, who brought us a win at TCU and one of the best season in NSU history. Scott Stoker wasn't a bad hire and did have some success. I think Stoker simply wasn't quite ready for the job at first and it caught up to him. Just lacked experience. I really liked the Peveto hire when it was announced. He commanded a tremendous D in his previous time at NSU and was a great ambassador for the school. I thought it would work out and it simply didn't. Don't know how the bottom fell out but it did. I don't believe anyone believed that hire would turn out like that.
Thomas improved in his first year and seemed to have the program on the brink until last year. Last year was bad. However, the Demons seem to be headed in the right direction with noted improvement from last year.
Tennis and Volleyball both are in the midst of some of the best years.
Strictly looking at the athletic side, Burke had overseen some great success, especially at a school with our size and budget. I had fallen into the trap of thinking that the athletic programs hadn't been successful recently. However, looking back we have had some really good success over the last 15 years. I think the stigma of football and men's basketball struggling recently made things seem worse than it actually was. In reality, we have had very recent success.
Marketing/Fundraising
I thought back to it. NSU markets itself very well. I have seen advertisements for our school throughout the state. There was a billboard up in Baton Rouge recently. The thing that hurts us the most is the constant attacks on "FCS" schools. There is constant talk about conferences not wanting to schedule FCS schools and ESPN treats the FCS like a second class citizen.
Simply put, I don't want NSU to be FBS. I know we simply can't compete with the LSU and Michigan's of the world and that's OK. I don't want us to pretend like we can. I want a chance for a us a win a football title and I like the way the FCS is setup. It is up to every FCS school to promote the subdivision properly and also let everyone know that we are Division I institutions.
On staff,Haley Tatiano is constantly raising money for NSU, ditto for Greg Burke and numerous other people in the athletic department. Please glance over to the NSU facebook page, on it you will see numerous pictures of our athletic department in the community and around the state promoting NSU and raising funds. They are working almost around the clock travelling and meeting supporters. They are maxing out every resource they have right now. As such our athletic department has constantly broken even and has had success.
In my opinion, Doug Ireland is the best SID in the state and one of the best nationally. Whenever NSU releases information (press releases/media guides) it is always first class. The work ethic of Doug Ireland and the SID department is second to none. Our media guides are tremendous and our press releases and game reports are constantly among the best.
Athletic Facilities
Our facilities have all gotten a facelift in recent years. Just to name a few; Turpin Stadium has recently installed seats, the field house has had various improvements over the years and the field itself is one of the better ones in the state. As we speak there is a new scoreboard going up in the stadium. Prather and Walter P Ledet have both gotten a nice facelift in recent years as well as some upgrades. We have a new (and nice) softball complex. Brown Stroud has gotten consistent upgrades and are close the renovating the rest of the facilities.
Of course, this work isn't complete, but the evidence is there that we have been investing in the Athletic Department. Just take a quick car ride through the school and the improvements are quite visible.
Conclusion
Have there been mistakes made by the athletic department, sure. I'm quite certain that anyone in the athletic department would admit that. Is Greg Burke perfect, of course not. However, when looking at the big picture I think it is more than clear that he has done an exceptionally good job running this athletic department. The department is in a upswing and as improvements are completed I believe we are due for growth in the near future. We have a very good staff in place. Haley Tatiano is simply phenomenal and possibly the best young associate athletic director in the state. Her work ethic is evident.
I do believe we can definitely make improvements in the athletic department. However, I trust that our department is working hard at making those improvements and correcting mistakes.
While I respect Mr. Burke I do believe he should answer for his mistakes and held accountable. However, the mistakes made are vastly overshadowed by the tremendous amount of success he has brought our athletic department.
I kindly ask everyone that is a huge Demon supporter to take a deep breath and relax. Look at the BIG picture and see that we are in good shape and there is a lot to be optimistic about in the future.
FORK EM DEMONS