Dr. Argersinger agreed that there should be a university-wide responsibility for athletics, a collective achievement of faculty, students and staff across the university. Coach Jan Quarles addressed the issue and noted that he and coaches have been working on raising his team s gpa. When he started here in 1997, the fall 1996 gpa was 1.84. While there have been variations, most on the high side, it is now above 2.10. In the fall it was 2.38 up from 2.32.
Coaches are very interested in their team members academic success.
He gets concerned that coaches are sometimes seen as not caring about academics. This has been an on-going discussion since he's been here, but few have asked what he thinks. This group holds him accountable for the team s academic performance. He s coached at seven different major institutions including Wake Forest and Northwestern, schools of high academic integrity. He agrees with Chancellor Argersinger when she says SIU does not take academics very seriously.