The 2002-2003 athletic season has been a very productive one for Ball State. Winning Mid-American Conference regular season titles for several sports, as well as MAC tournament championships in women's volleyball and men's tennis, it would be hard to believe any season could be better than this.
If you consider that Ball State has a tradition of maintaining excellence in academics as well as athletics, believing this isn't too far-fetched.
Pending Patricia Soman's results in trying to become a track and field Academic All-American, Ball State has three Verizon District V Academic All-Americans this season: James Nowicki for the baseball team, Kris Burdine and Katie Shea both for the softball team. Nowicki and Burdine were third team All-Americans while Shea made it to the first team.
Ball State athletic director Bubba Cunningham gave credit for the recognition to the athletes and coaches.
"Students here are very committed academically and we've had all the success athletically," Cunningham said. "So I think that it's a great tribute to the coaches in the recruiting process. It's a great tribute to the students in balancing their time to be nationally competitive in their sport and very competitive in the classroom."
The importance of the relationship between academics and sports in the athletic department is evident in the difference between the graduation rates of Ball State student athletes and students who do not participate in collegiate sports. According to Cunningham, the graduation rate is higher for student athletes than for non-student athletes. He also said this record of academic excellence is a reflection of the entire Mid-American Conference.
"I think that the MAC in general does everything the NCAA is hopeful every institution would do," he said. "Our graduation rate is 24 percent higher than the regular student body and I think that's true of many schools in the MAC."
Ball State baseball head coach Greg Beals looks at the accolades of Nowicki and others as the principle of the baseball program he led for the first season and collegiate sports period.
"I fully believe that the awards our guys get, based on their academic success along with their athletic success, is exactly what college athletics is all about," Beals, a former assistant coach at Kent State, said. "We are here to get an education. Without Ball State University we don't have a baseball team. It's not just a pickup team. You have to be in school here in order to be able to play, so education is priority number one. "
Beals, who had five players drafted into the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft, has seen players with goals high above their academic obstacles and knows that the road to achieve those goals travels through school.
"We have guys that have dreams of being professional players," he said. "But the reality of that dream is a rough road to haul, and getting your education is the backbone of what we're trying to accomplish. Basically the way we see baseball is as a means of achieving your education. It's a motivator to get you through your education. "
Beals knows how hard it can be to juggle sports schedules and academic needs, winning three letters in baseball at Kent State while succeeding an All-MAC honorable mention all years. Therefore he can sympathize with the difficulty; however, he does not feel it is impossible.
"(Education as our top priority) is evident in the success of our student graduation rate, which is nationally ranked," Beals said. He said the academic support staff does a great job of supporting student athletes and helping them manage time constraints and missed classes.
While an award is a great individual accomplishment, all awards benefit every Ball State student.
"Honoring athletic achievement or student athletes can be somewhat routine at times," Cunningham said, "but I do think long term as you see your alma mater experience success it carries a lot of weight. So whether you're a president of the United States or professional athlete or an artist, when the name Ball State comes up, or if David Letterman talks about it, there's something there. The achievement, while it may not seem important at the time as a student, long term will make big impact and difference."
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