Sixty-nine student athletes on Southland Conference honor roll

Sixty-nine student-athletes represented Nicholls State University on the Southland Commissioner’s 2016 Fall Academic Honor Roll.

The honor roll recognized student-athletes who maintained a minimum 3.00 grade point average and were eligible to compete in a conference sport during the fall semester. Between the sports of men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, soccer and volleyball across the Southland Conference, 201 student-athletes earned a perfect 4.00 GPA. Ten Colonels earned 4.00 GPA averages led by four from the women’s soccer team. Football and volleyball each had three student-athletes with a 4.00 GPA.

Nicholls Director of Athletics, Matt Roan attributed a great part of the success of student-athletes at Nicholls to the close-knit relationship between the athletics department and the Office of Academic Affairs. The layers of structure forced student-athletes to strive for their best.

“We’re very fortunate here, when you look at the relationship we have with the office of academic affairs. It’s definitely an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Roan said. “We’re very fortunate to have many different levels of support throughout the structure that are advising, mentoring and tutoring student-athletes at those different steps to ensure their academic success.”

Since his time as athletic director began in November 2016, Roan has placed a heavy emphasis on what he called the “model student-athlete experience.” He said this included all things from athletes’ facilities to the care they receive in the athletic training room, to the meals they eat and even the clothes on their backs. According to Roan, the number one priority when considering the model student-athlete experience has been getting every student-athlete where they need to be academically.

“I don’t think you can undersell it at all, and I think the number one priority is finding out how we can provide the support to allow student-athletes to be as successful as they can inside the classroom,” Roan said.

Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Affairs, Lori Richard, said that it has not been special facilities that helped student-athletes excel academically, but rather a support system made up of coaches, advisors and faculty members.

“Our student athletes have access to everything that all the other students have access to. We don’t have any special facility for student athletes, and they use the same academic advisors, tutoring services and writing services as other students,” Richard said. “I think the difference is that we have a lot of people checking in on our student athletes.”

Richard said without the support and feedback from faculty members, academic advisors could not do their jobs properly. With about 300 student-athletes at Nicholls, Richard’s biggest challenge has been figuring out the needs of each student, everyone is different.

In regards to the support system, Women’s Soccer Head Coach, Michael McBride said, “Not every student-athlete will do well in every class, and this is where the academic support structure comes into its own at Nicholls.  As coaches, we are notified when a professor identifies a student-athlete to be at risk academically, and this information allows us to intervene and meet with the student-athlete to discuss their particular situation.”

Richard has worked with student-athletes at Nicholls since 2009, and has been familiar with the jam-packed schedule they face on a daily basis.

“Our students work so hard and I’m incredibly proud of them. The time demands on them and the pressures that they have on them are different from a regular student,” Richard said. “Until you are a student-athlete or you work closely with one, you might not know those things.”

In regards to the Southland Commissioner’s Honor Roll, McBride said, “I am immensely proud of my team’s academic performance in the fall. Beyond my own team, the student-athletes at Nicholls have represented our institution brilliantly so far this school year. Long may that continue.”

Looking ahead, Roan said he hopes coaches can continue to create products that make their fans proud while they are on the field or court, and also makes the university proud when they walk across the stage and receive their diploma.

“My goal moving forward is that the list will be bigger than 69,” Roan said. “At the end of the day, it’s an ambitious goal and it’s kind of broad, but finding out how we can achieve record-breaking academic performance every year is the objective.”