Athletics Director Digest » January 31
1/31/2020 11:00:00 AM | Athletics Director Digest
An inside look to Rice Athletics happenings with Joe Karlgaard
The busiest time of the year is upon us on South Main as our winter sports have turned their focus to conference action, and our spring sports are just getting underway. The national landscape of college athletics is changing as well with the student-athlete squarely in the focus of proposed reforms.
Earlier this month, I attended the NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California where the much of the discussion was on the issue of student-athlete compensation. Since the passage of California SB 206, which grants student-athletes the right to use and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the NCAA has been working toward legislation that would create a national set of rules concerning NIL. In addition to California's law, which takes effect in 2023, several other states have proposed legislation that could take effect even sooner, which makes the NCAA's work time-sensitive. Running parallel to both state legislation and NCAA rules changes is a bi-partisan U.S. Senate working group facilitating broad discussions on student-athlete compensation. As I think about national, state, and NCAA reforms regarding student-athlete rights and compensation – regardless of where those reforms land – I'm confident that Rice University will stay true to its values and that education (both in the classroom and on the fields/courts/tracks/pools) will remain the primary purpose of our athletics program.
Here on campus, preliminary work has begun on the Robert L. Waltrip Indoor Training Center just west of Rice Stadium. An indoor practice and training facility has long been the dream of Rice students and staff, and we are excited by the opportunities it will afford our varsity programs, club and intramural sports, and campus constituents. The facility is scheduled to be open by early summer.
I want to offer congratulations to of a few of our student-athletes for some notable performances of late.
Erica Ogwumike picked up her second C-USA Women's Basketball Player of the Week award for her outstanding play on the team's recent road trip to UTEP and UTSA. She's helped the Owls extend their conference winning streak to 27 games heading into a challenging set of matchups at North Texas on Saturday and then at home against UAB (February 6) and Middle Tennessee (February 8).
Congratulations as well to Ako Adams, who set the men's school record for three pointers last weekend against UTSA. His efforts capped off a night where we paused to remember one of Rice's greatest basketball players, Gene Schwinger, who passed away on January 16. Gene earned All-American honors in 1954 while leading the Owls to a Southwest Conference title, and he was a lifelong supporter of the R Association and Rice Athletics. We held our annual alumni game prior to playing UTSA, and at that time we announced the annual gathering will now be known as the Gene Schwinger Alumni Game.
The indoor track season is not a particularly long one, with the start in mid-January and the C-USA Championships set for the end of February, but our teams have made the most of their early competitive opportunities. Michelle Fokam, who has earned All-America honors both indoors and outdoors and won a total of seven C-USA titles, picked up her fifth C-USA Female Track Athlete of the Week award after posting the seventh best mark in the NCAA in the triple jump in her first meet of the year. Sophomore thrower Erna Gunnarsdottir set and Icelandic indoor record in the shot put to move into the national top 20.
Our women's swimmers will meet Houston and LSU this weekend in a final tune-up before their C-USA Championship at the end of February. Seth Huston's squad spent some of the winter break training at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona. The team has worked hard leading up to the conference meet where the Owls will once again be one of the teams to beat.
Speaking of LSU, we have a couple of other upcoming engagements with the Tigers. First off, our men's and women's tennis teams will face LSU in a combined dual match on Sunday, February 23 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. The two teams have held a number of combined duals, but this is just the second time each team has faced the same school. It's a unique atmosphere and I hope you can join us that day.
Secondly, the defending nation champion Tiger football team will face Rice at NRG Stadium on September 19. This is the first time since 2006 that the Owls have hosted a defending national champion in football, and it's an even rarer occurrence for LSU to play a road game out of outside of the Power 5 schools. Some of the best seats for the game are included in our seven-game 2020 football season ticket plan. Information on renewals and new sales will be released next week.
The baseball season is just around the corner and this Saturday we will host our annual Fan Fest at Reckling Park, staring at noon. This is always a great event for our fans and players and is sure sign that the first pitches of the year are not far off. We open the season with a three-game series vs. the University of Texas on February 14.
Last weekend, we held a special event for the members of the RBI Club where they were given a demonstration of some cutting-edge technology Matt Bragga and his staff are introducing this year:
Hit Trax: Software which evaluates swing and mechanics with a powerful video analysis to increase exit velocities and optimize launch angles by capturing real-time metrics and observing results immediately after impact.
Win Reality: A virtual reality training aid that allows the player to see the game at real time speed from a batters perspective. 2019 CWS champion Vanderbilt was one of three Division 1 schools to use Win Reality last year and has dedicated an entire room as a lab for Win Reality.
Rapsodo: A compact, portable pitching monitor with indoor/outdoor capability that has a proprietary radar and camera system which measures ball flight, spin rates and efficiency, release points, velocity, and strike zone analysis.
Synergy: Software that allows users to watch video of their past games and filter it by pitch, swings, locations, situations, etc. along with spray charts. It is a great tool for scouting upcoming opponents.
These innovative enhancements to our baseball program are exactly the type of technologies we can use to improve the athletic competitiveness called for in our Vision For Victory strategic plan.
Lastly, I want to congratulate Gary Chiles '86 on being named the President of the new Owl Club Board of Directors. Gary is joining with 28 other individuals representing former letter winners, alumni, current students and fans of Rice Athletics on the board (link to release). This board will work closely with the Vision For Victory goal committees to achieve the objectives of the strategic plan. This is an energized group dedicated to the future of Rice Athletics, and I hope you'll give them your support as we move ahead.
As always, I look forward to seeing you at our events. Go Owls!
Earlier this month, I attended the NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California where the much of the discussion was on the issue of student-athlete compensation. Since the passage of California SB 206, which grants student-athletes the right to use and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the NCAA has been working toward legislation that would create a national set of rules concerning NIL. In addition to California's law, which takes effect in 2023, several other states have proposed legislation that could take effect even sooner, which makes the NCAA's work time-sensitive. Running parallel to both state legislation and NCAA rules changes is a bi-partisan U.S. Senate working group facilitating broad discussions on student-athlete compensation. As I think about national, state, and NCAA reforms regarding student-athlete rights and compensation – regardless of where those reforms land – I'm confident that Rice University will stay true to its values and that education (both in the classroom and on the fields/courts/tracks/pools) will remain the primary purpose of our athletics program.
Here on campus, preliminary work has begun on the Robert L. Waltrip Indoor Training Center just west of Rice Stadium. An indoor practice and training facility has long been the dream of Rice students and staff, and we are excited by the opportunities it will afford our varsity programs, club and intramural sports, and campus constituents. The facility is scheduled to be open by early summer.
BUBBLE WATCH | The first phase of work on the Robert L. Waltrip Indoor Training Center has begun.
— Rice Athletics (@RiceAthletics) January 29, 2020
Steps of this phase include:
✅ Site Utility
✅ Foundation Installation
Next Steps:
➡️ Placement of Playing Surface
➡️ Assembly of Inflatable Structure
#GoOwls👐 x #RFND pic.twitter.com/iQl9BJsnWb
I want to offer congratulations to of a few of our student-athletes for some notable performances of late.
Erica Ogwumike picked up her second C-USA Women's Basketball Player of the Week award for her outstanding play on the team's recent road trip to UTEP and UTSA. She's helped the Owls extend their conference winning streak to 27 games heading into a challenging set of matchups at North Texas on Saturday and then at home against UAB (February 6) and Middle Tennessee (February 8).
Congratulations as well to Ako Adams, who set the men's school record for three pointers last weekend against UTSA. His efforts capped off a night where we paused to remember one of Rice's greatest basketball players, Gene Schwinger, who passed away on January 16. Gene earned All-American honors in 1954 while leading the Owls to a Southwest Conference title, and he was a lifelong supporter of the R Association and Rice Athletics. We held our annual alumni game prior to playing UTSA, and at that time we announced the annual gathering will now be known as the Gene Schwinger Alumni Game.
The indoor track season is not a particularly long one, with the start in mid-January and the C-USA Championships set for the end of February, but our teams have made the most of their early competitive opportunities. Michelle Fokam, who has earned All-America honors both indoors and outdoors and won a total of seven C-USA titles, picked up her fifth C-USA Female Track Athlete of the Week award after posting the seventh best mark in the NCAA in the triple jump in her first meet of the year. Sophomore thrower Erna Gunnarsdottir set and Icelandic indoor record in the shot put to move into the national top 20.
Our women's swimmers will meet Houston and LSU this weekend in a final tune-up before their C-USA Championship at the end of February. Seth Huston's squad spent some of the winter break training at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona. The team has worked hard leading up to the conference meet where the Owls will once again be one of the teams to beat.
Speaking of LSU, we have a couple of other upcoming engagements with the Tigers. First off, our men's and women's tennis teams will face LSU in a combined dual match on Sunday, February 23 at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. The two teams have held a number of combined duals, but this is just the second time each team has faced the same school. It's a unique atmosphere and I hope you can join us that day.
Secondly, the defending nation champion Tiger football team will face Rice at NRG Stadium on September 19. This is the first time since 2006 that the Owls have hosted a defending national champion in football, and it's an even rarer occurrence for LSU to play a road game out of outside of the Power 5 schools. Some of the best seats for the game are included in our seven-game 2020 football season ticket plan. Information on renewals and new sales will be released next week.
The baseball season is just around the corner and this Saturday we will host our annual Fan Fest at Reckling Park, staring at noon. This is always a great event for our fans and players and is sure sign that the first pitches of the year are not far off. We open the season with a three-game series vs. the University of Texas on February 14.
It's almost that time!
— Rice Baseball (@RiceBaseball) January 27, 2020
Join us at Reckling Park for the 2020 Fan Fest presented by @MethodistHosp.
⚾️ » https://t.co/VaHEFy3CXM pic.twitter.com/dO3R9zytof
Last weekend, we held a special event for the members of the RBI Club where they were given a demonstration of some cutting-edge technology Matt Bragga and his staff are introducing this year:
Hit Trax: Software which evaluates swing and mechanics with a powerful video analysis to increase exit velocities and optimize launch angles by capturing real-time metrics and observing results immediately after impact.
Win Reality: A virtual reality training aid that allows the player to see the game at real time speed from a batters perspective. 2019 CWS champion Vanderbilt was one of three Division 1 schools to use Win Reality last year and has dedicated an entire room as a lab for Win Reality.
Rapsodo: A compact, portable pitching monitor with indoor/outdoor capability that has a proprietary radar and camera system which measures ball flight, spin rates and efficiency, release points, velocity, and strike zone analysis.
Synergy: Software that allows users to watch video of their past games and filter it by pitch, swings, locations, situations, etc. along with spray charts. It is a great tool for scouting upcoming opponents.
These innovative enhancements to our baseball program are exactly the type of technologies we can use to improve the athletic competitiveness called for in our Vision For Victory strategic plan.
Lastly, I want to congratulate Gary Chiles '86 on being named the President of the new Owl Club Board of Directors. Gary is joining with 28 other individuals representing former letter winners, alumni, current students and fans of Rice Athletics on the board (link to release). This board will work closely with the Vision For Victory goal committees to achieve the objectives of the strategic plan. This is an energized group dedicated to the future of Rice Athletics, and I hope you'll give them your support as we move ahead.
As always, I look forward to seeing you at our events. Go Owls!
WBB: Rice vs. Marshall Postgame Presser
Wednesday, March 09
VB: Rice-Texas Postgame Presser
Saturday, December 04
VB: Rice-San Diego Postgame Presser
Thursday, December 02