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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Gophers Say Thanks to Faculty
4/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dozens of University of Minnesota faculty members and advisors were on hand for Gopher football practice Tuesday at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex as guests of the Gopher student-athletes and staff. As part of an afternoon and evening of appreciation for all their hard work, faculty members and advisors were invited to tour TCF Bank Stadium, watch the Gophers practice and enjoy a training table meal with the team.
"Today is just a great opportunity for us to show our appreciation for all the work our faculty and advisors do to help our student-athletes succeed in the classroom," said Director of Football Academic Advising Chris Elrod. "There are a lot of people who suppor our student-athletes, but our program's academic success wouldn't be possible without the cooperation of all these people here today."
University of Minnesota professors and advisors have been instrumental in the recent classroom success of the Gophers' football program.
Last year, the Minnesota football team led the Big Ten with 29 All-Big Ten Academic honorees and boasted 42 student-athletes with a "B" average or better. At the same time, the Gophers have made a monumental stride in the APR rates, which provide a real-time look at the team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. That kind of success is only possible thanks to hard work from everyone involved, whether it's the student-athlete, the coaching staff, advisors or professors.
As a special thank you, each player was given the opportunity to invite his favorite professor or advisor to this year's appreciation event.
"They understand the tough schedules that we have, and this is our little way of paying them back and saying thanks for teaching us everything that we've learned over the last couple years," quarterback Adam Weber said. "(Our education) is a great tool that we'll carry with us the rest of our lives."
-Brian Deutsch
