For a college athlete, success is most often measured by one’s performance in his or her respective field of play. However, Mississippi State athletes realize that success depends on much more than just wins and losses.
MSU athletes posted a cumulative GPA of 2.78 for the Spring 2004 semester. The men and women’s tennis teams along with the women’s golf team all posted GPA’s at or above 3.4. Kate Jaspers, a senior first baseman for the softball team, was named CoSIDA Academic All-American of the year. Jaspers kept a 4.0 GPA throughout her career at State.
For an athlete, balancing the responsibilities to a particular sport along with one’s duties in the classroom can prove a difficult task. Add to that mandatory study sessions, and athlete’s find themselves with very little free time.
“Athletes have to go to school, then to practice, and then we have study time in the evenings, so really it’s like they have three full-time jobs,” said Associate Athletic Director Dr. David C. Boles. “When it can get tough is when the only time a class is available is during practice time, and our policy is class comes first.”
However, there are times that athletes can’t help but miss class. In times such as these, teachers get further involved with the students to keep them up to speed with their classes.
“We let the teachers know their students’ schedules ahead of time,” Boles said. “We tell them when they should be absent. The teachers will either catch them up when they’re gone or they’re ahead when they leave. The working combination here has been great.”
The Bulldogs finished second behind Florida academically in the SEC in the sports in which they competed. Despite this claim, MSU Athletic Director Larry Templeton doesn’t get caught up in competing with the other SEC schools academically.
“We really don’t like to compare ourselves against the other SEC schools as much as with our own student body,” Templeton said. “And the average of the athletes is consistent with that of the student body. We also have a higher graduation rate than the rest of the student body.”
Whether it’s in the classroom or on the field of play, State’s athletes have proven they have what it takes to succeed.