2020-2025 NCCU Department of Athletics Strategic Plan

Academic Accomplishments of student-athletes have been a cornerstone of the Athletics Department’s mission, and is considered in virtually every facet of the department’s operations. Successfully growing the Student-Athlete Support Services team has impacted every component of students’ success in the classroom. Positive increases have been achieved in the number of graduates, their cumulative grade point averages, and the Athletics Department’s annual NCAA Academic Performance Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR). In addition, student-athletes have been selected for the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence, and as Cheatham-White Merit scholars.  The Athletics Department has utilized the summer bridge Preparing to Soar Program for freshmen student-athletes to successfully graduate student-athletes in less than four years; it was recently featured nationally in the summer 2019 NCAA magazine, Champion.

Athletic Success has become a significant source of pride among the campus community and for Eagle alumni around the country. The 2016 football team won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship and played in the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl.  The men’s basketball program has captured four MEAC Tournament titles with four trips to the NCAA Tournament and an NIT appearance, and men’s tennis earned the 2014 HBCU National Championship. Individual honors have included eight MEAC Players of the Year, five MEAC Coaches of the Year, two Major League Baseball draftees, and one National Football League draft pick.

Student-Athlete Health, Wellness and Well-Being has risen in importance in the ever-changing climate of intercollegiate athletics, and the NCCU Athletics Department has evolved to be trendsetting for all HBCU institutions. The Athletics Department has added an essential Sports Performance component, focusing on sports medicine, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and mental health. Sports medicine staffing has increased from one full-time athletic trainer to five full-time and two certified intern athletic trainers. Strength and conditioning has grown and is dedicated to providing comprehensive weight training programs for all the department’s intercollegiate athletic programs. Monitoring student-athletes’ diets is now achieved through a new sports nutrition specialist. Lastly, the Athletics Department is at the forefront in the implementation of mental health and substance abuse services for student-athletes.

Leadership and Service opportunities have strengthened the Athletics Department’s “town and gown” relationships through the compassionate and humanitarian actions of coaches and student-athletes. The Athletics Department is committed to producing empathetic and globally-aware graduates through community service initiatives. In 2018-2019, the Athletics Department contributed 11,715 hours of community service to the greater Triangle area, earning first place out of more than 200 institutions in the Helper Helper national competition. The Athletics Department looks to increase its footprint in the community and encourage its student-athletes to positively affect future generations of Eagles.

Athletics Administration focus has allowed the NCCU Athletics Department to achieve significant growth in the areas of external relations and sports performance. With the creation of a development office, donor relations have improved and financial gains have been realized due to the increase in the number of fundraising staff within the development office. The growth of the development office has also positively impacted relations with the Eagle Club, the official booster organization, and has contributed to an increase in the number of donors. With an emphasis on optimizing the services offered to student-athletes in the areas of physical, nutritional and mental health, staff additions have been provided in all areas of sports performance. These achievements have assisted in elevating the NCCU Athletics program, which has been recognized locally, regionally and nationally for its progressive and creative resourcefulness, while still classified as a limited-resource program.

• Establish early planning for academic and career success through student-athlete orientations, seminars and leadership academy.
• Introduce student-athletes to faculty, staff and peer mentors within the departments of major interest.
• Achieve department grade point average of 3.0, an overall department Academic Progress Rate (APR) of 975, and Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 85%.
• Increase access to freshmen student-athletes to the Aspiring Eagles program and increase the number of freshmen participating in summer bridge programs to 50% of the incoming student-athlete class.
• Hire an academic support services staff member to increase the number of academic support counselors available to student-athletes.

• Deliver mental health assistance through designated counselors and external resources for individual and group support.
• Inform student-athletes about the support systems that are available to them through the department and university. 
• Conduct annual mental health first aid certification for all athletics department staff.

• Conduct workshops for student-athletes to enhance soft and critical thinking skills needed to succeed in the workplace environment.
• Develop a leadership academy that will program specific activities based on classification of student-athletes.
• Advance peer-to-peer mentoring programs and other development opportunities such as international travel activities for teams and individual student-athletes.
• Achieve 5,000 hours of community service annually.
• Foster a robust career development program by creating networking opportunities for student-athletes with local business, professional leaders and successful alumni.
• Expand student-athlete participation in leadership decision-making through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Athletics Director’s Captain Council.

• Facilitate student-athlete collaboration with other campus organizations.
• Spotlight student-athletes who are actively engaged in organizations and activities on and off campus through social media platforms and during formal presentations to campus leadership.
• Identify athletics staff to serve as advisors to campus organizations and clubs.
• Facilitate presentations from co-curricular programs in athletic settings.

• Ensure salaries are competitive with successful peer institutions.
• Develop a retention strategy that includes contracts for all head coaches.
• Identify opportunities for professional development for all athletics coaches and staff and allocate and seek additional funding to support participation.
• Conduct an assessment and inventory of peer leadership development for assistant coaches and junior staff aspiring to become head coaches or senior level athletics administrators.
• Establish mechanisms to reward extraordinary employees to include administrative staff.

• Raise the scholarship allotment for all sports to $6 million.
• Grow recruiting budget by 50%.
• Develop a plan to recruit more prospective transfers and international student-athletes.
• Create efficient mechanisms for recruiting travel on and off campus.
• Increase student-athlete satisfaction and retention by conducting an assessment of tools such as Student-Athlete Season Survey, Student-Athlete Senior Exit Survey and Student-Athlete Exit Survey to collect feedback from student-athletes.

• Recruit and retain sports performance experts to include the addition of certified athletic trainers, a reconditioning specialist, a sports psychologist, and a certified strength and conditioning specialist.
• Incorporate injury prevention programs into each aspect of sports performance to include ACL prevention, Arm Care and Concussion reduction.
• Provide state-of-the-art equipment for elite strength and conditioning, athletic training and nutrition.
• Recruit a graduate assistant to work with research projects to analyze data collected from the student-athlete population in the areas of concussion management, functional movement and cardiac evaluation.
• Conduct more pre-and post-performance assessments to determine the best training programs for student-athletes.
• Ensure student-athletes are provided with nutritious food options on campus and while traveling representing the university.

• Establish an inventory of facility priorities that correlate with the University Master Plan through a thorough needs analysis assessment to include O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium and the track & field complex.
• Identify funding sources for highest priorities to include repair and reserve funding for all facilities.
• Create an operational plan for facility upgrades that will include maintenance plans and usage policies for internal and external users that meet all state, university and federal guidelines.

• Ensure that 80% of teams will compete in MEAC conference championships annually.
• Field competitive men's and women's sports programs that will finish overall in the top five of the conference standings annually.
• Regulate that all sports programs will create and implement team-specific operational plans in alignment with the university and department strategic plans. 

• Explore additional technology-based NCAA Compliance platforms to ensure the best system is used to monitor and enforce all NCAA Bylaws.
• Digitize all compliance forms to improve and streamline internal processes and procedures. 
• Create additional social media platforms to enhance the existing compliance education program for all constituents. 
• Engage more faculty in A-Squared workshops to enhance partnerships for the academic success of student-athletes.
• Increase the number of faculty who utilize student support systems, such as Degree Works, Navigate and Blackboard. 

• Conduct assessment of existing resources focused on Athletics branding in comparison to our peer Division I institutions.
• Expand on existing market analysis to demonstrate NCCU’s Athletics programs’ impact beyond the Triangle region.
• Develop at least three new initiatives that provide opportunities for national exposure. 
• Create partnerships with Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to help promote NCCU’s scholar-athletes, programs and championships.

• Increase self-generated revenue by 2% per year to an overall 40% of the Athletics budget by 2025.
• Retain at least 80% of current season ticket holders and increase new season ticket holders by 15%.
• Expand annual fund scholarship support by 10% per year.
• Grow corporate sponsorship by 15% per year.
• Identify 2-4 major gifts per year.
• Meet all game guarantee revenue projections through strategic scheduling for revenue-generating sports.
• Improve processes and procedures for tailgating, parking and concessions to meet revenue projections annually.
• Create additional revenue streams through the rental of athletics facilities by developing a robust marketing plan for facility rentals.
• Submit at least two grant proposals to the NCAA and foundations that support intercollegiate athletics.
• Implement gender equity plan to include the addition of women’s golf and women’s soccer or lacrosse.

• Align multi-year budgets annually and adjust for industry variances utilizing realistic revenue projections based off of previous years’ data and contractual agreements.
• Construct delineations of responsibility in the athletics business office for the specific areas of scholarship management, procurement, budget management and personnel reporting.
• Establish a purchasing position within athletics to create efficiencies through procurement and accounts payable. 
• Create a medical billing position to improve the athletics insurance billing process, reduce costs, and increase revenue.
• Review results of internal and external audits to improve departmental efficiencies.
• Develop an inventory system which will track and maintain all athletics equipment and apparel to improve control of fixed assets.

• Conduct surveys and re-establish the fan experience committee to measure fan satisfaction.
• Engage students in game day opportunities to increase attendance.
• Create an entertainment venue that appeals to multiple demographics.
• Design hospitality experiences that drive tickets scans and incentivizes game day engagement from non-season ticket holders.
• Execute demographic needs analysis to determine programming for multiple constituencies to include K-12 groups, young alumni and nontraditional student populations.
• Strengthen stewardship program by including student-athletes, coaches and Director of Athletics.
• Produce communications plans that engage fans regularly to include an exploration of in-venue technology focused on improving the game day experience.
• Increase investment in marketing and the fan engagement budget and staff to heighten awareness of the athletics program.

• Create an Athletics Board of Visitors in alignment with other NCCU colleges Boards of Visitors.
• Increase the number of athletics staff members participating in community organizations and boards to enhance visibility.
• Raise the presence of NCCU coaches and staff in the community through speaking opportunities and service activities.
• Develop relationships with merchants who are connected with NCCU fans on local and regional levels.
• Expand the number of organizations and individuals involved with the Director of Athletics Women’s Network (DAWN).

• Upgrade data collection system to increase the number of E-Varsity Club members.
• Create a quarterly newsletter to highlight current and former student-athletes.
• Implement an annual engagement plan to increase participation of E-Varsity Club members in engagement activities.
• Conduct engagement activities in cities with large alumni bases. 
• Develop an E-Varsity Club speaker series to provide a platform to engage current and former student-athletes in a professional setting.

• Work with the Office of Career Services and Outreach to establish nontraditional professional development support such as online services for student-athletes who travel extensively.
• Establish an annual plan of activity between student-athletes and other student organizations and university resources.
• Create sessions for student-athletes and parents during university orientations.
• Partner with BBRI and BRITE to conduct sports science research.
• Create collaborative experiential learning opportunities within athletics that directly correlate to student learning outcomes.

• Develop and disseminate fact sheets on NCAA rules that are pertinent to faculty with regards to academic integrity.
• Produce a brochure for campus and community partners on NCAA rules.
• Conduct education sessions for campus and community partners at least once per academic year.
• Incorporate a compliance presentation in the NCCU Management Development Institute (MDI).