Q&A with GCSU’s athletic director

A little less than four months into his new job, GCSU athletic director Wendell Staton has hit the ground running. Staton, who received a master’s degree from GCSU in 1993, was named athletic director Sept. 28 after spending 13 years at fellow Peach Belt school UNC Pembroke. In the short amount of time that he has headed up the GCSU athletic program, Staton has said he has continued to and build upon its goals and make it more well-known. His goal is simple: He wants the program to be the best. The following is from a question and answer session with the GCSU athletics director.

QUESTION: How have you enjoyed your time so far at GCSU?

STATON: “It’s really been fantastic and everything I had envisioned. I was very fortunate to come into a program that has established traditions in athletics and academics. My plan is to continue and build upon those traditions so that we have the best athletic department in all phases. Milledgeville is a great community, and my goal is to keep promoting our program and university throughout the town.”

QUESTION: How would you assess the state of the athletics program?

STATON: “I’m very proud of our athletics program. We won the Commissioner’s Cup last year, which meant we had the best all-around athletics program in the Peach Belt Conference. That’s obviously something we want to repeat this year. Also, and even more importantly, we had the highest percentage of student-athletes on the conference honor roll. We dominated the academic all conference teams. We had an academic and athletic All-American goalie with our soccer team. Another one of our soccer players is currently a semifinalist for the Wooden Cup. Our men’s cross country team won the sportsmanship award, and our golf team won the ethics and sportsmanship award once again. As for the spring, we’re getting ready to go into full-swing mode with our sports, where almost every sport in campus will be in action in some capacity. We’re right in the thick of both men’s and women’s basketball, and both those teams are having good seasons. We have outstanding student-athletes and outstanding coaches and recruiters who recruit those outstanding athletes.”

QUESTION: What are some of your goals and plans for the athletic program this semester?

STATON: “Obviously, we want to continue our success from last year and be a top-notch program in all phases. I want to see our department grow and to be more visible both on campus and in the community. We run a well-rounded program that covers all bases. I try to be very involved on campus and in Milledgeville. My approach is to integrate us with every component of the university. I’ve gone around and met a lot of people and shook a lot of hands. My biggest job is to promote the program.”

QUESTION: What are some of your plans for helping to increase attendance at athletic events?

STATON: “I think anyone who has been to our basketball games knows that we have an unbelievable game environment. We’ve got a lot of different people helping to assure that it remains that way. The pep band does a great job at the games. The crowd is really involved. And the Thunder Crew has done a lot of great things in working with us, and we’re thankful to them for that. Dr. Ginger Carter Miller and her public relations class have helped bring a community event to all of our home games now. We appreciate everything they do as well. I think this increased involvement is going to pay big dividends for us, and we want to see the current trend with basketball to continue to all of our sports on campus. I look forward to everyone coming out to the games and introducing themselves to me. The more folks we get to come out to these events, the better.”

QUESTION: Where do you see the program heading?

STATON: “Our most important goal is to be the best program academically, athletically and socially. We’re going to continue to have our program and student-athletes and coaches involved with community service to Milledgeville. (Longtime UCLA head coach) John Wooden’s philosophy was to be the best you can be and that’s my goal. I’m blessed to be in a situation like this where we have a top-notch program all the way around. As long as we’re continuing to excel in all areas, we’ll be in great shape for a long time to come.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Jan 22 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry