Ohio Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh has the responsibility of establishing winning programs. But before that, maintaining a program of integrity has and always will be in the forefront of the Ohio University athletic program, Boeh said. And this is exactly what he strives to do.
What you do is you take a look at the program
and there are five things you need to do Boeh said. First of all the umbrella over the entire thing
over the entire program
is to maintain the integrity of the institution.
Boeh said other components of running a program include students graduating with a meaningful degree, focusing on providing the best facilities possible, increasing revenue streams, recruiting and maintaining the best coaches possible and best staff available, and trying to communicate the student-athlete experience to those who can make a difference.
As for how successful Boeh has been in meeting his goal, he simply said he would let the numbers speak for themselves.
In a day when top-notch programs such as Ohio State and Georgia and St. Bonaventure are under the scrutiny of the media eye, Ohio has stayed out of trouble.
While programs like Cincinnati, Arkansas and LSU struggle to graduate their athletes, Ohio prides itself on graduating athletes with a meaningful degree.
And while countless institutions, including Mid-American Conference schools, have cut programs like nagging hangnails, Ohio has not had to cut a program under Boeh.
Two years ago, the Sporting News ranked Ohio No. 32 among all 115 Division I-A programs in terms of winning, fan support, graduation rates, Title IX compliance and how clean the program is. This was the highest of any non-BCS conference school and 23 spots ahead of Miami, the next closest MAC school.
It's just one publication
but I think it's one measurement that we're doing things right
Boeh said.
But after perusing the numbers more closely, not all are as impressive as they look at first glance.
Though the graduation rates of student-athletes has been maintained above the average for all other public D-I schools, the numbers have slid since Boeh took over.
Entering his tenure nine years ago, Boeh walked into a situation where Ohio was graduating the highest percentage of student-athletes of the past 12 years. Since that time, university rates have gone up while the rates of student-athletes have settled about 10 points lower than when he first took his position.
But Ohio has made improvements in Title IX compliancy.
In an article recently released by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ohio ranked third among all Division I-A programs in terms of Title IX compliance in 2002-03. In this report, it stated that nearly 40 percent of all money spent on athletics goes toward women's programs.
We've added three sports: women's soccer
lacrosse and golf
Boeh said. That certainly helped our proportionality for women's programs. We have tried to maintain a culture where we consider ourselves to be gender neutral.
Another area where Ohio athletics has been kept out of trouble is keeping student-athletes from judiciary sanction. Although no numbers are kept specific to whether someone is an athlete or not, Judy Piercy, director of university judiciaries, estimated that less than 1 percent of all cases involve a student-athlete.
This doesn't surprise me because the athletic program sets very clear behavioral expectations
Piercy said. And that's always been consistent. They (student-athletes) have a lot to lose where a non-athlete may not feel they have as much to lose that they might be willing to take that risk.
Another area that has improved under the leadership of Boeh has been in the area of facilities. Marshall Director of Athletics Bob Marcum admitted he does not know much about Ohio athletics. But one thing he has noticed has been the improvement in the facilities.
Just coming in on gameday
it all looks great
