Another Top 10 Program for the Terps!

LOYAL TERPS CAN rattle off Maryland’s sports records and rankings like yesterday’s lottery numbers, but they need to make room for one more.

The Terps out-scored 62 Division I institutions to take sixth place nationally in the Excellence in Athletics Cup. The award, created by the Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics, recognizes points on the field, A’s in the classroom and equality across the scoreboard.

Athletics Director Debbie Yow attributes these honors to the Academic Support and Career Development Unit (ASCDU) housed within Intercollegiate Athletics. Yow says the budget for the ASCDU has been significantly enhanced over the past decade to accommodate the growing number of athletes. The budget currently totals more than $1 million and provides funds for one of the largest staffs in the country.

The 16-person staff, a “very bustling, very active unit” according to Yow, pushes the athletes to be as competitive in the classroom as they are on the field. Advisors, directors, graduate assistants and learning specialists work closely with their students to ensure their success. Everyone was rewarded this fall when 311 athletes were honored for achieving a 3.0 or better GPA, earning the title of scholar athlete. Four even shot the moon with a 4.0.

Of course, there is always more to do. Yow and the ASCDU are looking toward the future, with goals of matching athletes’ graduation rates to those of the entire university and adding scholarship money to underfunded teams.

Yow just marked her 10-year anniversary as a Terp and will remain so until 2010, thanks to a recent contract extension. President Mote says she is “the finest athletics director in the country,” but she is also a woman who spends 70 hours a week on her job, crosses her fingers for a Terp win over Duke and nitpicks at her star players’ use of grammar.

“Our philosophy in athletics at the University of Maryland is that we don’t have to choose between winning and graduating student athletes. The goal is to do both,” Yow says. “I will never believe that we have to choose one or the other.” —KA

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