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 Western Carolina Athletics Director Chip Smith was among a four-person panel at Friday's Football Task Force conference. |
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Aug. 3, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - Nearly 100 supporters of Catamount Athletics and its football program, as well as members of the area media gathered Friday morning in the Hospitality Room of the on-campus Ramsey Center as the much anticipated findings from the athletic director-appointed Football Task Force were revealed. The summary and recommendations as presented were touted as "a new chapter for Catamount football," and the day revered as a "landmark day" for the program.
The panel consisted of Athletic Director Chip Smith, Task Force Committee Chairman Jim Moore, WCU Head Football Coach, Kent Briggs and WCU Faculty Athletics Representative and committee representative, Dr. Gibbs Knotts, who delivered the summary from the committee. The conference was also broadcast on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee and streamed online at www.WWCUFM.com.
Charged by Smith "to help define priorities and set goals for a successful football program and to identify best practices and a course of action to achieve that success," four major areas of emphasis were focused upon by the 20-person committee; (1) recruiting, (2) developing a winning culture, (3) equipment and facilities, and (4) funding. Each of the aforementioned areas were topics discussed in subcommittees, with the group coming together as a whole to compile the final report.
WCU Football Task Force - Full Report
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WCU Football Task Force Executive SummaryDownload Free Acrobat Reader
Special thanks to committee member, Dr. Bruce Henderson, for compiling the WCU Football Task Force Executive Summary
Task Force Press Conference QuotesDownload Free Acrobat Reader
The committee, which began its work back in March, summarized several positives already in place. They felt that WCU's scholarship budget and its football facilities (E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field, weight training facilities in Jordan-Phillips Fieldhouse, etc.) were equal to or above several of the institutions they had visited.
"We feel like recruiting is the main component to make a program successful," said Knotts in his address to the audience. "We feel very good about our scholarship budget, but we have to increase our commitment to recruiting."
One of the suggestions of the committee with regards to recruiting was to create a senior-level coaching position that specializes in recruiting to help lead the program.
"I am confident that this will allow football to be competitive in the Southern Conference and beyond," Smith said. "Football is a game of inches and the report shows where those inches are. Some changes you will see this year and some will come to fruition in the next couple of years."
Whereas no exact timetable was presented for the implementation of the numerous suggestions of the committee, Moore added that the committee, much like the football team itself, will review the progress after each of the next couple of seasons.
"I appreciate and am excited about Chip's [Smith] vision," said Briggs. The task for did a tremendous job. I would like to commend the Chancellor [John Bardo] for supporting this Task Force. Western Carolina football is my passion and today I was shown it is the Task Force's passion as well. From this day forward, this is a landmark day, showing commitment and accountability. This is the day you are going to remember and when we win a championship, you will remember this is where it started."
Western's football student-athletes began to report on Friday afternoon for preseason workouts, with the first scheduled practice taking to the turf on Saturday (Aug. 4) evening.
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