PLAN 2020
Attitude / Consistency / Energy / Passion / No Laziness
To read Plan 2020, click here.
- 2016-17 In Review
- 2015-16 Recap
- 2014-15 Recap
The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics takes great pride in its role as a front porch to Purdue University. We embrace the responsibility of uniting alums, forging lifelong ties with students and enticing future Boilermakers to apply for admission, all while providing opportunities for more than 500 student-athletes each year to pursue excellence in competition and in the classroom.
In 2008, we unveiled our strategic plan for the six-year period through 2014, a road map that guided us along an exciting journey to improve performance. Below, you will find a recap of our accomplishments during the period.
Now, as we embark on the next six years, we present "Plan 2020." It is an epilogue to our strategic plan, designed to help us move into that elite status of departments nationwide that consistently have their teams ranked in the top 25 while graduating their student-athletes at an 85 percent rate, a dual goal we call the "25/85 Club." Precious few of the 351 Division I universities achieve that lofty status, but that remains our ambition. We know as we climb the Directors' Cup standings the competition gets fiercer. We pledge to continue working hard.
On behalf of the student-athletes, coaches and staff, thank you to our 8,000-plus loyal and generous John Purdue Club members. We share your appetite for winning, and we appreciate you sharing our vision of striving to do it the right way. Your investments pay off in championships today and in experiences that will provide a lifetime of benefits for our student-athletes.
Boiler Up!
STRATEGIC PLAN 2008-14: A LOOK BACK
To read the Strategic Plan 2008-14, click here.
Purdue Athletics set a series of lofty goals when it released its strategic plan in 2008. Each was designed with the department's vision in mind: A championship-caliber athletics organization that is excellent in all respects and is a constant member of the "25/85 Club."
In looking back, there were numerous accomplishments across the board. Here is a snapshot:
Athletic: In the Director's Cup competition, our average finish was 46th, and we were consistently between the 85th and 88th percentile among the 351 NCAA Division I schools. When looking at only the 20 sports that we sponsor, our finish increased an average of seven spots per year. On average, 11.6 teams earned NCAA postseason opportunities annually (with highs of 14 in 2011-12 and 12 in 2013-14), while 8.8 had upper-half Big Ten Conference finishes (with highs of 14 in 2009-10 and 12 in 2013-14). Women's golf won the 2010 NCAA Championship, while five teams won Big Ten regular-season championships and five squads captured conference tournament titles. To hit the target of a top 25 Director's Cup finish, 16 of our 20 teams need to qualify for postseason competition, with eight or more placing in the top 16 or higher. Student-athlete welfare was improved with the creation of the sports performance area focusing on unique training methods for each sport program, including strength, power development, speed, recovery, regeneration and diet.
Academic: Student-athletes performed equal to or better than the student body every semester and now have done so for 34 consecutive semesters - or 17 years - dating to 1997-98. Student-athletes have maintained better than a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average for the last 11 semesters, achieving a record 3.04 in the spring of 2014. Our Graduation Success Rate has climbed to 82 percent, and we expect to hit 84 percent in 2015. Ninety percent of student-athletes completing his/her eligibility at Purdue graduate. Student-athletes who graduated in May of 2013 realized a 90 percent job-placement rate (based upon placement within six months of graduation).
Fiscal: Purdue Athletics is a self-supporting auxiliary enterprise - one of just seven such NCAA Division I programs currently - that receives no university or state funding and writes a check to the university for scholarships (currently more than $10 million annually). Nearly $130 million was invested in facility construction and renovation, highlighted by the Mackey Complex project, Alexander Field, Brees Academic Center, soccer complex and softball stadium. We believed that eliminating the remaining obvious facility deficiencies was critical to our attaining the 25/85 vision, and we elected to invest the vast majority of the incremental television revenue to do so. We were able to match each dollar of private donations with $3 from that revenue stream to accomplish the $130 million investment. In addition, Intercollegiate Athletics committed $12 million to the Krach Leadership Center out of Big Ten television revenue. John Purdue Club membership stood at an average of 8,370 annually, and growth in this area is critical if we are to achieve our 25/85 vision.
Equity: An average of 528 students participated in intercollegiate athletics. Our equity rate of 56.1 percent for men and 43.9 percent for women was in line with the university undergraduate gender distribution of 57.6 percent men and 42.4 percent women.
Image: While continuing to utilize our website as the definite source of information about Purdue Athletics, we became actively involved in myriad of social media platforms to report on the accomplishments of our student-athletes and proactively tell our stories. Community service took on heightened awareness, with individuals and teams involved in projects on campus, around town and globally. Support for the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research has been a department-wide initiative, with participation in the annual 5K run/walk and team events like the Hammer Down Cancer game and Dig for a Cure match. All teams also are involved in Shoes for Haiti. Other service initiatives have included the creation of IMPACT (Influencing/Mentoring by Purdue Athletes with the [Brian and Danielle] Cardinal Tradition), in which student-athletes regularly visit elementary schools, and Boiler-Maker-Wish, modeled after the Make-A-Wish Foundation and aimed at putting smiles on the faces of children facing physical adversity in the West Lafayette and Lafayette communities. The Boilermaker Athletic Council and Emerging Leaders group have taken on the Purdue University Dance Marathon as their fall semester group project and last year helped raise more than $1 million for Riley Hospital for Children.
Leadership: The John R. Wooden Leadership Institute was established in 2009 to accelerate the leadership development of student-athletes. Resources include the legendary Pyramid of Success and a series of speakers designed to highlight each of Wooden's 15 building blocks for a better life. Among the speakers have been Super Bowl MVP quarterback Drew Brees (self-control), Amway president Doug DeVos (industriousness), General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt (team spirit) and longtime NFL executive Bill Polian (competitive greatness). Other programs include Transition IN (assist incoming student-athletes with their adjustment to college), financial management and career development workshops, and Transition OUT (assist graduating student-athletes for life after college). In 2013-14, 100 percent of our student-athletes participated in a leadership activity.
To read comprehensive annual recaps of the strategic plan, click here.