小蝌蚪APP

South Brings Home Vic Bubas Cup

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Posted on May 23, 2016

Marketing and Communications

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The 小蝌蚪APP Jaguars have been recognized for top academic and athletic performance.

The Jags were awarded Sunday with the Vic Bubas Cup as the Sun Belt鈥檚 top member in competition across 17 sports. It鈥檚 the second year in a row South was awarded the cup and the 12th time overall.

South鈥檚 athletes also scored the Sun Belt Conference's most points in a key academic indicator, the Academic Progress Rate, according to the most recent numbers. South Alabama鈥檚 overall single-year APR for 2014-15 was 988 out of 1,000, with nine University teams landing a perfect 1,000. APR holds Division I institutions accountable for the academic progress of student-athletes through a metric that accounts for eligibility and retention for each academic term.

鈥淲inning the Sun Belt Conference Vic Bubas Cup is an honor of which all members of Jaguar Nation can be proud,鈥� said USA Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann. 鈥淲e strive to have a department with 17 sports programs with the same expectations 鈥� to compete for and win Sun Belt Championships with successful postseason play.鈥�

In winning the Bubas Cup, South recorded a total of 127 points 鈥� the school鈥檚 highest figure since 2001-02.

The Jaguars lay claim to four Sun Belt titles 鈥� women鈥檚 cross country, soccer and women鈥檚 outdoor track and field were outright champions, with the baseball program earning a share of the championship on Saturday 鈥� and were bolstered in the final standings by having 15 of 17 teams finish among the top half of the conference rankings.

That included runner-up finishes in the last month by the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 tennis, softball and men鈥檚 outdoor track and field teams.  In addition, the men鈥檚 cross country and indoor track and field squads placed third and fourth, respectively, while the women鈥檚 indoor track and field program tied for fourth at the SBC Championship in February as well.  Also finishing in the top half of the Sun Belt were the Jag football, women鈥檚 basketball, volleyball and men鈥檚 golf teams.

The Vic Bubas Cup is named for the former Duke University basketball coach who became the first commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, a position he held for 14 years.

Erdmann credited the coaches for recruiting and training players that can successfully compete on athletically and academically.

鈥淚 truly believe whether you鈥檙e an athlete or a musician or an artist or a business person, the people who tend to be successful have a certain set of behavior characteristics. Those folks tend to be self-motivated, they tend to play well with other people, they work well in groups, their selfishness tends to be minimized, and they understand the strength of a team or a group of people,鈥� Erdmann said. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e looking for in the recruiting process is not only for how fast they are, how far they can throw an object, how high they can jump or if they hit a ball a certain way, but we鈥檙e also paying attention to achievement in the classroom.

鈥淵es, we want to know if you are a Division I-caliber athlete, but we also want to know is education important to you, and is education important to your support structure at home and what do you want to do with a degree.鈥�

South offers student-athletes assistance through services including advising, tutorial assistance, supervised study hall, weekly support meetings, progress reporting and an orientation course.

鈥淲e are able to provide our student-athletes with the resources needed for our student-athletes to be successful in the classroom while competing at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics,鈥� said Jason Kelly, assistant athletic director for academic services. 鈥淥ur student-athletes deserve a lot of credit. They hear our coaches and administrators speak to them about our guiding principles 鈥� graduation, citizenship, championships. They understand the expectations and are meeting those expectations to prepare for life after college.鈥�

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