Traditionally, Ashland University has been known for their athletic performance on the playing surface, placing in the Top 15 in the Division II Learfield Directors’ Cup rankings for ten straight years from 2007-2016.

However, excellence in athletics is not the only thing that teams strive for at AU; they also strive for academic excellence. Administrators, coaches and athletes themselves have always wanted their teams to make academics a top priority and succeed in the classroom while winning championships on the field.

The athletes have proven that to be true at Ashland.

“All of our coaches emphasize it and the student athletes do seem to realize the importance of it,” Ashland University athletic director Al King said. “I’m pleased but I’m always looking to do better”

King said that in the spring semester of 2018 all of the athletic teams did finish with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher which he said is really rare.

The student athletes are only required to maintain a grade point average of 2.0 but each athletic team’s goal is to have a team grade point average of 3.0.

The Division II Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) recently released a list for the 2017-2018 Division II Academic Achievement Awards. Of the 10,116 names on the list from 162 different institutions AU had 82 athletes who earned the award. The average number of athletes per institution is 63.

“Our coaches have always done a nice job finding kids who are serious about their academics,” King said.

King said that he is always looking for improvement and ways to get better academically. That is why the athletic department recently created a new position and hired Elizabeth Freund, the Director of Academic Support Services for AU athletics on Aug. 16.

“It’s cutting edge for us because we are one of the few Division II schools who have this position,” King said. “That’s what I said to President Campo, this is a big step for us.”

The hire of Freund was made possible by an NCAA Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grant which King had requested for this position. King said the idea of having this position has been in the works for three years because he wanted someone who could not only work with athletes but with other academic support services around campus.

Freund is a 2005 graduate from the University of Akron with a degree in Political Science and earned her Masters of Science in College Student Personnel from Miami (Ohio) University in 2007.

Freund was most recently the Academic Adviser II for The College of Business Administration at Akron for seven years, beginning in 2011. Before that she was Assistant Director of Retention and Student Success and Area Director of Residence Life at The College of Wooster from 2007-11.

“I worked at the College of Wooster a bit ago and I liked the smaller campus feel, and the stronger community presence where students seem to support each other a little more,” Freund said. “I wasn’t challenged as much anymore and I was just looking for a change and a fresh start.”

In her position Freund will be implementing a number of systems that will be present to help student athletes in their academic and career fields. These systems include mentoring programs, career plan services, international and transfer student services and long-term retention plans.

The system that Freund is most excited about is a mentoring program that will involve students who are academically successful help their teammates who are struggling or who need a little push.

“Since I have more of an academic mindset I can bring in more of an outsider view to the athletic department and propose ideas that people may not have thought of yet,” Freund said.

One area that King and Freund both believe needs work in is helping student athletes with their plans for after college athletics.

“I think a lot of times students get very wrapped up in their world and they forget about life after graduation,” Freund said. “And sometimes athletes are thinking only about the here and now and the season and not necessarily beyond.”

With this program and so many others to help athletes, Freund is excited to hit the ground running but knows she has a lot of work to do. She is excited to learn about the culture at AU and is looking forward to the opportunity to work directly with student athletes and learn the balance that they have to keep in their lives.

“We needed one person who is dedicated to this cause, and that is what Elizabeth is here to do,” King said. “Make sure student athletes have the resources they need to be successful.”