Vanderbilt athletics is in the business of “changing lives, saving lives and making dreams come true,” Vice Chancellor David Williams told members of the Board of Trust Nov. 20 during a meeting to update them on the status of athletics at Vanderbilt, including bowl game prospects.

Grade point averages were bragging points as important as victories at the meeting, with BOT members chuckling over signs made by students that made national television during an ESPN Gameday visit for the Auburn football game. Two of the favorites were “The Geeks Will Inherit the Turf” and “Please Move – You’re Blocking the Library.”
 
“Our coaches have learned to utilize Vanderbilt’s academics instead of defending them,” said Williams, vice chancellor, general counsel and secretary of Vanderbilt. “Other recruiters are having a hard time dealing with that.”

At the meeting, members of the BOT were apprised that the football team’s chances of going to its first bowl since 1982 are very good, though it’s still not a guarantee.

“It’s no secret that we’ve had some success and we’ve had some fun,” said John Ingram of the BOT. “We continue to build on our athletics success while continuing academic success.”

Williams ran through every sport played on campus, singling out the men’s basketball team as possibly the most talented in school history – though very young. He noted with pride that former Vanderbilt and now NFL wide receiver Earl Bennett planned to return to Vanderbilt to finish his degree, and that 55 percent of Vanderbilt athletes made the honor roll last year.

“We bring in high-risk kids (to Vanderbilt athletic teams) who do good enough to go on to graduate school,” he said. Also, Vanderbilt’s African American male athletes do so well academically here that other schools are looking to emulate us and some of those students come from dire personal backgrounds that might lead to prison or death without their Vanderbilt experience.

A group of student-athletes made a surprise entrance at the end of the meeting, handing out gift bags to BOT members which included a DVD of the Auburn game, with footage of three of four ESPN Gameday commentators picking Auburn to win and their interview with a triumphant coach Bobby Johnson after the 14-13 Vanderbilt victory on Oct. 4.

Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu