Go Inside the Huddle With Mizzou AD Jim Sterk
7/16/2019 3:00:00 PM | General
Mizzou's AD talks about another successful year that saw 15 of 20 programs qualify for postseason play
Mizzou Athletic Director Jim Sterk sat down with Mizzou Network's Ben Arnet to recap what was another great year, both on and off the competition field, in July's edition of Inside the Huddle. Sterk also looked forward to what fans can expect from the department during the upcoming 2019-20 athletic year and even highlighted some of the accomplishments of its Tiger Scholarship Fund, which raised more than $40 million during the year, to aid Mizzou's 550 student-athletes, the third-highest total in department history. Support for Mizzou has never been higher. Watch the interview below:
One of the ultimate measuring sticks is the number of teams that qualify for the postseason and Mizzou had 15 of its 20 programs represent it in the postseason either as teams or individuals. Mizzou Softball earned its 13th-straight NCAA Tournament bid, the longest active streak of any team on campus, while Mizzou Wrestling has claimed eight-straight conference titles and has earned a Top 10 finish NCAA Championship finish in five consecutive seasons with its sixth-place showing in 2019. Tiger Style is one of just five programs nationally to finish in the Top 10 in the team standings and produce at least three All-Americans in each of the last five years.
Mizzou Men's Swimming & Diving registered its fourth Top 11 finish in program history, all of which have come in the last five seasons, as it tied for 11thplace at the 2019 NCAA Championship. Mizzou Gymnastics placed 17th in the final poll, while Women's Swimming was 22nd at the NCAA Championships. Mizzou Football was 23rd in the final 2018 College Football Playoff ranking en route to back-to-back bowl appearances, while Volleyball was No. 23 in the season-ending AVCA poll after playing in its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament. In addition, Tiger Women's Basketball and Baseball both appeared in the Top 25 at various points during the year to give Mizzou eight Top 25 programs over the course of the academic year.
Individually, 35 Mizzou student-athletes from seven different programs garnered 64 All-America honors and the Tigers produced 10 individual conference champions with Wrestling earning six league gold medals, Men's Swimming two and Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field claiming one each. Mizzou had 47 All-SEC performers and three student-athletes earned season-ending conference awards, with Cierra Porter earning the SEC's Sixth Woman of the Year in basketball, and Jaydin Eierman receiving the Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Year honor and teammate Brock Mauller garnering MAC Freshman of the Year honors.
In the classroom, the 550 men and women who donned the Black & Gold in 2018-19 produced the top two overall grade-point averages in school history for any semester, registering a record 3.125 for the fall term and a 3.11 spring semester mark. Fourteen teams produced a GPA above a 3.00 for the fall, while 13 teams accomplished that in the spring. In addition, 357 Mizzou student-athletes earned University Dean's List honors for at least one term, 265 received SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition, including 69 SEC First-Year Freshman Honor Roll members, and 101 earned their Mizzou degree.
Mizzou's NCAA academic metrics remain strong, too, as five teams lead the SEC in Graduation Success Rate (GSR) with perfect 100s—Baseball, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf, Tennis and Soccer, and Mizzou's overall GSR of 91 matched its school-record for the second-straight year and ranked No. 3 in the SEC behind Vanderbilt (97) and South Carolina (94). No other SEC program scored higher than an 89 in the GSR. Every Mizzou program registered an Academic Progress Rate (APR) multi-year score of at least 949, 14 had marks above 983, and two, Women's Basketball and Women's Tennis, received NCAA Public Recognition Awards with perfect scores of 1,000.
