Dear Wildcat Family,
I hope you had a safe and healthy summer as we prepare for another exciting year of Wildcat excellence at the University of Arizona. I wanted to share some important information and updates on our athletics department. As we embark on a new year of Wildcat Athletics. The 2020-21 academic year saw Arizona Athletics achieve true excellence in all aspects of our Wildcat Way mission of building academic, athletic and life champions against the challenging backdrop of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Record-breaking performances of student-athletes in the classroom continued with numerous achievements.
• Highest overall Fall semester GPA with a 3.095 followed by highest single semester GPA in department history with a 3.172 in the spring.
• Growing Arizona Athletics' streak of consecutive semesters of department GPA's of 3.0 or greater to seven.
• Setting a new department record in Graduate Success Rate (GSR) score with an 87 percent in the most recent NCAA data, which is one of our key national academic metrics.
• Five Wildcats were named CoSIDA Academic All-American, which was the second most in a single year in the history of Arizona Athletics.
• A trio of Wildcats were named Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year in their respective sports.
These tremendous accomplishments were coupled with outstanding competitive success among our 14 programs who competed in their respective postseasons.
• Deep postseason runs by Women's Basketball (National Championship Game), Softball (Women's College World Series), Baseball (College World Series), Men's Tennis (First-ever Sweet 16) and Women's Golf (semifinals of NCAA Championships).
• Winning a total of nine team and individual Pac-12 championships for the year.
• Over 30 student-athletes, from ten different programs, earning All-American honors.
• Over 20 former and current student-athletes and coaches competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games with three silver medalists.
Our athletics department continues to be innovative and committed to excellence as an organization as we have created our own in-house and collaborative Name, Image and Likeness program, the "Arizona EDGE".
We've collaborated with campus and community partners on testing, vaccinations and health education to be outstanding ambassadors for the University of Arizona and Southern Arizona.
Our program has achieved all of this, and more, because of the unwavering commitment and support from all of you, our loyal supporters. We overcame the obstacles faced in 2020-21 and posted one of the greatest years in the history of our athletics department because of our fans, donors and alumni who stood with us This incredible support resulted in an excellent year of fundraising with over $26 million in gift commitments that will provide an everlasting impact to our student-athletes and programs.
On the operational side of the budget, it's no secret that we've faced numerous challenges. We closed the 2020-2021 fiscal year with a $26.0 million deficit that was caused by the overall reduction in revenues due to COVID. We had an additional $10.5 million in expenses associated with coaching transition costs in 2020-2021 and will have an additional $4.3 million of the coaching transition costs be realized in 2021-22. Arizona Athletics has worked with the University of Arizona to identify a bridge funding loan structure to address these two issues. The loans will have a 15-year repayment term.
We are now looking forward to 2021-22 as we ride the momentum of last year's historic success and build on the positive energy surrounding all our programs. That momentum, coupled with our exciting new leaders in our coaching ranks that include
Jedd Fisch (football),
Tommy Lloyd (men's basketball),
Becca Moros (soccer),
Caitlin Lowe (softball) and
Chip Hale (baseball), has our entire athletics department poised for another banner year of wholesale success with our entire staff of outstanding head coaches.
Our student-athletes, coaches and staff will continue Championship Excellence on the field, in competition, in the classroom and in the community. The Arizona Wildcats will continue to be points of pride for all of you, the University of Arizona and Southern Arizona. We will successfully overcome the challenges of our future together as a family. Your support and belief in the Wildcat Way as a holistic student-athlete experience that creates the future leaders of our communities is what powers our success.
We will strive for excellence in everything we do. We will achieve our mission with integrity, compassion, exploration, adaption, inclusion and determination. We will live the Wildcat Way. We will Bear Down!
Thank you for everything you do,
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Dave Heeke
Vice President and Director of Athletics
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