Thank You from the Falcon Club!

I tell people all the time that my job can be distilled down into one big idea: Make sure our coaches and student-athletes have all the resources they need to be successful. My “north star” is that if you are coaching or competing for the Falcons, you have everything you need, and as much of what you want as possible, to be successful. We strive to not be frivolous or wasteful at BGSU; we simply want our teams to be able to compete on even footing with the competition. We prove every year that when the playing field is equal, Falcons are champions!

The financial challenges that we faced in March of 2020 were already formidable before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It would be fair to say that concern in the Sebo Athletic Center was dialed up as we were faced with the additional task of assisting our alumni in saving BGSU Baseball and overcoming the loss of revenue from two significant non-conference road football games at Ohio State and Illinois. We could not know how our fans would respond to our Falcon Club annual campaign when spectators were not allowed in our venues and following the Falcons was going to be a challenge.

Falcon Club members came through for us like champions!

As the chart below shows, support of the Falcon Club Scholarship and Success Fund has been on a steady climb for the past decade. These contributions have allowed EVERY PROGRAM to increase the grant-in-aid line in their budgets, maintaining, or growing, the scholarship opportunities our coaches can offer student-athletes, even against the rising cost of tuition. Reaching $1 million in scholarship gifts to the Falcon Club Scholarship and Success Fund was a milestone that was once thought to be unreachable in a normal year. To have this kind of overwhelming support in a COVID year … well that’s a testament to the commitment that Falcon Club members have to this program. You knew it was a time of need, and you supported us like we were family. Saying “thank you” hardly seems to be enough.

So where do we go from here? I promise you this: On behalf of our coaches and student-athletes, we set the $1 million mark as a floor, not our ceiling. We will work to continue to earn the support of our current Falcon Club members while we make the case to those who have not yet joined the “team behind our teams.” Expanding the number of Falcon Club members, at any dollar amount, is crucial to our future, and you can help by sharing with others why you support Falcon Athletics.

We will also look to our most capable supporters to help us with critical facility projects like the Slater Family Ice Arena renovation, the Sports Performance Center in the Sebo Center, and a much-needed team center for Women’s Soccer, Men’s Soccer, Softball, Baseball and Women’s Tennis, located between the ice arena and Cochrane Stadium.

While we have not resolved all of our challenges, we enter this year with tremendous optimism. We are lifted up by the support of our Falcon Club members and how your contributions translated to SIX CHAMPIONSHIPS in the past year. We believe the best is still yet to come. Thank you for your continued support of Falcon Athletics. We can do great things … together! Ay Ziggy!!