Culture of Champions Strategic Plan Update-Summer of 2008
 Brad Bates  |
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We are Ten Months into the first year of implementing our "Culture of Champions" strategic plan. While we certainly have had some growing pains, there is evidence that seeds of our planning are beginning to take root in building a foundation to last for many years to come.
Remembering `Why'
Remember that we have a vision of everyone in our department, students, coaches and staff, to perform like Champions in everything we engage. This includes hoisting Championship Trophies, providing memorable customer service, having amongst the highest graduation rates in the nation, creating intimidating home-field atmospheres, significantly increasing our media market, and uniting our alums in meaningful ways to becoming the `hottest' university athletic department in the nation! Ultimately we are striving to be a Culture of Champions.
Student Impact
We have one, clear vision for every one of our students: To maximize human development using our athletic curricula by ensuring they leave Miami with one of the most prestigious degrees in the world while wearing Championship jewelry. Twelve Goals were created that we believe will best serve as pillars to realizing our vision. Within these twelve goals are multiple strategies designed to achieve our vision. Subsequently, there is a litany of action plans (precisely 151) calculated to achieve each strategy. Of the 151 action plans, 45 were completed during the 2007-08 academic year and 36 of the 151 are perennial!
Is our Plan Working?
Incorporate and Efficiently Use Technology - we will be unveiling a newly designed web-site this summer.
Enhance Student-Athlete Experience - Last year's student-athlete class graduated at eighty-five percent and for the first time in school history surpassed Miami University's ninth ranked public university graduation rate in the process (Graduation Success)!
Win Championships - We saw women's basketball win the Conference Tournament Championship and go to the NCAA National Championship Tournament for the first time in school history (Women's Basketball Championship), Football won their fourth East Division Championship in five years (Miami Football), Volleyball won the Conference Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA National Championship Tournament (Volleyball Championship), Field Hockey went to their third Conference Championship Game in three years (Field Hockey), Ice Hockey was ranked number one in the nation for ten weeks, was the number one seed in the NCAA National Championship Tournament East Regional, and advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history (Ice Hockey - National News), for only the third time in school history, our Women's programs collectively won the illustrious Conference All-Sports, Jacoby Trophy (Jacoby Trophy), and two of our students competed in the United States of America Olympic Trials this summer (Karen Frazier) & (Ryan McHugh).
Many other accomplishments can be found under the Culture of Champions website and the Plan Accomplishments link.
Current State
In the past four weeks each area of our department has been planning for the 2008-09 competitive year by updating their original strategies and action plans. During the last week of June our senior staff met to integrate the collective plans within each of the Twelve Goals. This level of organization is rare in athletic departments, where every strategy is viewed not in its isolation but rather as a complementary plan that includes unity of planning: a belief that collective efforts far exceed individual attempts.
Unfortunately, most athletic departments plan as though each departmental area act as silos. As an example, the sports information staff typically does not view themselves as fundraisers, marketing directors, game operations directors, or student-support services coordinators. While coaches typically do not view themselves as development officers, marketers, ticket sales representatives, or web story authors. However, the challenge in our planning is to `connect the dots' so that each person within our department feels connected and accountable for other things that are taking place every day. We expect our department areas and sports programs to intermix, creating a synergy rarely achieved in college athletics.
To ensure we are making progress with our planning we have assigned benchmark accomplishments to specific calendar dates in the coming year, which include dates of accountability to create a sense of urgency.
Looking Ahead
As we look toward the 2008-2009 academic and competitive year we have lofty aspirations. We have taken a moment to identify the highest priorities in our department. Stated below are six goals that will make the most impact on our department if achieved (some of them annually). We have identified a plan by which we will achieve these goals (summarized above) and feel confident that our hard work will pay dividends in the future.
• Every senior graduates with a Championship ring
• Set new Miami University record for Championships
• Win the Reese/Jacoby All-Sport Trophies
• Finish our Campaign Goals by December 31, 2009
• Double Annual Giving
• Substantially Increase Ticket Revenue
Sincerely,
Brad Bates