It's amazing to think how much things have changed in the last few weeks. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter our world and my purpose today is to share how Augustana Athletics is responding. I thought I'd start with a quote that appears in the book Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger and comes from Margaret Wheatley:
 
It is possible to prepare for the future without knowing what it will be. The primary way to prepare for the unknown is to attend to the quality of our relationships, to how well we know and trust one another.
 
I like this quote because our relationships – with our fans, with our student-athletes, and within our staff – are what will get us through this.  
 
In the days following the NCAA's decision to cancel winter and spring sports championships followed by the cancellation of all athletic activities, our athletics senior leadership team determined four key areas for our athletics department to focus on: Student-Athlete Well-Being, Communication, Financial Impact, and Staffing.

Student-athlete well-being
Our student-athletes are the reason why we do what we do and will always be our first priority. We had ten of our athletes ready to compete for national championships in wrestling, swimming and track & field when their championships were canceled and we have over thirty seniors whose spring sports season was cut short. That is the worst part about this whole thing from an athletics perspective. We are excited and fortunate that around a dozen of those seniors are choosing to come back to compete after the NCAA granted a waiver for an additional year of eligibility. As a university, we moved quickly to figure out how to keep their athletics scholarships to allow them to do it.
 
The most pressing question involved staying connected to all of our student-athletes and keeping them connected to Augustana. I'm proud of our coaches for jumping right in and figuring out ways to keep their communication with their teams going with team and small group video chats. Over the past year, nutrition has been a focus for our department and we have already held a virtual session with our sports dietitian, Lizzie Kasparek from Sanford Health. I'm also proud of our student-athletes for recognizing the importance of mental health and before this pandemic they had scheduled a mental health panel for April. They will still do the panel, but it will just be via video.  
 
Communication
This is both internal and external. Once the university went to remote work as the default mode, we immediately established a daily video chat for our whole staff. There's nothing like having over 55 people sharing ideas together via video! Just like our student-athletes want to stay connected, so too does our staff. I know I look forward to our daily chats just to "see" as many of our staff as possible. Part of that time together is sharing best practices on what is working for communication and any ideas our coaches have had. We've also invited some guest speakers to share thoughts on leadership and remote work. Since we are all spending more time at home, we have also circulated a document on everyone's favorite snacks, binge-worthy shows and favorite quotes. Needless to say, there is a difference in favorite TV shows by generation.

Our external communication has focused on continuing to tell the story of our teams and student-athletes. As you know, we have phenomenal young people who wear our uniforms and we are looking for ways to let the world know it.
 
We've had much to celebrate in the past month including senior wrestler Ben Kelvington winning the Elite 90 Award before the national wrestling championships were canceled. Augustana had over 70 student-athletes named to the NSIC All-Academic team, once again leading the league in that category.  
 
Financial impact
We are assessing everything from the cost savings of not having spring sports to revenue lost to adding the scholarship dollars for seniors who are coming back for an additional year. We continue to be good stewards of your gifts and like you were sad to postpone the annual Athletics Auction. Rest assured that will return and it will be quite a party!  
 
Staffing
This involves adjusting to remote work and keeping business continuity. I have to admit it's quite an adjustment, especially for those of us who feed off the energy of others. The favorite parts of my day are typically running into one of our student-athletes in the Elmen Center and having a hallway conversation. I can't wait to have those again.
  
Thank you for your support, we will get through this together and when we do, we hope Augustana Athletics provides the needed psychological antidote to what we are experiencing.  
 
Together as Vikings,
 
Josh Morton
Athletic Director
josh.morton@augie.edu