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TSU Athletics shines in a new era with big wins

Posted on Tuesday, May 09, 2017

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Texas Southern Athletics has had a remarkable year, bringing a total of seven championship and league titles to campus. TSU earned regular season and tournament titles in men's and women's basketball, a first-ever title in women's golf, and championship trophies in softball and baseball.

Athletics set a new standard of championship excellence in 2014-15, which set the stage for teams to win six Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championship titles and seven league titles in a three-year period. Over 60 student-athletes have graduated during each of the past four academic terms.

"Texas Southern Athletics has indeed come a long way over the course of the past nine years. My goal upon taking over the helm of the program was for TSU to reach a point to where we were competing for championships in all of our sports each and every year,” said Dr. Charles McClelland, vice president of Intercollegiate Athletics. “We can say we've made those once-lofty aspirations a reality with over half of our programs winning titles or finishing as runner-ups this past year.”

Dr. McClelland praised the University’s athletics staff, coaches and student-athletes for working tirelessly to contribute to a resurgence of TSU Athletics. He said that everyone deserved full credit for their sacrifices and hard work. Texas Southern has claimed a total of 22 championships in nine years under McClelland’s leadership, one-third of the 60 titles won since the inception of intercollegiate athletics at the university.

Head Coach Mike Davis and the men's basketball team have become the program’s most dominant force in recent years. The team has hoisted championship trophies every year since 2012.

"When I first got to Texas Southern, Dr. McClelland told me two things, that he wanted us to graduate our student-athletes and to compete for championships each and every year,” Davis said. “Those are our goals with the start of each new season and we're excited to have been able to live up to our end of the bargain." 

Highlights of the 2016-17 season include program milestones for Texas Southern. The women's basketball team won the SWAC Tournament and headed to the NCAA Tournament, and the women's Golf team won the 2017 SWAC Championship and qualified for the NCAA Regionals. Both achievements were the first in University history. Baseball has claimed SWAC titles in two of the past three seasons and the softball team has been crowned champions in three of the last four seasons.

Johnetta Hayes-Perry, women’s basketball head coach, Hank Stewart, women’s golf head coach, Worley Barker, head softball coach, and Michael Robertson, head baseball coach, all believe that winning is contagious and is part of the culture established at TSU. They attribute their success to having the necessary resources to compete for championships and being able to boast of solid APR scores that have led to a strong student-athlete graduation rate. Stewart said that the teams are “champions on the field and in the classroom.”

This spring, the NCAA released the 2015-16 NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) data, postseason ineligibility and penalty reports for all NCAA Division I institutions as part of its national program. All of the sports programs at Texas Southern either met or exceeded current NCAA standards for the sixth consecutive year and none of TSU's programs will be subject to APR penalties. 

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Last updated: 10/05/2018