ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia Athletic Association Board of Directors held its annual winter meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel.
Georgia Athletics Director Josh Brooks highlighted Georgia’s success this fall, the academic achievements of Bulldog student-athletes, and updates to numerous facility projects. Faculty athletics representative David Shipley also gave a glowing academic report.
Highlights of Brooks’ Remarks:
- • Fall athletic achievements — Georgia volleyball earned back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances for the first time since 1995; soccer won the program’s first-ever SEC championship; football finished with an undefeated regular season and an Orange Bowl victory.
- • Georgia finished ranked No. 29 nationally in the fall Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.
- • Stegeman Coliseum has become a huge home court advantage this season. Men’s basketball general public tickets for the South Carolina, Florida and Auburn games are already sold out.
- • Women’s tennis is ranked No. 3 nationally, Softball No. 6, men’s swimming and diving No. 7 and women’s swimming and diving No. 13.
- • The 3.20 GPA in 2022-23 was the highest ever in school history. This past fall, Georgia student-athletes boasted a 3.19 GPA.
- • Over the past three years, Brooks has made nine head coach hires, while Georgia has won three national championships and six SEC championships. Seventeen teams made postseason play during the 2022-23 athletics season.
- • Georgia’s No. 7 finish in the 2022-23 Learfield Directors’ Cup was the highest for the program since 2005.
- • The Georgia Bulldog Club raised a record $102 million in 2023.
- • There have been 15 capital projects that are completed or in progress, with $284 million committed to these projects.
- • The Foley Field enabling project is complete. Georgia baseball now has a new, state-of-the-art locker room and film room, along with new LED lights. Estimated completion of the full Foley Field project is Winter 2025.
- • Construction is ongoing at the Jack Turner Softball Stadium, with an estimated completion date of Fall 2024. This includes a new locker room, all-sports weight room and indoor practice facility.
- • Renovations to the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall Circle of Champions is scheduled to be complete this February.
- • Phase 2 of the Sanford Stadium South Side Improvements is scheduled to be complete this August.
- • The new Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Tennis Facility is set to open this February.
- • Brooks also revealed more details on a Stegeman Coliseum Master Plan, which includes Phase 1A of a new scoreboard, audio and lights.
- • The estimated time frame for the new track and field complex enabling project is summer or fall of 2024.
Highlights of the academic report from Professor David Shipley:
- • 539 Georgia student-athletes combined to finish with a 3.19 GPA this past fall. Women’s Golf boasted the highest GPA among Bulldog athletic programs with an impressive 3.67 team GPA. Men’s tennis had the highest GPA for a men’s team with a 3.50.
- • 67 percent of Georgia student-athletes finished with a 3.0 GPA or better this fall.
- • Football student-athlete Ladd McConkey was nominated for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy as one of the nation’s top football scholar-athletes.
- • Women’s golf student-athlete Caterina Don is Georgia’s nominee for the SEC’s H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
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