Montana partners with Career Athletes
9/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | General
The University of Montana Department of Athletics recently agreed to a multi-year partnership with Career Athletes. The partnership between Career Athletes and Montana provides a national representation of unique networking opportunities and career development resources for current and alumni athletes.
University of Montana associate athletic director Jean Gee stated, ???Career Athletes promotes student-athlete success and development at all levels in a way that reflects the passion and drive of Grizzly Athletics. We are looking forward to a great partnership. The opportunities available to student-athletes, especially once they graduate, are endless. We appreciate the depth at which Career Athletes fosters these opportunities.???
This Online Career Community Network will provide benefits such as mentoring, professional networking, virtual career coaching and 12 years of best practices from the leading and largest career services organization assisting athletes, athletic departments and campus career centers.
Montana???s ???Community Network??? consists of current and alumni athletes from the institution as well as local, regional and national employers all managed and monitored by Career Athletes at its home office in the Kansas City area. Individual members of Career Athletes are also able to network with over 65,000 former college athletes from across the nation while having access to over 5,000 career opportunities exclusive to www.careerathletes.com.
DJ Washington, Vice President, Career Education and Training at Career Athletes, explains that beyond an athletic department???s initiative assisting with career opportunities and educational resources, it also helps when there is already a foundation on campus toward academic success.
???We are pleased to assist Montana with its commitment toward career development of athletes, but it is also just as important to recognize the program???s culture of achievement in community service, academic performance and athletic success,??? he said.
Montana is no stranger to success as indicated by the list of achievements from the 2009-10 academic year:
* One hundred and nine student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Sky Conference recognition during the academic year: 40 in the fall, 32 during the winter and 37 in the spring.
* Montana student-athletes??? average cumulative GPA for fall 2009 was 3.06 compared to 2.89 for the general undergraduate population. Spring semester 2010 reflected a 3.06 average cumulative GPA for student-athletes versus 2.93 for the general population.
* One hundred nine student-athletes succeeded in completing a term GPA above 3.0 in fall 2009 and 168 out of 286 in the spring 2010 semester.
* Fall 2009 boasted 61 student-athletes on the Dean???s List, while spring 2010 saw an increase to 64.
* Montana finished second in the annual Sterling Savings Bank Big Sky Conference Presidents Cup, its fourth straight top-three finish in the Conference???s annual award that recognizes a mix of athletic and academic success.
* The Grizzlies had top-three finishes in nine of the Big Sky conference???s 14 sports.
* The Montana football team had its fifth undefeated regular season in program history, won its 12th straight Big Sky Conference championship and made a record 17th straight NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoff appearance.
* Montana brought in more than 215,000 fans to its nine home games in 2009, averaging an FCS-best 24,417 per game.
* The Grizzlies won the Big Sky Conference men???s basketball tournament championship on ESPN2, rallying from a 40-20 halftime deficit to win 66-65 at Weber State. Senior guard Anthony Johnson scored a tournament-record 42 points, including 34 during the second half that earned him a ESPN ESPY nomination for ???Best Championship Performance.???
* The Lady Griz women???s basketball team once again showed its loyal fan base, finishing 38th out of 332 NCAA Division I schools in attendance at over 3,100 per game.
* Katrina Drennen represented Montana at November???s NCAA cross country championships in Terre Haute, Ind., then returned to the national spotlight in June at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in Eugene, Ore.
The Grizzlies were also involved in several community services projects the previous school year. These projects included working with Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, school reading programs, Bike Walk Bus Week, Heart Walk and Athletes in Action Fundraiser for Haiti.
