Tulsa World: Rogers State adding another sport

TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Tuesday, February 09, 2010 | WIRELESS

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

		Sports Editor Mike Strain
		Sports Columnist Dave Sittler
		The Picker Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Bookmark

Rogers State adding another sport

By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Published: 1/13/2009 3:27 PM
Last Modified: 1/13/2009 3:27 PM

CLAREMORE -- Rogers State University has won nearly 70 percent of its games in all sports since adding athletics in 2006, so the Hillcats will play even more games.

Athletic director Wren Baker announced Tuesday that RSU is adding men’s and women’s golf programs.

“We’re excited about what we’ve been able to accomplish in the infant stages of our athletic programs,” he said.

“It’s our goal to build championship-caliber programs with the sports we already have in place while looking for the right opportunities for expansion.”

Baker said RSU wanted to add a high-interest sport. Through community interaction, RSU officials determined there was probably more interest in golf than any sport except football.

Financially, football was not feasible. But golf made sense for many reasons. Baker said golf is pretty low-cost, it’s a growing sport and there is a wealth of talent in the area.

“If you want to be good in a sport, there are about four things to look at -- tradition, recruiting base, budgets and then coaching,” he said.

“Budget-wise, it is not going to take a lot of money to have a competitive budget, and then your recruiting base is great and I feel confident we can find good coaches. Tradition is the only thing we lack, but I think we will develop that pretty quickly.”

RSU will compete in golf as a full-status member of the NAIA and Sooner Athletic Conference beginning with the 2009-10 academic year.

Baker hasn’t determined whether he will hire separate coaches for the men’s and women’s teams. He may hire a part-time coach because he said that’s the way a lot of NAIA schools handle golf.

RSU began competing at the NAIA level in 2006 with first-year baseball and softball programs. Men’s and women’s basketball and soccer teams were added for the 2007-08 academic year. The Hillcats also have a rodeo team and cheerleading.

The men’s hoops team is No. 3 nationally and the women are receiving votes in national polls for the first time. The softball team rose to No. 5 in national polls last spring. The baseball team produced RSU’s first academic All-American -- Collinsville’s Tyler Whitaker -- last spring.

RSU president Dr. Larry Rice said the addition of golf is a testament to the continued growth of Hillcat athletics and the university as a whole.

Baker said three or four area courses have indicated they will make their facilities available to the Hillcats.

By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer

Bookmark

COMMENTS

Add your comment

Show: Most Recent Comment First

2 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

	Report Comment spirit07, Tulsa (1/13/2009 4:54:29 PM) Whoopie doo
	Report Comment jhill, Tulsa (1/13/2009 4:56:26 PM) It's about sports and we're in Oklahoma. It's important.

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.