University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Coaches Come Together
February 23, 2016 | General
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- When asked why today was the day for University of Tennessee head coaches came together to speak as one, soccer coach Brian Pensky said very simply that it was time.
The leaders of every sports program at Tennessee sat together as one on Tuesday morning to bring a message of the culture and student-athlete experience that they have helped foster for the young men and women that have come to UT to earn a degree and compete at the highest level.
"We have some great leaders here," head men's basketball coach Rick Barnes said. "We have to stand up and tell you the great things that are going on here at the University of Tennessee."
Co-head softball coach Karen Weekly noted that many of the things said about Tennessee are tied to a perception that current student-athletes do not see as a reality in their daily experiences on campus.
"When you look at today and the culture that we have now that we're all talking about, the culture that our student-athletes are a part of, they love it," Weekly said. "They are surprised about what is being said about Tennessee in the media. That is not the Tennessee that they live and breathe and feel and love on a daily basis."
Not only is the experience completely different, it is a feeling on campus that leads many of those players to remain in the area after their playing days conclude.
"The number of student-athletes that we have come here from the West Coast and spend four years here and end up making this their home because of what they feel at the University of Tennessee, what they felt when they came to Knoxville. They wanted to spend the rest of their lives here. That's the story."
The culture that is in place across the department sees student-athletes from all sports come together to support each other in competition and associate together off the playing field. Student-athletes train together in the weight rooms, get treatment together in the training room, study together in the Thornton Center and eat together in the dining hall.
That family atmosphere among all student-athletes is a product of the culture, based around the pursuit of comprehensive excellence that vice chancellor and director of athletics Dave Hart has made the mission statement of the department.
"When our recruits and their parents learn what our priorities are, they get a really good sense of our culture," said head rowing coach Lisa Glenn. "When they hear about the pursuit of excellence in academics and in their sport, there aren't really questions because of us sharing the priorities that we have for student-athletes in our program."
Volleyball coach Rob Patrick cited the program's academic success as a prime example of the positive culture.
"You don't have a 3.0 grade point average across the athletics department if the culture isn't good," Patrick said. "All of these things point to the type of culture that we have here which allows young people, females and males, to thrive. That is something that recruits see when they come here and they're comfortable with that."
The focus on the student-athlete has been a constant, even as changes in the department have been made. Coaches noted time after time the increase in overall support and resources, particularly for female student-athletes, since the merger of the men's and women's athletics departments under Hart.
"I've been here 15 years and have witnessed all of the change that we have had in the athletic department and I can tell you we are in the best position we've ever been here at the University of Tennessee as coaches and student-athletes," Weekly said. "We have more resources than we have ever had and our female student-athletes have better access to those resources than they have ever had."
Soccer coach Brian Pensky credited much of that to Hart and his leadership.
"I've never been around a leader like Dave Hart," Pensky said. "He leads the University of Tennessee with an expectation of comprehensive excellence and that starts with the kids. His agenda first and foremost is for every student-athlete here to have whatever he or she needs to be successful."
Football coach Butch Jones echoed his fellow head coaches in lauding the support and detailing the constant education done with all student-athletes on personal development.
Jones was grateful for the opportunity for he and his colleagues to bring the message about the positive things going on with all of Tennessee's student-athletes to the forefront of the conversation.
"This was not scripted, what you're hearing is from the heart," Jones said. "We wanted to do it because we're proud of the University of Tennessee and what we represent."
