University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Still Benefits After Blanchard's Tenure
June 21, 1999 | General
February 10, 1999
By Dave Lohse
Director of Media Relations for Olympic Sports
When the New Year dawned, second-year Tar Heel director of athletics Richard A. Baddour faced a rather unpleasant task. He was forced to replace one of the most valued employees of the athletic department for the past decade and a half, John Blanchard, the assistant athletic director for academic affairs and the academic support system.
Blanchard, who left to take an upwardly mobile position at the University of Minnesota in January, did an outstanding job in the 14 years he worked at the University of North Carolina. When he came to Chapel Hill in 1985, the academic support program as we know it now was in its infancy. It looked nothing like it does now.
Within a couple of years of Blanchards arrival, UNC had opened the Student-Athlete Development Center, a prototype structure for collegiate athletic academic support. The building was the dream of former UNC athletic director John D. Swofford. Swofford had spearheaded its construction since the time he became the UNC athletic director in 1980.
With Blanchard at the helm of the new academic support structure and with a state-of-the-art building then in place, Carolina athletes truly began to benefit immensely from the commitment the University had made on their behalf.
The statistics over the past 15 years or so proved the worth of building this center and staffing it with a group of about 10 full-time professionals. When Blanchard arrived in Chapel Hill, UNC used to average less than 100 student-athletes a year on the ACC Honor Roll. That total is now approaching 300 as we near the Millennium. Carolina mentions on the Deans List were normally less than 50 a semester. Now Carolina is close to 200 athletes a semester. In fact, in the fall semester of 1998, 24 Carolina swimmersyes-just swimmersmade the Deans List. The numbers are truly staggering. The most complete figures we have are for the 1997-98 school year. Just look at what Tar Heel student-athletes accomplished in that period.
Last summer, a total of 271 Carolina student-athletes were named to the 42nd annual Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. That number was the most in school history by a wide margin. The Honor Roll, which included 1,552 student-athletes from the nine conference schools, includes student-athletes who participated in a varsity sport during the 1997-98 school year who posted a grade point average of 3.0 or above.
Duke led the list with 294 selections, while Carolina finished a strong second with 271 choices. Virginia was third with 240. No other ACC school had as many as 150 student-athletes on the list.
A handful of 1997-98 seniors made the ACC Honor Roll for the fourth successive year at Carolina. This group included Mary Jo Austin of gymnastics, Rebecca Conley of fencing, Susan Cunningham of gymnastics, Jennifer DiCuollo of field hockey, Eric Fehr of swimming, Joe Hummell of wrestling, Millie Long of swimming, Sean McDermott of tennis, Sheneika Walker of basketball, Nicole Walker of basketball and Patricia White of golf. The list also included co-1997 National Players of the Year in womens soccer, Robin Confer and Cindy Parlow, and Cindy Werley, the winner of the Honda Award as the nations best field hockey player.
Academic accomplishments for the fall semester 1997 were particularly impressive. A total of 338 student-athletes, or approximately 44 percent of all competitors at Carolina, had grade-point averages of at least 3.0. That was the most Tar Heel student-athletes ever to earn 3.0 GPAs for a semester. In addition, 166 of those were named to the Deans List. This constitutes about 22 percent of the student-athlete population. Of this group, 47 had a 3.7 GPA or higher in the fall. That included five with a 4.0, 15 with a 3.9, 11 with a 3.8, and 17 with a 3.7 GPA.
Four Carolina athletes were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in November of 1997--Joseph Hummell, Millie Long, Meghan Sheehan and Mark Wilson.
Five Carolina players were named to the Academic All-ACC Football team in 1997--Jeff Saturday, Chris Keldorf, Jonathan Linton, Greg Ellis, and Mike Pringley.
The College Sports Information Directors of America select the GTE Academic All-America Teams and Carolina athletes were featured prominently on these honor squads last year. Three student-athletes were selected to the GTE Academic Womens University All-District Fall/Winter At-Large Team. Two were named to the First Team Womens University At-Large District Team. Chosen were Richelle Fox (3.59 GPA in Physical Education) and Cindy Parlow (3.22 GPA in Nutrition). Senior Cindy Werley (3.20 GPA in Industrial Relations) was named Second-Team University At-Large District Team.
Richelle Fox and Cindy Parlow were further honored by being named to the 1998 GTE Womens University Fall/Winter Academic All-America Team. Fifteen student-Athletes from all 309 NCAA Division I institutions were chosen for this at-large team. The only other school to have two members on the first team was Ball State University.
On the mens side, Ted Brisson (3.82 GPA in Chemistry/Economics) and Eric Fehr (3.42 GPA in Biology/Public Policy Analysis) were named to the GTE Academic Mens University All-District Fall/Winter At-Large Team. Brisson was named to the second team and Fehr to the third team. Both are members of UNCs swimming team.
The bulk of the credit for these accomplishments must go to the student-athletes themselves. But a tip of the hat is also due to John Blanchard who built a wonderful academic support program during his 14 years at UNC. With the resources available, Carolina will surely find a tremendous replacement for Blanchard. And that person will have a tough act to follow.
