People to Watch (New Orleans Magazine)
NEW ORLEANS - University of New Orleans athletic director Amy Champion and head men's basketball coach
Mark Slessinger were featured as 'People to Watch' in the September 2011 edition of New Orleans Magazine.
According to New Orleans Magazine, the listing is "mostly new faces who are doing something interesting with their lives that is worthy of your awareness" or "familiar faces moving in different directions."
Named interim athletic director in April 2010, Champion became the full-time UNO athletic director in October 2010.
The most significant goal for Champion to date was altering the University's original decision to reclassify its athletic department to non-scholarship NCAA Division III.
Given the opportunity to re-visit the move, the athletic director plotted a course for NCAA Division II, which re-established athletic scholarships within the department for the first time in two years.
Under the guidance of Champion, UNO athletics posted a budget in “the black” for the 2010-11 fiscal year, reversing a recent trend which saw the program post annual deficits exceeding $1M.
The athletic director's sights are currently set towards the future with a plan to establish women's soccer and football programs at the University for the first time in school history.
Slessinger also has his eyes on the future, but not without looking at the past.
Named head coach at the end of June, the former Northwestern State assistant aims to rebuild UNO into a program that competes at a national level, similar to those teams headed by the likes of Ron Greene and Tim Floyd.
Not only does Slessinger want the team to be successful on the floor, he has spent significant time acquainting himself and his players within the community.
“The greatest measure of your effect on student-athletes isn't your season record,” said Slessinger to New Orleans Magazine. “It is after their playing career is over and they are in the community and workforce.”
To achieve this goal, Slessinger has not only scheduled several appearances at local civic associations for himself, but community and campus outreach programs for his team that extend beyond the basketball court.
The UNO duo was joined as 'People to Watch' by a group that includes the 610 Stompers, WDSU anchor Camille Whitworth, Preservation Hall Creative Director Ben Jaffe and REpurposingNOLA founder Traci Claussen.
