Privateer Athletic Foundation Minutes
PAF General
Meeting
September 9, 2009
Michael F. Sapera, CPA.CITP
(PAF President) called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm.
Mr. Sapera introduced the
members of the PAF Board of Directors who were in attendance and thanked them
for their service to UNO Athletics. The
PAF Board has been transformed over the past few years to more accurately
reflect the UNO community. The Board is
now comprised of local business leaders, UNO alumni, former UNO
student-athletes, a former UNO Student Government President and a member of the
UNO administration. The one area
unrepresented currently is faculty.
Discussions have been held with Chancellor Tim
Ryan to recommend some faculty members who may be willing to
fill the one remaining vacancy on the PAF Board.
Interim Athletic Director
Mike Bujol gave an update on the status of UNO's athletic facilities. The aquatic center is now complete and
reopened with the exception of the railings on the 3 meter diving area which
will be installed soon. The scoreboards
for Lakefront Arena are soon to be put out to bid with an anticipated
installation date of November 2009.
There will be three large LED boards similar to the one in the aquatic
center to replace the center hung scoreboard damaged during Hurricane
Katrina. The Department of
Intercollegiate Athletics will move the rest of their offices into The
Athletics Center (TAC), the former Alumni and Development Center
next week. The building is completed and
the academic center has been in use for a couple of weeks now. Once the remainder of the furniture arrives a
grand opening will be scheduled for some time in October. The final facility area he addressed was
Privateer Alley which will be the new trophy room and will house the UNO
Athletics Hall of Fame when it is completed.
Privateer Alley will be located inside Lakefront Arena where the former
offices for the athletic department were located. Marco Perez of Lakefront Arena has been
working closely with Athletics and has earmarked some funds to begin the next
phase of work which will be the completion of the inside of the area which has
already been gutted and cleared.
Mr. Sapera discussed the
2008-2009 financial results for PAF.
Revenues raised were just short of $500,000 which represented the best
year in the history of PAF. This money
is vital to UNO athletics especially now with the recent budget cuts. Mr. Sapera and Mr. Bujol both stressed the
new financial discipline and transparency within the athletic department and
PAF. Budgets and goals have been set for
the new year. Mr. Bujol replied to
several questions regarding the budget and what has been done to help offset
the loss of the general fund support money from the University.
Mr. Bujol discussed the Shinn
Committee and the activities that they have been partaking in. He outlined the membership of the Committee
which includes George Shinn, Ron Maestri, Aaron Broussard, Gabe Corchiani, John
Georges, Arnie Fielkow and several others.
The committee is working with UNO athletics to establish a long-term
financial plan that will ensure the financial stability of the department for
years to come. In addition, UNO
athletics is working closely with Hugh Weber and the New Orleans Hornets on
marketing and promotions ideas to aid the department.
Mr. Bujol then addressed the
status of the Estate of Logan Wickliffe “Wick” Cary, Jr. He indicated that the bulk of the estate is
tied up in assets that must be liquidated and that the process is moving
forward. One specific item addressed was
the fact that Chancellor Ryan had assured everyone that a new baseball facility
would be the number one priority with these funds.
Mike Sapera then discussed
the fact that every coach and every sport is now intimately involved in
fundraising efforts. The new PAF
brochures were available at the meeting and can now be obtained by contacting
Adam Stowe. Based on the success of the
Baseball Coaches Committee last year, each sport will now have its own Coaches
Committee. Contributions to PAF can be
made directly to PAF as in the past or to the particular sport Coaches
Committees.
Two fundraisers coming up
soon are the Chancellor's Cup golf tournament which will be held on October 19,
2009 at the TPC of Louisiana. This is
PAF's largest fundraiser in the fall and is very important to us. It is a GREAT tournament with outstanding
food, great golf at a PGA tour facility with great prizes. Please support PAF through the tournament by
playing in the tournament, sponsorships, volunteering at the tournament and/or
by spreading the word to your friends and family!!!
The other upcoming fundraiser
is Tennis at Twilight! This is a
fundraiser being held November 5, 2009 at the City Park Botanical Gardens to
benefit UNO Tennis. Tickets are $75.00
each and include food, drinks, music and more!
Mr. Sapera discussed meetings
that have been held with the new Director of Alumni Affairs for UNO to
establish new relationships between athletics and the Alumni Association. Athletics and alumni will be working closely
in the future on joint events and fundraising efforts.
Mike Bujol then discussed the
hiring of Lenny Vangilder to conduct marketing and fundraising efforts for the
athletic department and PAF. The
marketing agreement with Nelligan Sports Marketing is proceeding but will
likely not be in place until late in the year.
UNO athletics needs sales efforts going on now so Mr. Vangilder was
hired to sell sponsorships and PAF memberships in the interim. His contract is being funded by PAF.
Randy Horner, Head Swimming
and Diving coach, and Amy Champion, Head Women's Basketball coach, each gave
presentations on their teams and the upcoming season. Both are very excited about their young but
talented teams. Both spoke of the
hardships of the Spring and how it has brought athletics and the general
student body closer together.
After the coaches
presentations, Mr. Sapera outlined a number of upcoming important events and
their dates which are listed below. Two
events that were announced at the meeting were the Baseball First Pitch Banquet
which will be held on January 21, 2010 inside Lakefront Arena. This will be a
very big event along the lines of the Tim Floyd Roast a couple years ago. Coach Peddie is lining up guest speakers
currently and more information will be forthcoming soon.
The second event is the UNO
Hall of Fame Banquet which will also be held inside Lakefront Arena on April
10, 2010. At this event we will induct
the 2009 HOF class of Gabe Corchiani and the
1976 and 1986 College World Series teams and the 2010 HOF class which will be announced this fall
into the UNO Athletics Hall of Fame.
Again, more information will be forthcoming soon on this event.
The meeting was then
adjourned.
Important Dates
09/26/2009 Swimming and Diving Kick Ball Tournament
10/19/2009 Chancellor's Cup Golf Tournament, TPC of
Louisiana
11/05/2009 Tennis at Twilight, City Park Botanical
Gardens
11/14/2009 Baseball Coaches Committee Golf Tournament, Oak Harbor
Golf Club
12/16/2009 PAF General Meeting
01/21/2010 First Pitch Banquet, Lakefront Arena
02/04/2010 UNO Student Mardi Gras, Lakefront Arena
03/11/2010 PAF General Meeting
04/##/2010 Student-Athlete Awards Banquet, Lakefront
Arena
04/10/2010 UNO Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet,
Lakefront Arena
06/15/2010 PAF General Meeting
