Sports > October 9, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

Dear Mr. Wellman. A congratulations and a thank you is in order from all Wake Forest students and fans. You are running one of the most successful all-around athletic programs in the country while being the third smallest Division I school (among those who play football) and one of the top academic institutions in the country. Incredible.

Since being hired in 1992, you have put Wake Forest on the national stage and on top of the ACC. Finally, you received the credit you deserve for building this athletic program when on May 29 you were named College Athletic Director of the Year by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal.

You have not only succeeded in overcoming the academic barriers that traditionally stand in the way of an athletic program, but you have embraced Wake Forest’s high standards in an effort to enhance the overall development of the student-athlete. There is an incredibly small pool of athletes that academically can be admitted to Wake Forest. Somehow, despite having to compete with schools like Stanford, Notre Dame and Duke among others, you have managed to convince players this is where they should spend the next four years of their life.

The gifted student-athletes that enter this university are made into a team by some of the best coaches in the country. To your credit you have hired quality human beings and coaches and stuck with them, through wins and losses to create an incredible sense of family. These gifted athletes, taught by these talented coaches, grow in the family atmosphere you have created. Sitting down and talking with various coaches, it is incredible to hear how they support one another.

It is even more incredible to listen to what they have to say about you.

Your coaches wouldn’t work for anyone else. See, Jim Grobe, one of the most talented football coaches in the country who you managed to convince late one spring night to stay at Wake Forest to continue what you and he have built together. You are praised for your professionalism and dedication to all sports and every individual student athlete.

When the family was faced with adversity, you lead them through. You provided this university, this family, with the leadership it needed in a difficult time after the passing of Skip Prosser. Talented student-athletes, combined with first-class coaches and a family atmosphere lead to success on the field and in the classroom.

Last year was special. You presided over a 9-4 football season that made a second consecutive trip to a bowl game, this time a victory in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. You saw Head Coach Jay Vidovich take the Deacon men’s soccer team to the top with a National Championship. The field hockey team went to an eighth consecutive final four and numerous other teams competed at the top of the ACC. You won the award because of how far you brought this program and the success that teams had last year.

Wake Forest is currently ranked No. 1 in men’s soccer, No. 3 in field hockey, No. 13 in women’s golf, No. 15 in women’s soccer, No. 21 in football and No. 33 in men’s golf. That doesn’t include the promising season on the horizon for men’s basketball. Incredible.

You have taken the success of these programs and started rewarding them with first class facilities. Deacon Tower is beautiful and built for a major college football program. And that is only stage three; you say there are four or five phases to go. You bought Ernie Shore field from the city and are making improvements to it. The previous Hooks stadium area is going to be made into a golf complex. You want to expand the outdoor tennis stadium.

You have plans to make the sports complex area a destination point for not only sports fans, but the entire community. It is going to be a place for concerts and community events as well as top college athletics. You had a vision for what you wanted this program to be, and you have been incredibly successful thus far in doing just as you said you would. We as Deacon fans would like to thank you and continue to pledge our support to your effort.

We are now not only proud to go to such a good institution, but proud to call ourselves Demon Deacons.

Ron Wellman, thank you.