Photo Gallery
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Wednesday, new Director of Athletics Mark Spencer was introduced in front of a crowd of several hundred people at the Carson Center. Among those in attendance were University of Evansville administrators, Board of Trustee members, student-athletes, coaches and other faculty/staff members.
Dr. Kazee started the program off with the following:
"We are celebrating the arrival of someone who is very important to the University of Evansville and Purple Aces Athletics. Mark was selected as the result of an extensive, comprehensive national search. We had a very strong pool of candidates. There were so many very qualified people were interested in coming here to lead our athletics program."
"This pool of candidates produced a conversation about where we want athletics to be and in that conversation, Mark Spencer emerged as a smart, energetic, visionary athletic administrator. Mark understands something very important about this university and that is the personal connection you make with student-athletes, the staff and the community. That personal connection is the center of everything we do at the University of Evansville."
Mark Spencer commented on the position, the search process and what UE needs to reach the next level.
"I want to thank everybody for coming out today. I want to take some time to thank President Kazee, the entire search committee, Dr. Shane Davidson, Bill Carr and Carr Consulting and everyone else associated with the search."
"I am honored to be here. This has been a long time coming in my professional career. This is what I have worked towards in my whole career. I have seen a little bit of everything and that is something that I can bring to Evansville – a whole new perspective. What excites me about Evansville is that we have what it takes to win, that we can be a global player, we can be a program that can be nationally recognized. It doesn't take much, we are right on the precipice. I am going to work with the coaches to bring that success."
"This is such a tight-knit community, it is family-based, this is Middle America. The Midwest is such a great place. I look forward to meeting everyone and winning people over one at a time. It is turning the fan into a supporter. We have a lot of people that root for us and watch us on TV. We need them to become supporters through buying tickets, donating money and becoming corporate sponsors. That is where we need to start."
"We have a great group of student-athletes here. As a department a 3.27 GPA as a department is amazing. These student-athletes being competitive in their sports and having success at a great institution shows their talents. I have had the chance to reach out to many of our donors so far. We are also reaching out to the community."
"We need to be better, everyone wants us to be better and that is what I am here to try to accomplish."
