Athletics Director Greg Byrne's weekly email discussing Wildcat Athletics
Feb. 6, 2013
SHORT AND SWEET
The Wildcat Wednesday continues to be a great tool for me to communicate with our fan base on behalf of our department, and we truly appreciate your readership and feedback. There are so many exciting projects and competitive achievements to share sometimes the email can get a bit wordy week-to-week. We’re going to attempt to keep the Wildcat Wednesday as efficient as possible, which naturally means we’ll have to limit the amount of information we share. At times this may mean we don’t have a competition recap for each of our sports, or that we may not include an announcement that has already been shared onwww.arizonawildcats.com. However, we’ll do our best to include highlights and we will pass along important dates and reminders that are critical to our ongoing success, such as our Wildcat Club membership and ticket renewal deadlines. Photos of you will continue to be shared as we want to continue our message to “Join the Movement” and celebrate our fans wearing the colors proudly around the world!
TIME TO COLOR COORDINATE
Don’t forget to wear the right color for tonight’s game.
MORE TO REPORT FROM THE LSFF
I’m very pleased to share that the latest report and schedule projections from Mortenson Construction indicate the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility is on schedule and will be completed on time. We plan to move in mid-July.
A major project milestone was accomplished last week when on Wednesday and Thursday the weekly average of on-site employees surpassed 300. It is anticipated the site will sustain over 300 workers on site for the next 6-8 weeks.
It's amazing to reflect back on when we started this project and know it was less than one year ago when the project team poured the first building foundation/caisson. Every person that has been a part of this project should be extremely proud of what's been accomplished within the last year and thanked for the endless hours of hard work put forth.
Friday morning Brenda Filippelli and I were going through mail and she handed me a letter and picture from United States Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Williams. Brian is from Sierra Vista and was deployed to Afghanistan in February 2012 as a military working dog handler. In his letter he told me that he was tasked out with an Army unit doing clearance of known Taliban points of interest when an IED detonated and he sustained life threatening injuries.
Brian went on to describe the enjoyment he has gotten during his recovery at Walter Reed in Maryland from watching our Wildcat baseball team win the National Championship, the development of football under Coach Rodriguez and the “cardiac madness” that has ensued with our men’s basketball program this year. He went on to tell me, “Stay humbled and grounded as the nation isn’t ready for what is brewing in the city of Tucson.”
One of the things I enjoy most about my job is hearing the passion our fans have for our university and our teams. Our coaches and staff works tireless hours to do all we can to have that passion continue to grow and be as strong as it can be. Getting this letter from Brian and then a phone call that he and I had was another great reminder. Thanks, Brian, for your service to our country and continue to Bear Down in your recovery. We are rooting for you!
TIDBITS
If you have donated to the athletics department in the past calendar year you should have received yourWildcat Club tax receipt last week… For questions or more information please contact the Wildcat Club at 621-2582, or visit www.wildcatclub.org/wildcat-club/faqs.
Help us to reach our goal of 12,000 Wildcat Club members by June 2013…make a gift today and/or purchase season tickets for football, men’s basketball, softball or baseball in a priority area (the priority amount is a tax-deductible portion of your season ticket purchase and is considered a donation).
Renewals for Wildcat Club gifts (including football and men’s basketball tax-deductible priority amounts) and football season tickets are available now… a renewal payment plan is available again this year. Sign your child up to be a member of Club Arizona, presented by Hughes Federal Credit Union… the FREE kids club that connects kids to college. We’re raffling off a free Birthday with the Cats Package... click here for more info.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Check our comprehensive online sports calendar for this week’s competition events, including dates and times. Couple of highlights to note… Men’s and women’s swimming and diving look to earn a Territorial Cup Series point in a meet with our rivals on Saturday at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, beginning at 1pm. It’s Senior Day and there is no charge for admission.
SOARING TO NEW RED, WHITE AND BLUE HEIGHTS
Continue to do what you can to help Arizona Athletics and:
Tickets
Roster
Schedule
