2021-22 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI TRACK & FIELD GUIDE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS BRADY BARKE
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outheast Missouri Athletics has reached unprecedented success under the leadership of Brady Barke. In 2020-21, SEMO claimed its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner’s Cup, the league’s ultimate symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conferencesponsored championships. While competing in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, the Redhawks won five OVC titles and one national championship. Women’s tennis (regular-season), softball (regular-season), women’s outdoor track & field and baseball (regular-season and tournament) all celebrated OVC championships, and gymnastics won the 2021 USA Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championship. All that success came after the Redhawks were on track to win the OVC Commissioner’s Cup the previous year. In 2019-20, SEMO was in first place following the winter championships before
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the remainder of the year was canceled and the honor was not awarded due to COVID. Since the start of the 2019 calendar year, the Redhawks have won a total of 11 conference championships, most in the OVC. SEMO completed its remarkable 2020-21 campaign with a 9342-1 (.688) record in conference regular-season play for its highest OVC regular-season winning percentage in school history. The Redhawks were also the only OVC school that qualified for every conference championship event in 2020-21, the best season in SEMO’s NCAA Division I history. Barke looks forward to keeping the momentum going as he begins his sixth year as SEMO’s Director of Athletics. Barke served as the Interim Director of Athletics since July, 2015, before being named to the permanent position of Director of Athletics on June 7, 2016. He has built a culture that thrives on academics just as much as it does on competitive success.
Academically, SEMO’s athletic teams are strong year-in and year-out. Athletics achieved a 3.23 departmental GPA for the 202021 academic year. Fourteen of SEMO’s 15 sports finished with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher. Before that, student-athletes overcame an enormous amount of adversity and disruption brought on by a global COVID-19 pandemic to close out the 2019-20 academic year with a Department of Athletics record 3.53 spring grade point average. That mark was the highest GPA of any semester for the Redhawks who had a total of 12 teams achieve a 3.21 or higher GPA in the spring term alone. Also, five different programs, including gymnastics (3.82), women’s soccer (3.78), women’s basketball (3.42), men’s basketball (3.26) and football (2.94) registered their highest semester GPAs ever. The upcoming 2021-22 campaign marks SEMO’s fourth
2021 OVC WOMEN’S OUTDOOR CHAMPIONS
year with Under Armour. Barke reached a multi-year agreement with the Baltimore-based global leader in performance footwear, apparel and equipment that made Under Armour the official outfitter of SEMO Athletics on July 1, 2018. As part of the multi-year agreement, Under Armour provides on-field and training gear for 15 sports. Additionally, Under Armour outfits members of the athletic department including coaches and staff. Barke also secured bids to host SEMO’s first home football playoff games. Additionally, he helped the University reach a collaborative partnership with SoutheastHEALTH. Under the agreement, SoutheastHEALTH orthopedic and sports medicine physicians provide orthopedic, primary medical care, athletic training and physical therapy services, and invest in the University by providing diagnostic equipment and athletic training supplies, as well as scholarships for students.
