2015 April Commodore Nation

April 2015

GRADUATION AND BEYOND ‘Dores return to finish degrees, carry on with grad school

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CONTENTS P.9

P.12

P.17

New life

Finishing up

Longtime tandem

Cross country and track head coach Steve Keith continues to thrive after being diagnosed with cancer just two years ago.

Their collegiate playing careers ended years ago, but for several Vanderbilt student-athletes returning and earning their undergraduate degree is of the utmost importance.

Senior captains Alex Duckenfield and Maggie Forker are in their 12th year of playing lacrosse together.

P.13 Furthering education A handful of Commodores will continue their education by attending graduate school.

P.10 Growing on the court James Siakam’s memorable basketball career has come to an end, and the Cameroon native is amazed with how far he has come.

P.2

P.19

Compliance Corner

Coach’s Handbook

P.3 National Commodore Club

P.7

Vanderbilt bowling assistant coach Josie Earnest

P.24 My Game Junior cross country and track athlete Vanessa Valentine

Inside McGugin

P.22 VU From Here Fontelle Sutherland

P.23 It’s my turn

Rod Williamson’s monthly column

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COMPLIANCE

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Contributors: Brandon Barca Andy Boggs Frederick Breedon David Dawson Larry Leathers George Midgett Kyle Parkinson Emily Sane Ryan Schulz

Administrative

CORNER

Chancellor: Nicholas S. Zeppos

Director of Athletics: David Williams II

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs: Beth Fortune

Big Giver is a huge fan of the athletic program. He sees that the university is recruiting a high-profile recruit and he decides to organize a movement on Facebook and Twitter to “show some love” to the recruit and to encourage him to come to the university. Is this permissible?

No. It is impermissible for boosters or fans to create or organize a fan page or Twitter hash tag (i.e. #Dores4Prospects) in order to encourage a specific prospect to attend their school. A Facebook fan page called “Our Fans Love Johnny Linebacker” is against the rules. Because the institution is held responsible for the conduct of its boosters, doing so would require the University to self-report a violation of NCAA rules and could result in the school ceasing its recruitment of the prospect.

Vanderbilt University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action university.

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Vanderbilt University Student Athletics’ Mission Statement We prepare student-athletes to become leaders and champions in life by placing the highest values on integrity, character, sportsmanship and victory.

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Compliance questions? Please contact: Candice Lee Director of Compliance 615/322-7992 candice.lee@vanderbilt.edu John Peach Assistant Director of Compliance 615/343-1060 john.w.peach@vanderbilt.edu George Midgett Assistant Director of Compliance 615/322-2083 george.d.midgett@vanderbilt.edu

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The Vanderbilt Commodores are the

great time for you to be a champion, too. All Vanderbilt Baseball supporters— alumni, fans and friends—are invited to join the Champions’ Circle this season.

With a gift to Vanderbilt Baseball, Champions’ Circle members receive insider access to the program and are eligible to receive benefits.* Champions’ Circle benefits include a team hat, in-season monthly luncheons, autographed team batting helmet and more. Join today, and be a champion.

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IT ALL STARTS WITH YOU! The National Commodore Club (NCC) provides an opportunity for all Vanderbilt alumni, parents and fans to directly impact Vanderbilt Athletics and, most importantly, our 350 student-athletes. Through gifts to the NCC annual fund, NCC members support our studentathlete scholarships and lead the way to success.

Room $10,000

Before a student-athlete enters a classroom and learns, our game plan starts with you.

Before a student-athlete enters a stadium and competes, our game plan starts with you.

Before a coach enters a locker room and teaches, our game plan starts with you.

You help provide the resources needed to offer competitive scholarships, recruit talented student-athletes, and equip them the education and environment to win. With your generosity, we can build a game plan for continued success in the classroom and in competition.

A single scholarship costs approximately $69,000, but the investment—made possible through gifts of all sizes—is worth so much more. It prepares our student-athletes to be leaders and champions for a lifetime. Become a part of the plan, and celebrate the successes. Become an NCC member today, and support our 350 student-athletes.

SUPPORT LEADS TO

success

350

STUDENT-ATHLETES

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MADE DEAN’S LIST

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SPORTS

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SEC CHAMPIONSHIP

(for 2013–14)

206

MADE SEC HONOR ROLL

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HAD 3.0 GPA OR HIGHER

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POSTSEASON APPEARANCES

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NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

RENEW YOUR NCC MEMBERSHIP BY MAY 31.

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“I chose Vanderbilt because it represents the best of both worlds with educational opportunities and a chance to compete against the top athletes in the nation. Those who support the National Commodore Club do more than just help us athletically— they allow us to develop as people and achieve our aspirations and future goals.

Thanks for all you do!”

Simone Charley

Soccer and track Hoover, Ala. Psychology All-American First Team (Indoor Track & Field, 2015) All-SEC First Team (Soccer, 2014) SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll (2014)

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2015–16 Student-Athlete Scholarship Expenses Success starts with scholarships, and scholarships start with you and your generous support. Whether you are a longtime National Commodore Club member or you are considering becoming a new member, your support plays an important role in our winning game plan.

Your annual gift helps cover scholarship expenses. You help us attract the best and brightest student-athletes and train them for academic and athletic victories.

With scholarship costs rising each year, annual gifts are critical to achieving success.

Total student-athlete scholarship cost $69,000 *New NCAA legislation impacts this area. In January 2015, the NCAA expanded what Division I universities can provide to student-athletes under an athletic scholarship.

Please note all listed costs are projections and based on averages.

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Inside McGugin

By The Numbers

Notes from the athletic department

1

The national ranking of men’s tennis doubles team Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson. In early March, the pair had daunting record of 29-4 and had won 10 straight matches.

F

or the first time in its decorated program history, the Vanderbilt bowling team captured a conference championship.

The Commodores, who have competed as independents since the program’s inception 10 years ago, won the inaugural Southland Bowling League championship by upsetting third-ranked and top seed Arkansas State in March in Houston. The team rallied after dropping the first two games to pull off a 4-2 victory, and assured a spot in its 10th straight NCAA Championship.

Senior Nicole Mosesso was named the tournament MVP and sophomore Giselle Poss was tabbed to the all-tournament team. l Simone Charley continued to propel herself into rarified air. The two-sport athlete finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 43-2.25 at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March in Fayetteville, Ark. With the finish, Charley was named First-Team All-American and she collected five points at the national championship meet for the Commodores. The sophomore, a two-time All-American, also received All-SEC honors for taking third at the league meet.

The Vanderbilt bowling team won the first Southland Bowling League championship in March. The Commodores rallied to upset top seed Arkansas State.

l Four Vanderbilt men’s basketball players and two women’s basketball players received recognition from the SEC. Sophomore post player Damian Jones was named to the First-Team AllSEC and to the All-Defensive Team. Guards Wade Baldwin IV and Riley LaChance were named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. Rebekah Dahlman also earned All-Freshman honors. Senior James Siakam and redshirt sophomore Kendall Shaw (women’s) was named to the SEC Community Service Team. n

13

Number of recordsetting blocks by the men’s basketball team in its NIT second round victory over South Dakota State in March. The baker’s dozen broke the program record of 11 for a single game, which had been set in 1994, before being matched just one game earlier in the opening round of the NIT against St. Mary’s.

Calendar

April/May Events

May 7-9 ‘Dores wrap up at the Hawk The defending national champs’ last home series of the year will come against perennial SEC power Florida. The Commodores took two of three from the Gators last year.

April 12 Closing out SEC slate The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team wraps up the SEC schedule at home against Alabama. The Commodores are led by the top-ranked doubles team in the country, Gonzales “A.J.” Austin and Rhys Johnson.

April 15 Lacrosse hosts Marquette Marquette comes to town as six Vanderbilt seniors will be playing in their last game. This will be the first time the teams have played as the Commodores are new to the BIG EAST Conference this year.

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Apr i l 2 0 1 5

Keith grateful, inspired by ‘slice of new life’ Cancer survivor spreads word about Be The Match Program

by Jerome Boettcher

T

was to beat cancer, will be persistent to show his sincere gratitude.

“I’ll keep trying. I’ll do everything I can,” Keith said. “This person doesn’t know what they got into. It might turn people off for donating (laughs). But I’ll respect their privacy… You’re that 10 out of 10 match that has put me in position where I don’t even think about it.”

Two years after becoming severely ill at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships and being flown out of Fayetteville, Ark., on a helicopter by Vanderbilt Life Flight, Keith has made MDS an afterthought.

The 55-year-old runs more than 40 miles a week. He is a daily staple on the treadmill in the Vanderbilt weight room. This past November, he ran the Boulevard Bolt, the annual 5-mile Thanksgiving tradition in Belle Meade, for the first time in five years. And he finished faster than he did five years before when he was 50.

In March, he was scheduled to run the Tom King Half Marathon at Shelby Bottoms Park in East Nashville. But the race was shortened due to severe weather. No worries, Keith just ran the 5K in an impressive time of 19:18 to finish second in

DANIEL DUBOIS

wenty-seven years old. Male. German.

That’s all Vanderbilt cross country and track coach Steve Keith knows about the person who gave him a second lease on life.

Eighteen months ago, he received a bone marrow transplant from an international donor. The transplant saved his life, just months after he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The rare cancer formed into Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and rapid dose of chemotherapy was just prolonging the inevitable —Keith needed a stem cell transplant.

On Sept. 19, 2013, Keith had his second birthday and received a bone marrow transplant from a 27-year-old German male thanks to being placed on the National Marrow Donor Program/ Be The Match registry.

To respect the privacy of their international donors, Be The Match won’t release the donor’s name or allow contact over the phone or in person the first two years after the transplant.

Keith has already reached out, sending a letter to his donor at the one-year anniversary of his transplant this past September. He hasn’t heard back. But Keith, just as determined as he

Vanderbilt cross country and track coach Steve Keith is two years removed from being diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The 55-year-old received a bone marrow transplant in the fall of 2013.

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his age group and 54th overall out of 879 participants. The last time he broke 20 minutes in a 5K he lived in Atlanta—10 years ago.

His coaching staff and student-athletes are urging him to run the USA Track and Field Masters’ one-mile race in Charlottesville, Va., when the team is up there for the Virginia Invitational at the end of the month.

“It is just one slice of what you would call new life. But it truly is,” he said. “That’s been a part of me professionally, but also how I like to work out.

I like to work out hard and race… I’d let it slide (before he was diagnosed with MDS). Little did I know, my letting it slide, was the disease creeping in. For a year or more, I just sort of let things go and focused on work and not on myself.

Typical guy.”

Keith has others in mind, too. Other cancer patients who have been stricken with leukemia.

In March, he traveled to Washington, D.C., and lobbied Congress for more support and funding of the Be The Match program. Keith was chosen by Be The Match to serve as an advocate for the program and he was paired with a staff member. The two met with legislators and their assistants in charge of health issues, such as Tennessee politicians Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. Bob Corker, Congressman Jim Cooper and Congressman Chuck Fleischmann. Alexander, a former Vanderbilt graduate and track alum like Keith, is on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education Labor & Pensions and presents major influence for more funding.

“The opportunity to tell your story and to try to get people to support more… I think anybody who has been through it would say, ‘Yeah, please,’” Keith said. “Bottom line is 20, 30 years ago the science wasn’t as nearly as good and the availability wasn’t there. Now it is really helping people but it can continue to help people even more.”

Keith plans to help with a Be The Match drive on Vanderbilt’s campus later this month. He says he’ll gladly get the word out for a cause and program that saved his life.

“If I only had my own example to go by, which is true, then I’ll talk that way, I’ll walk that way, I’ll run that way, and I still am,” Keith said with a smile. “It is a really simple thing to go in and get swabbed and sign up, then not worry about it, not think about it. Then maybe you get the call (to donate). Anything I can do to help. That is part of my life now. And I’ll gladly tell that story.” ■

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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Siakam grows with evolving role, sparks ’Dores

by Jerome Boettcher

10

Apr i l 2 0 1 5

ANNE RAYNER

A

rriving at Vanderbilt five years ago as a self-proclaimed raw basketball player, James Siakam never imagined he’d be a senior leader.

But he didn’t take that role lightly. He wanted to do what was best for the team. He carried that torch, even amidst a season of “roller coaster of emotions.”

Before the season began, his father, Tchamo, died in a car accident in Cameroon. Siakam returned home for the first time in eight years to attend his father’s funeral, missing the first game of the season. Returning with a heavy heart, he thrust himself into basketball as a diversion. A couple months later, his maternal grandfather died.

But while Siakam was hurting, he didn’t show it. He wanted to be a team player, even if that meant making personal sacrifices.

“We came out of a seven-game losing streak and adding that to the mix was really devastating so I kind of kept it on the low. Few people knew about it,” he said. “I wanted to keep it on the low because the team didn’t need any more drama at the time.”

So Siakam, in the ultimate act of selflessness, buried himself in his work and helped guide the young Commodores out of the skid. Vanderbilt won 10 of its last 14, collected a total of 21 wins and reached the NIT quarterfinals.

“It was tough. Losing your loved one is always something you can’t just get past,” he said of his father’s death. “These guys are incredible.

When I lost my dad, they were there for me— every single second of the way. Even when I was home (in Cameroon), they would still check on me and make sure everything is fine. I’ve never experienced that before. In tough times you have to step up and rise above all the odds and help your team. And do what is good for the team even though I could have took time off for myself. But I think at that point in the season you have to play for something greater than yourself. And that’s the team, family. That’s what it is really all about.”

That family, Siakam says, has helped him reach this point in his career. He’ll be remembered as one of the most improved players to play for the Commodores. And he says he wouldn’t have without the support of coaches and teammates alike.

“Honestly speaking it has been an adventure,” he says, flashing his trademark smile. “It has been a tough adventure. Coming in as a freshman, I really had no basketball IQ whatsoever and I was pretty much raw. I had to work my way up to

Vanderbilt senior James Siakam improved throughout his five years. Having little organized basketball experience when he arrived, he averaged more than nine points and nearly six rebounds as a senior.

where I am right now. But I enjoyed every second of it, especially seeing the gap, realizing how bad I was at the beginning and where I am right now. I think it has been an incredible, incredible improvement so I’m proud of it.”

Siakam followed the blueprint of his older brothers, Boris and Christian, who left Cameroon to attend high school in the United States in hopes of earning a scholarship to play college basketball. It worked for both as Boris played at Western Kentucky and Christian at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

His younger brother, Pascal, just finished his redshirt freshman season at New Mexico State.

In 2007, when he was only 15, James left Cameroon to attend boarding school outside of Atlanta. After one year, and helping his team win the National Association of Christian Athletes national championship, he transferred to Brehm Preparatory School in Carbondale, Ill. It was there, and on the AAU circuit, where he began to catch eyes of college recruiters, like Vanderbilt.

He signed with the Commodores in spring 2010 and arrived on campus a few months later.

Luckily for Siakam he wasn’t alone in the category of extremely gifted athletically but scarce on basketball knowledge. His teammate, Festus Ezeli from Nigeria, had just gone through a similar experience his first two years at Vanderbilt.

“I was not discouraged at all,” he said. “I had a great group of teammates around me like Festus Ezeli. He was actually relating his story to me. Like he told me, in his words, he was terrible and worth nothing. To see where he is right now (in his third year with the Golden State Warriors) he has definitely been an inspira-

tion and knowing that if those guys did it, I can possibly do it. For me, it has been trying harder every single time.”

At the same time Siakam was beginning his first college season, Dan Cage was starting his first on the coaching staff. The former VU standout returned to his alma mater as the assistant director of operations. He has been with Siakam all five years, now in his third season as director of operations.

“He has been a tremendous help for me through my whole career,” Siakam said. “He has been with me since day one—just sending me film or plays because I couldn’t remember a play to save my life. He worked with me the whole time. Studying the game a lot—that is really what has been the difference.”

The extra work has paid off.

Siakam played just 22 minutes as a redshirt freshman. Three years later, he averaged 9.2 points and nearly six rebounds in his final season.

Over the last two years, he made 48 starts, blocked 83 shots, grabbed 365 rebounds, and grabbed 534 points. Perhaps more importantly, he provided the emotional boost his team needed—a big play or a loud gesture of support.

No wonder then that before his last regular season home game at Memorial Gym during the pregame Senior Day festivities, when his mom and brothers weren’t there, the entire team locked arms and walked him onto the floor.

“It was incredible,” Siakam said with a wide grin. “Besides my immediate family, these guys are all I have so it made perfect sense for me to have them all. It was one of the best moments in my life.” ■

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Coming back: ’Dores return to finish degrees

by Jerome Boettcher

W

hen Elizabeth Wright talks to Vanderbilt student-athletes who are pursuing careers in professional sports—Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA—she can preach and emphasize and stress the importance of finishing their degree or graduating early until she is red in the face.

But Vanderbilt’s Director of Academic Support knows sometimes it takes means more to current Commodores to hear it from someone who has walked in their shoes.

So when NFL standout wide receiver and former Commodore Earl Bennett stops by the McGugin Center as he finishes up his degree 10 years after he arrived at Vanderbilt, his words carry weight.

“One of the nicest things about having the (professional) guys come back is that they are really good role models for the students who are currently here,” Wright said. “They tell you to stay in, because it is really hard to come back.”

But Bennett is one of those former Commodores who understands the value of education and has returned after all these years to finish his degree. Even with raising two kids and relocating back to Nashville, while still trying to play professional football, Bennett is set to walk across the stage this summer.

He is not alone as, starting with the spring of 2013, a total of 19 former Commodores have either received their degrees or are on track to graduate later this summer.

“No matter what you’re doing, whether you’re an NFL star or not, you can’t say you’re a college graduate until you get your diploma,” academic counselor Christy Hogan said. “It weighs a lot.”

The academic success stories inside Vanderbilt athletics aren’t just limited to those who are returning to campus. The Stratton Foster Academic Support Center also boasts many current student-athletes who will be heading to graduate school this fall. Or, in some cases, they’ve graduated in three years and are in grad school at Vanderbilt while playing out their final year of eligibility.

Shelby Moats of the men’s basketball team and Andrew East, for example, will graduate this spring with two degrees. Moats took advantage of a redshirt year and will receive his masters’ in finance at the Owen Graduate School of Management. East will have an undergraduate degree in civil engineering along with Master of Business Administration, also from Owen, by the time he leaves.

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Apr i l 2 0 1 5

“Our student-athletes are very goal-oriented,” Hogan said. “What we do is try to help them reach their goal.”

Coming back When Bobby Reynolds retired from tennis last July at the age of 32, he didn’t take long to head back to class. In August, he returned to Vanderbilt for his final year of classes. Every week last semester, he drove up from his home in Marietta, Ga., for a Monday night class. He then stayed in Nashville through Thursday, taking a total of six classes a week.

This semester he’s finishing up his degree in Human Organization and Development by fulfilling an internship requirement in Atlanta.

He’ll turn in his last two assignments in late April and receive his degree in May. “I always promised myself that if I left school with one year to go, I would go back and finish at Vanderbilt,” Reynolds said. “You don’t put in three hard years and not get the degree at the end. It was a major goal, even though I didn’t make it known to everybody else. That was always kind of in the back of my mind.”

Along with Reynolds, three former football players will be receiving their diplomas this May. Fred Baker, who also played basketball, arrived at Vanderbilt in 1994. More than 20 years later, he’ll get his degree. Doyle Crosby, who enrolled as a freshman in 1997, graduated last spring.

“They felt like when they were out in the working world, they could do so much more with a college degree,” Wright said of Baker and Crosby returning all these years later.

Former cornerback Trey Wilson are also graduating last spring. Former defensive back teammates Casey Heyward and Sean Richardson, currently playing in the NFL, graduated a year after declaring for the draft in 2012. Former SEC Freshman of the Year Warren Norman was forced to end his football career prematurely because of injuries. But he made sure to finish his education and graduated in December 2013.

Every year the MLB Draft is filled with Commodores who leave a year early. Many of them return in the offseason to take classes and get closer to wrapping up their undergraduate studies. Former pitcher Corey Williams will graduate this summer. The 2013 SEC Player of the Year Tony Kemp, a native of Franklin, gradu-

ated in December. Fan favorites Kevin Ziomek, Jason Esposito, Sam Selman, Navery Moore, Connor Harrell and Anthony Gomez all graduated in the last two years.

The NCAA hands out degree completion awards to student-athletes who need less than 30 credit hours to graduate, honoring the same scholarships they received when they first started college.

When Reynolds left he had 36 hours remaining before he could graduate. Three years ago, he took three classes online at Kennesaw State University in order drop under 30 years and become eligible for the NCAA’s degree completion program.

After 11 years of traveling the country and the world, Reynolds is ready to settle in with his wife, former Vanderbilt track All-American, Josie Hahn, and two young children—Parker, who just turned 2, and newborn Mason.

“I always promised myself that the reason I chose Vanderbilt was because of the education,” said Reynolds, who is currently teaching lessons at a tennis academy in Atlanta. “Whatever came later was just a bonus. That name on that diploma is so valuable. It was a major, major goal I wanted to do for myself. But obviously for my kids, I want to make it known to them that, yeah, I was successful at a sport, but it still doesn’t take away from the education.

Former Vanderbilt tennis standout Bobby Reynolds is finishing up his undergraduate degree after he left school in 2003 to play professional tennis for the next 11 years.

Sports are only going to last so long.”

Growing up in Maryville, Patton Robinette dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot or fireman—exciting, adventurous jobs that usually capture the attention of young kids. Then in the sixth grade, his grandfather died from Parkinson’s disease.

“That really had a profound effect on me,” Robinette said. “I saw the effect doctors not only had on him, and improving his quality of life as he neared his passing, but also the effect it had on my family, the great help they were in a tough situation. That really spoke to me, even at that age. From there on, I kind of knew it was something I really wanted to do. I made sure I worked really hard in high school and when I got here to work toward that goal in the hopes of eventually being able to have that same effect on people’s lives.”

Robinette, who made headlines in March for ending his football career early, will be starting at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in August. He’ll be joined by former football teammate Alex Hysong and cross country runner John Ewing. Former football player John Stokes is finishing up his last year of medical school.

Matthew Cleveland, also a member of the cross country team, graduates this May and then heads to medical school at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Taylor Hudson (football) hopes to get accepted to medical school in 2016, but will spend next year with a full-time job in the neuroscience department. He’ll do research with Parkinson’s patients and deep brain stimulation. Lauren Hart and Shannon Morrish begin their senior seasons next year on the soccer field. At the same time, they’ll be starting at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Programs.

Liz Anderson (cross country/track) and Katie Rose Higgins (golf) were enrolled at Peabody College in the Leadership and Organizational Performance program as they finished their last year of athletic eligibility. Rebecca Chandler (cross country) is completing her Master in Special Education from Peabody and plans to apply for law school.

Josh Henderson is returning to the men’s basketball team after he was a granted a sixth year by the NCAA due to a medical hardship.

With the extra time, he’ll complete his master’s degree. Davis Dudchock transferred from Stanford last year to attend grad school and play his last year of football at Vanderbilt. He is currently

vucommodores.com

JOE HOWELL

‘Striving to do more’

Quarterback Patton Robinette will begin the Vanderbilt School of Medicine this summer, joining former Commodore football players Alex Hysong and John Stokes in the university medical school.

working with the football staff and on track to receive his Master of Education in Leadership and Organizational Performance next spring.

Goalkeeper Maddie Kratz of the lacrosse team was accepted into a one-year post-baccalaureate program at the University of Virginia that begins later this summer. She’ll then either enroll in Physician Assistant (PA) school or medical school.

As a goalkeeper, it is not surprising Kratz wants to continue working with her hands. The Wilton, Conn., native grew up with piano lessons and arts and crafts projects. So she knew a desk job wouldn’t be for her, and with her love of science and medicine, surgery became a natural career choice. In March, she stood in and observed as her teammate, Kelly Chandler, underwent knee surgery. This was nothing knew for Kratz, who has spent the last couple summers back home in Connecticut shadowing surgeons.

“It has pretty much always been the plan since I was a sophomore in high school,” she said. “I’ve always loved medicine. I’m just not sure which route I want to go. PA is a great career for women in the future, especially. The end goal is to be in the presence of surgery in general. Whether I’m a doctor or PA, surgery is pretty much the way I want to go.”

She won’t be the only Commodore achieving a lifelong goal—whether that’s one that got placed on hold or one that comes after one chapter of their life comes to an end.

“For student-athletes, I think there is always a competitive edge,” Kratz said. “We are always striving to do more. Maybe we didn’t take advantage of one aspect of undergraduate college, and we want to explore it more with being able to devote all our attention to it. So it doesn’t surprise me at all that people are ready to go back to school and onto higher education.” ■

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Apr i l 2 0 1 5

Breaking down cost of attendance legislation

By Rod Williamson

F

or many years, the typical collegiate athletic scholarship consisted of room, board, books and tuition. There was scant else involved and at times, a studentathlete unable to tap into financial help from home had a tough time paying for even modest expenses.

In the last several years there has been a sea of change in thinking among the many leaders in the NCAA and by now even casual boosters and fans have likely at least heard of the term “cost of attendance.” It is at the root of several significant modifications in what is permissible

by NCAA rules as room, board, tuition and fees now includes a broader definition of personal expenses and travel home.

As a result, Power 5 conference members such as Vanderbilt will be investing thousands of dollars more per full scholarship studentathlete per year.

Since the individual institutions are charged with determining their own true cost of attendance, and since schools that sponsor many sports have more student-athletes, the tab to fund these enhancements appears to be running anywhere from nearly $1 million to double or even triple that.

At Vanderbilt, athletic department officials are projecting a figure between $1 million and $1.5 million.

“The cost of attendance legislation is aimed at putting the student-athlete on the same par as the student receiving need-based financial aid,” says Director of Athletics David Williams. “Now the student-athlete will get, as part of his or her scholarship, some money for travel home and personal expenses they were not able to receive prior to the change in NCAA rules.”

What makes up for this cost of attendance and why has it seemingly became so important so quickly? Much has to do with an emphasis on the overall welfare of the student-athlete.

It has long been recognized that the socalled typical scholarship didn’t pay for all the costs associated with college attendance. For example, nothing was factored in for travel from home to the campus and back. For the local student this is insignificant but what about the student a long distance from home?

How does that student get home for a special event or holiday?

In the past, that student or her parents had to figure it out unless it was an emergency, which schools could then tap into the NCAA Opportunity Fund.

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Going forward, there will be a specified amount of money set aside each year with differing amounts for students from, say, Huntsville and Seattle.

Athletic administrators are also looking at significant new costs in meal plans, although these are outside the borders of cost of attendance but very much in step with new NCAA legislation. Vanderbilt has enhanced its meal plan and added what it terms a “refueling” station where student-athletes can find nutritious snacks two hours a day between regular meals.

There are also miscellaneous personal expenses calculated into today’s new scholarship—the old “laundry money” which now is valued by Vanderbilt at an updated and realistic $3,000.

As a result of these enhanced new calculations and allowances, the full Vanderbilt scholarship is now being valued at more than $69,000 a year. And while Vanderbilt is solidly on record as being in favor of these additional costs, the increased expense adds yet another challenge to funding the overall program.

National Commodore Club members will notice on the new NCC literature that these

Director of Athletics David Williams

added costs are mentioned. Gifts to the NCC become more critical than ever as Vanderbilt continues its rich tradition of excellence in its classrooms and on the fields of play. ■

Vanderbilt Won’t Participate in UBooster Vanderbilt officials have announced that the university and its Department of Athletics will not participate with UBooster, an online platform that allows individuals to pledge donations to a collegiate athletics program contingent upon the school signing a designated prospective athlete.

Citing potential compliance concerns and its desire to remain focused on current development priorities, Vanderbilt has issued a cease and desist letter to UBooster specifically stating the university will not accept any gift funds or pledge commitments solicited through their online platform. The school joins a number of other universities that have also announced they will not associate with UBooster.

A thorough review of the UBooster model revealed the online fund-raising site did not consult with the NCAA or other power conference leadership before launching. Accordingly, neither the NCAA nor the Southeastern Conference has issued guidance on accepting or declining UBooster funds. As such, UBooster could be construed as an impermissible gift or benefit.

Vanderbilt officials noted the school’s existing fund-raising efforts, which allow alumni and friends to make gifts to all 16 of the university’s sport programs, have seen significant growth in recent years. It is unclear that UBooster would be as comprehensive in its initial application, and it is likely to support only revenue sports where recruiting is followed closely by alumni, fans and donors.

While the UBooster model presents a creative way for donors and fans to become engaged in the excitement around the recruitment of student-athletes, it is not yet a proven and officially sanctioned giving vehicle for collegiate athletics. Thus, the potential risks—real and perceived—associated with accepting UBooster gifts are, at this time, significant enough to warrant actions by Vanderbilt that will ensure UBooster is not raising funds on the university’s behalf.

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‘Instant friends’: Lacrosse bonds Vanderbilt senior captains

by Jerome Boettcher

A

STEVE GREEN

s captains on the back line of defense, communication proves essential for teammates Alex Duckenfield and Maggie Forker.

But often, between the longtime friends, words aren’t needed to get the message across.

“We just kind of give each other a look,” Duckenfield said.

Added Forker: “I feel like I know what she’s doing 12 steps before she does it.”

Duckenfield and Forker are an inseparable pair, especially on the lacrosse field.

For the last 12 years, the Philadelphia natives have spent every year together with lacrosse sticks in hand. They started in fifth grade on the same rec league team, which subsequently carried over to the club circuit during their high school years. And now, they’re in their last season after four years at Vanderbilt.

“This is the longest relationship I’ve been in,” Duckenfield said, laughing. “Twelve years. Longer than any boyfriend. We can’t escape each other. We’ll never be out of each other’s lives.”

Alex’s mother, Jenny Duckenfield remembers them becoming “instant friends.”

Forker and Duckenfield remember it a little differently.

“I was shy. Maggie was the outgoing one, so it took time to build up,” Duckenfield said. “(Our parents) wanted us to get together because they saw we were serious about lacrosse and we had potential. They just wanted us to stick together because we sort of had the same goals.”

Jenny served as their coach of Haven Youth Lacrosse from fifth grade through eighth grade. She drove the pair to practices, to games up and down the East Coast. A bond grew out of lacrosse and field hockey.

Forker took the draws, passed it up to Alex, who would feed it back or

Senior captains Alex Duckenfield, left, and Maggie Forker, right, have been playing lacrosse together for the last 12 years. The Philadelphia natives started playing for the same rec league team, coached by Jenny Duckenfield, in fifth grade.

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take it to the net herself. Jenny remembers Forker, then just 4-foot-8-inches, as deceivingly strong despite her short stature. As for her only daughter, Alex was skinny, “all elbows, knees and legs,” but a tremendous passer.

And where one was, the other wasn’t far behind.

“They would set each other up,” recalls Jenny, who has spent 18 years coaching lacrosse and is currently the head coach of nationally ranked Agnes Irwin High School in Philadelphia. “Alex was a defensive playmaker.

Maggie was a force in the midfield. Running the midfield, taking the draw and scoring. They know each other’s game so well now because they’ve been playing together so long. They really know how to make each other look good.”

They went to separate high schools, but played on the same club team, Ultimate Goal Lacrosse Club. Allison Fisher, now the head coach at Lafayette, coached the team all four years. They traveled the country together, playing in tournaments in Colorado and California.

As their decorated prep careers—“They were leaders in their programs,” Jenny said—wound down they began looking at colleges. Recruited by some of the same schools, they actually went to the same campus visit to Vanderbilt during their junior year of high school.

When they returned, their minds were made up.

“We weren’t trying to follow each other,” Duckenfield said. “We ended up liking all the same people.”

“We knew we were looking at the same schools, but we were letting it all play out,” Forker said. “I think for how long we played together, we ended up liking the same coaches, liking the same teams, liking the same girls. We both wanted the same thing out of school.”

As senior co-captains, anchoring the defense with their best friend at their side has been a special experience for each to share.

Both are impressed, but not surprised, with the growth of the other’s game.

Forker compliments Duckenfield’s textbook form, whether she’s zipping a pass across the field or checking the ball away from an opponent. Duckenfield says whenever the team gets in a bind transitioning from defense to offense, the team just turns to Forker. Just 5-foot-1 now, she muscles her way out of the pack and pushes the ball up the field, even while battling a hand injury most of the season.

“It is nice that defense is doing well this year,” Duckenfield said. “And it is nice to share that with each other and encourage each other. We are both really happy when each other does well.”

Their genuine support of one another is just as special as the longevity of their friendship, Jenny Duckenfield says.

“It is unique in the sense that there has never been competition between the two of them,” Jenny said. “They’ve always championed each other and supported each other. There has never been jealousy between them. There has always been support and love. I think that in itself is very special.”

Both are set to graduate in May. Forker has a job lined up in Philadelphia in management and consulting. Duckenfield is pursuing a broadcasting career.

Regardless of what lies ahead, the two friends know the last 12 years have truly been rare and memorable.

“It is definitely really nostalgic,” Forker said. “We still have our little Haven uniforms... those are the days. It is really weird that is going to come to an end. It is definitely unique. I’ll never have this with someone else. That’s a really unique experience.” ■

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Coach’s Handbook: Assistant Bowling Coach Josie Earnest Josie Earnest just wrapped up her fifth season as an assistant coach with the Commodores. The two-time NCAA Player of the Year and four-time AllAmerican led Vanderbilt to its first national championship in any sport in 2007 as a freshman. In 2013, she was inducted into Vanderbilt’s Athletic Hall of Fame. The Vandalia, Ill., native continues to bowl as she has been a member of Team USA for the last eight years and plans to join a women’s professional tour this summer. She is currently working on her master’s in accounting.

Josie Earnest: I think it is unique. Going through school, I had no intentions of coaching. Once senior year rolled around, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do and the position came open.

I didn’t feel like my time here was done. Obviously, I couldn’t compete anymore. But I felt like I had a lot more still to give to Vanderbilt. I felt like I owed them something, because all of the great things I experienced here. And I love Nashville.

Everything came together at once, and I was able to hang around.

CN: So besides coaching bowling and bowling professionally, and currently taking classes online as a distant student through Auburn for your master’s degree, do you have much free time?

Earnest: Not totally. No, I bowl a couple weeks.

And actually more and more of our bowling alumni network are coming back and living in Nashville. So we try to get together once a month.

I’m really into the group painting outings. So we do that once a month. I’m not that artistic. We actually got the whole team to do it over spring break. That was fun. That is probably the only real hobby that I have, and I’m not very good at it. But we have a good time with it.

CN: You won your first tournament when you were 4 years old, so bowling has always been a part of your life?

Earnest: Well, my parents bought a center in 1991. So I was 3 years old. It was all I grew up knowing. I played other sports in high school. I played tennis all four years. I was OK. I went to state. Nothing to write home about necessarily. I

TIM FULLER

CN: You’re still competing, too. On your third year with the adult squad for Team USA, and you’re joining a professional tour this summer.

Earnest: I think it has been super helpful to my bowling career to coach. I was able to watch and observe more than just practicing. I learned things from our players that helped me down the line.

Honestly, I think probably the best year of my career was at least, up until this point, my first and second year out of school. I was practicing next to none, but I was able to watch and pick up on some things that I didn’t necessarily pay attention

to when I was just solely throwing the ball. I think a lot of that is owed in the bowling center watching the girls.

TIM FULLER

Commodore Nation: How special is it for you to be coaching at your alma mater?

was always competitive. I always wanted to play sports. Ended up bowling was my avenue to college. That is what my parents told me. They sat me down when I was 13 years old, and I started really tasting what it was like to win. I didn’t really like bowling at that point, because I was around it so much. But they said, ‘You have two options—you can either practice, work your butt off and get your college paid for. Or you can get a job, and pay for your own college. We’ve given you this opportunity and it is up to you whether or not you want to take it.’ I said that’s a hard choice. I think I’ll bowl (laughs). Then I started to like it. You start winning things and you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is more fun than I thought it was.’

CN: Winning a national championship your first year here, what was that like?

Earnest: It is still emotional for me. I’m not a hugely emotional person, but we did a video for the girls and it had infusions of what they’ve done in the past. You get teary eyed just thinking about it. You obviously can’t bottle up what you were feeling in that moment. Everything is going so quickly. But you still have emotion attached to it.

One of the things I always tell my parents is that, unless they get rid of me, I don’t think I can leave here until I have another one. That might take forever. I don’t know. And they might get rid of me before then. But I want to relive it, and I want to relive it in a different way. Obviously I can’t throw the ball. But I want to have the ability to help those girls have the feeling that I had in that moment.

Not many people get to have it and it is one you’ll tell people about for the rest of your life. ■

Josie Earnest, center, just wrapped up her fifth season as Vanderbilt’s assistant bowling coach.

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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Apr i l 2 0 1 5

1/23/15 3:01 PM

THE VU From Here

Fontelle Sutherland

by Jerome Boettcher Fontelle Sutherland loves her local sports.

She listens to Braves games, and watches the Titans on TV. But there is one team, one school, she has been rooting on for more than 75 years—the Vanderbilt Commodores.

In 1939, Fontelle Sutherland went to her first Vanderbilt football game. It was the first of many as the 94-year-old is a seasonticket holder, along with her sons, Frank and Hoover, at Vanderbilt Stadium.

She is also a regular and season-ticket holder at men’s basketball games, sitting in Section C.

SUBMIT TED

“I’ve been going for a long time,” Fontelle said.

Longtime Commodore fan Fontelle Sutherland before the Liberty Bowl with (from left to right) her sons Frank and Hoover, and grandson, Daniel.

Frank says her mother loves the Vanderbilt hot dogs—“She always has a hot dog at halftime,” he said—and always has her radio with her.

“She is always positive about the players,” Frank said. “She will start clapping before anyone else does.”

Using a walker to get around, Fontelle can be found listening to Voice of the Commodores, Joe Fisher. Often times she’ll point out areas of improvement before Fisher mentions them on the air.

Fontelle was born in Louisiana but moved to Nashville when she was in college. She transferred to Ward-Belmont School for Women (now Belmont University) when her father got a job as an executive with the Southern Bell telephone company.

But she’ll also be one of the first to get the cheering going.

She met her husband, a 1939 Vanderbilt graduate, at a dance and the two were married in 1940.

After World War II, the Sutherlands bought a rural telephone company in Mt. Juliet.

They had 142 telephones in the area. Fontelle would operate the switchboard and her husband would go out and work the phone lines.

The two were constant supporters of the Commodores, too. Even after her husband died in 1988, she continued to go to the games. Frank, a 1970 Vanderbilt graduate, now sits with her.

SUBMIT TED

Frank was a former reporter for the Hustler, and a college news correspondent for the Tennessean before taking over as editor of the newspaper from 1989-2004.

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Now he spends his free time at Commodore games with his mother.

Fontelle has been to the four most recent bowl games in the football program’s history—the 2008 Music City Bowl, the 2011 Liberty Bowl, the 2012 Music City Bowl and the 2014 BBVA Compass Bowl.

“She is an avid sports fan,” said Frank.

“There is nothing stopping her from going to games.”

We Want Your Ticket Stories The ticket office has long been a place to hear some of the best examples of the love affair between Vanderbilt fans and their seats for Vanderbilt games. Whether you met your spouse in the student section, shared popcorn with your grandfather from the very top row of the endzone in Section L or truly believe that row 25 in your section was made for you and 24 other friends, we want to hear your point of VU (pronounced “view”) of Commodore Football.

In 150 words or less, send in your stories to ticket.office@vanderbilt.edu. We will select some of our favorites to share with other Commodore fans. If your “VU From Here” story is selected, we will give you two tickets to a home game this season, in the hope that you will pay them forward to attract new fans to Vanderbilt Stadium. n

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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Apr i l 2 0 1 5

It’s My Turn

By Rod Williamson

MARK CUNNINGHAM

W

Former Vanderbilt standout and 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner David Price made his fourth Opening Day start, and first with the Detroit Tigers.

MLB sprinkled with plenty of former Commodores

W

hen the 2015 season began earlier this month, a plethora of former Vanderbilt Commodores made their presence felt.

Five former VU standouts made Opening Day rosters, with pitchers David Price and Sonny Gray leading the way.

Price, in his first full season with the Detroit Tigers, picked up his first win of the year. The left-hander form Murfreesboro fell one out short of a complete game. He took a perfect game into the fifth inning and pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits while striking out five.

Gray, a right-hander from Smyrna, started Opening Day for the second straight year for the Oakland A’s. He also earned the win after taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning before allowing a hit. He struck out three and gave up just one hit in eight scoreless innings.

Pedro Alvarez began his fifth season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He moves from third to first base after belting 18 home runs and driving in 56 RBIs in 2014. Ryan Flaherty also got the Opening Day start, beginning his fourth season with the Baltimore Orioles. The left-handed hitter played in a career-high 102 games for the Orioles, which won the AL East last year and reached the ALCS. Flaherty had seven home runs and 32 RBIs in 2014.

Mike Minor started the season on the disabled list for the Atlanta Braves for the second straight year. Antoan Richardson also started on the bench, beginning the season on the 60-day disabled list for the Texas Rangers after undergoing back surgery in the offseason.

In addition, 28 former Vanderbilt players started the year in the minor leagues. Eight began with Triple-A teams, eight in Double-A, 10 in Single-A and two in Extended Spring Training. ■

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hen Patton Robinette announced that he was giving up playing football to enroll in Vanderbilt’s prestigious School of Medicine a few weeks back, most of the fan base and campus community nodded approvingly. It made perfect sense.

The agreement was not unanimous as there was at least one person deeply conflicted—Patton Robinette. Neither side of the decision completely understood the other.

Commodore fans have long taken pride and comfort in their belief that those young men and women wearing the Black and Gold are certified student-athletes, not the pretend variety that pops up in the news from time to time at other places.

So learning that their high profile quarterback had breezed quickly through undergraduate school and had the resume to be admitted into med school confirmed their thinking.

Factor in that while Patton was playing football he had sustained concussions on the high school and college levels. Sensible adults breathed a sigh of relief that a man with his promising future wouldn’t risk damaging it by getting his bell rung one time too many.

Interested third parties also reasoned—correctly—that Robinette wasn’t likely going to play professional football, regardless of his impressive resume as the state’s prep Player of the Year on a championship team or his heroics at Vandy where his competitive nature showed him to be a natural leader who could deliver in the clutch.

Why risk getting beaten up on the gridiron when you can be studying to become an orthopedic surgeon? Great decision, Patton Robinette, you once again made the right choice, many thought.

But it wasn’t nearly as clear-cut for Robinette as it would seem.

Unless one has been a member of a close-knit group with a common mission, it is difficult to appreciate just how hard it was for Patton to hang up his cleats.

He was leaving his band of brothers behind. He laughed with these guys, ran wind sprints with them, pumped iron, rode busses and plotted to defeat some of the best college football teams with them.

Perhaps most of all, there was the challenge he was leaving behind.

To a great competitor—and Robinette is nothing if not a competitor— pushing yourself to win against a mighty foe is a catnip not easily given up. There is a scoreboard in athletics and, to competitors, you either win or lose. No middle ground.

It was hard for even a brilliant guy like Patton Robinette to completely understand how some people thought his decision should be simple.

He was the frontrunner to quarterback an SEC football team again.

Those of us who believe there is a virtue in athletic competition should remember Patton Robinette as an icon. But we should also understand that there are others following in his footsteps that will pick up the torch. He wasn’t the first nor will he be the last scholar-athlete Vanderbilt will ever have. Three other graduating Commodores, for example, will enter medical school.

In fact, while not every Commodore has or even wants a fancy graduate school in his or her future, our hallways are teeming with competitors who picked Vanderbilt to challenge themselves on and off the field of play.

In that sense, Patton Robinette’s spirit lives on. ■

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My Game

Vanessa Valentine

By David Dawson

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anessa Valentine has no need for a Fitbit. As a star member of the Vanderbilt’s cross country and track teams, the junior’s daily activity can be measured in miles, not in steps. The engineering science major from Melbourne, Fla., is constantly on the move, making a huge impact for the Commodores on an almost year-round level. Last fall, she helped the cross country team capture the program’s first Region title.

CN: This is never an easy question for a multi-sport athlete to answer, but which season do you look forward to the most— cross country, indoor track or outdoor track?

Valentine: Well, I think for most girls who do all three, the answer to that question is probably based on your specialty. I’m more towards the distance side, so I kind of prefer cross country because it’s not as monotonous as taking laps around a track. (Laughs) This past season, when we ran in Wisconsin, we got to run on these beautiful farms and through these rolling hills; and then, at FSU, for regionals, we were running through the woods. So, to me, running cross is a lot more exciting, and it’s definitely my favorite season. But I really love track, too. For me, it’s like, at the end of cross, I’m excited for track and at the end of track, I’m excited for cross.

Valentine: I think that kind of depends on who you are. For someone like Sara Barron, who runs the 1,500, she will see her mileage drop by a certain percentage (during track), and she will focus more on intensity.

For the more distance-oriented girls, like me, it doesn’t differ too much.

But I guess one of the biggest adjustments is that during track season we do more work on the track and more speed pick-up training. But for cross country, we will sometimes go to our home course and do hill repeats; or we might go to the park and run in front of the Parthenon, which is pretty cool. So you get more course training. You don’t do hill repeats for a flat track.

CN: Tell us a little bit about the recent trip you took to Costa Rica with Soles4Souls.

Valentine: It was really a remarkable trip in so many ways. … On the volunteering and service side, it was just an incredible experience. I had never done a trip like that before, so I didn’t really know what to expect.

And to me, one of the most amazing aspects was seeing how the simplest things make the children happy. Seriously, just giving them a pair of plain black rubber shoes—nothing special at all—was the greatest thing in the world to them. So just being part of that process was awesome. There was one day where we played a game of pick-up soccer with the kids, and it was just so Central America. We were playing soccer in this old, torn-up parking lot and for the goal posts, we used an old pair of shoes—which one of the kids had worn that day before getting his new shoes. So that was really cool. … And where we stayed was also really awesome, too, with a lady named Lilian, who was our main contact with Sole4Souls. We didn’t stay in a 5-star hotel; we got the real experience of living in a Costa Rican neighborhood, which is not an experience you usually get as a tourist or volunteer. It was such a cool experience.

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DANIEL DUBOIS

CN: How much different is the training for cross country and track?

CN: Being from Florida, did it take a while for you to warm up to the idea of being a Commodore when you first got to Vanderbilt?

Valentine: Well, pretty much everyone in my family—my dad, my sister, my uncle—went to University of Florida. So, going back to the day I was born, I was probably wearing a Florida T-shirt. I mean, I probably came out orange and blue. So, sports has always been such a huge part of my life, and I am very passionate about that in terms of what you can learn from sports and how great it is to be part of a team. And when I came to Vanderbilt on my visit as a senior (in high school), I just fell in love with it.

I loved the team, the coaches and the fact that it was an SEC school. Plus, the academics rigors are great, and I love Nashville, too. But when I first came here, I definitely had to turn off my Florida loyalties. Because when you love something the way that I loved the University of Florida, you can’t just all of the sudden forget it. So I had to kind of let go of that. But seriously, ever since I committed to Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt became my No. 1. I was so excited to be here and to represent this school. And then, the pride I have in being here has just grown more and more each day. It’s pretty awesome when you really think about how great it is to be here, and what a cool opportunity you have as an athlete. Even being a member of the cross-country team—which I realize is not as idolized as maybe football or baseball—gives me the chance to impact other people’s lives. I had never thought about being an ambassador until recently… but really, even in your little sector, you have the ability to positively impact other people, and that’s really cool. ■

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