Fresno State Athletics
Dogs Making the Grade
11/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 11, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - When Pat Hill became Fresno State's head coach in December of 1996, he was on cloud nine. His dream and nearly 30 years of hard work had come to fruition. He was the head coach of a Division I football program. For Hill, it was not just any program, but a quality program in his home state and a community he grew to love after spending six years as an assistant coach under legendary coach Jim Sweeney.
Hill knew that in order to have the opportunity to be Sweeney's successor he'd need to leave and expand his horizons, so he left the Bulldog program to become the offensive coordinator at a Pac-10 school and then moved again to gain experience in the National Football League. Before returning to the Valley, he took a job with the Cleveland Browns under then-head coach Bill Belichick. After a productive tenure in the NFL, Hill was a natural to replace Sweeney upon his retirement.
After all the hard work he'd put into getting to that point in his career, he thought he was prepared for any challenge. But within a few weeks of unpacking his office, a stark reality hit him in the face.
USA Today printed an article that outlined the best and worst academic programs in the nation based on graduation rates. In black and white newspaper print, Fresno State ranked dead last, there for the nation to see. Nearly every high school coach and parent of a high school prospect would avoid Hill's recruiting efforts like he was radioactive.
To those who would listen he promised a plan and that things would change, but with no track record for turning a program around, few believed.
Thirteen years later, Hill has plenty of believers.
Selling Fresno State as a strong academic program wasn't easy early on. There was little evidence of scholastic achievement within the football program. Prior to Hill's arrival, the school had produced only nine Academic All-WAC players. In one year, the program granted more than 20 scholarships to junior college players. The reputation, right or wrong, was that Fresno State was a place where marginal students could play some pretty good football and getting a degree wasn't important. As the camera commercial once said: "Image is everything" and in the recruiting game, that's so true.
A lesson Hill learned during his time in the NFL was that a college degree is vital, even for those fortunate few who make it to the league. He saw too many ill-prepared and uneducated players become lost once their playing days ended.
Hill knew the kind of program he wanted to build. He wanted a stable program, one where high school students could succeed. True to his word, he hasn't recruited many junior college players, averaging less than one per year in his 13 recruiting classes. He's targeted Valley high school prospects and promised them they would leave the program with two vital items: a college degree and the ability to manage their lives.
When he hired John Baxter, Hill knew he would get the difference maker in developing and implementing his plan. Baxter, Fresno State's Associate Head Coach, was tinkering with his "Academic GamePlan" program when they coached together at Arizona. The plan, known amongst the team by the acronym A.G.P, has been a roaring success. It's since been launched at several other schools, including Stanford, Cal, Arizona State and Notre Dame.
Over time a lot of hard work has gone into developing a winning attitude on the field and created a competitive academic atmosphere. Only recently has Fresno State started to get recognized for its strong academic foundation.
This decade Fresno State became the first school in WAC history to produce 100 Academic All-WAC student-athletes. The program's NCAA Academic Progress Rate is very strong, ranking among the best in the west.
In the last few weeks, the Bulldog program reached a couple more milestones.
Moses Harris became the second Bulldog in the last eight years to be selected as a finalist for the highly prestigious National Football Foundation Campbell Award.
That award, known as the "Academic Heisman", presents an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship to each finalist, with the winner getting an addition $7,000. Harris has been invited to the NFF Hall of Fame Award dinner in New York City in a month, where the award will be presented. Only a handful of schools have produced as many finalists for the award this decade. In fact Fresno State has produced more than the California Pac-10 schools (Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC) have -- combined.
On Thursday, Hill's team was again recognized as five Bulldogs (Harris, Kevin Goessling, Andrew Jackson, Robert Malone and Vince Pascoe) were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 8 team. Of the eight national districts, no school had as many players honored. Penn State was the only school close with four selections.
Those five Dogs are eligible for Academic All-America honors. Since the only other Academic All-American (Payton Williams) in the programs' history happened under Hill's watch, it's easy to believe his plan will yield even more outstanding award winners.
This article is courtesy of the Official Sports Report. To sign-up for the free Fresno State Official Sports Report, log on to www.officialsportsreport.com.
"We Are Your Team" - Don't miss the `Dogs on the Bulldog Sports Network as they face the Nevada Wolf Pack on Saturday, November 14th at 1:00pm (KAIL MY53 - Comcast Cable, Channel 13). The team will return home to face the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in their final home game of the 2009 season on Saturday, November 21st at 2:00pm. The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve "Toys for Tots" Program will also be taking place so be sure to bring a new, unwrapped toy to the game. For tickets and more information, visit GoBulldogs.com or call the Bulldog Ticket Office at 278-DOGS.
