Fresno State Athletics
Jim Bartko Announces Empowering Excellence Vision
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
Feb. 26, 2015
Athletics 5-Point Vision | 
Press Conference Photo Gallery
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State Director of Athletics Jim Bartko outlined his vision for Bulldog Athletics to the department staff, University community, media and fan base on Thursday, a five-point plan he sees as vital steps in helping elevate Fresno State and captivating the San Joaquin Valley.
Following his hiring on Nov. 21 and in the footsteps of Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro's mantra of being bold, Bartko laid out a road map of how Fresno State can empower excellence.
"This place is a sleeping giant and people here really care," Bartko said. "Thinking about being great and reengaging everybody that is an alum or in this community. If you get everybody behind you, a lot of great things can happen."
He outlined Thursday plans to first and foremost take care of current sport programs and address staffing needs by improving the budget, but then dug into a vision to captivate the community and improve facilities, including the Bulldog Stadium district encompassing not just inside the actual stadium, but surrounding footprint of traffic flow, signage and tailgating.
"Academics and athletics are rising together at Fresno State.," University President Joseph I. Castro said. "Our new five-point plan is boldly aspirational and calls on all of us to work more closely together to help our campus reach new heights of success. Our future is very bright."
A hot topic in the community has been reinstating wrestling, a program that was cut at Fresno State back in 2006. One of Bartko's five-points in his presentation included expanding competitive opportunities where he outlined a three-year plan that would call for reinstatement to the wrestling program as well as adding women's water polo, which would bring Fresno State's sports total up from 19 to 21.
"It's a two to three year process to get a coach, get the fundraising done, start recruiting, sign kids and do it the right way," Bartko said. "It's not a sprint. We need to do it the right way. A lot of people will look at this and see how effective this is. You don't want to add sports and two years later we have to drop them again. We're going to do it the right way. We're going to recruit great student-athletes, great coaches and they'll be a great part of this university."
Upon his evaluations of the department since his hiring has been the need to tweak or address certain focus points.
The goals there are to fully fund Fresno State's scholarships through donations, which includes paying full cost of tuition for all student-athletes. He also wants to bring on staff to both enhance the sport programs and offices within the department, improve customer service and the fan experience and making good on our promises.
It was made clear by Bartko that the department will work under the morals of honesty and integrity, teamwork, open mindedness, commitment and to have a dedication to the best interest of all Bulldog student-athletes.
His five-point vision of empowering excellence at Fresno State is just the starting point of how Bulldog Athletics will move forward over the next month, six months, year, even up to five years. And in no way is everything he outlined Thursday in concrete, more of a road map.
Bartko hit the ground running when he arrived in Fresno, and not just by putting together his empowering excellence vision in a little over a month. Facility improvements for women's soccer and lacrosse, tennis and track and field are already in place to be done this summer. Consultants have already been on campus to look at Bulldog Stadium and upon their recommendations a three-phase plan will be unveiled in late spring on how to improve Fresno State's greatest revenue source. Bartko's plans to hire additional department staff beginning immediately and playing out over the next two years.
Thursday was an energized day at Fresno State. Behind Bartko's leadership, Bulldog Athletics is ready to unite and activate the University and entire community from the top to the bottom of the San Joaquin Valley.
"We're going to engage this community," Bartko said. "It's the Valley. Athletics can bring a lot of people into this place... We're part of this community, it's not just Fresno. It's the Valley."
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