As the fiscal year comes to an end, GSEagles.com sat down with Director of Athletics Jared Benko to get his thoughts on a wide range of topics pertinent to the department. Here below is his third State of the Eagle Nation.

You're now three full years into your tenure as the A.D. here in Statesboro. What are you most proud of?
J.B.: It's honestly our student-athletes and our people. Specifically, I'm proud of our student-athletes as they continue to get the job done in the classroom and on their respective fields of play. We've had record G.P.A.s, and that doesn't happen by accident. And I'm proud of everyone in our department for coming together and being fully aligned in our pursuit of being the premier athletic department in the Sun Belt Conference.

I think you're seeing that when we talk about competitive excellence across the board and wanting to be excellent in everything we do, it starts with having the right people not only on the bus but in the correct seat on the bus. I'm really proud of the team we've assembled, and you're seeing that we're having success in a lot of areas. We have a growth mindset and want to continue having more success, but I'm really proud of the people we've assembled and the daily approach of "winning the day" that everyone embraces to accomplish our goals.

We're now two years into the Name, Image, and Likeness space. What are your thoughts on it, and how do Georgia Southern student-athletes benefit from it?
J.B.: The N.I.L. space changes by the day, and anybody who tells you they know what direction this train is headed is not being pragmatic. Looking back at the past 24 months, there have been seismic changes in college athletics. Many of the areas we give input at the national level are largely outside of our control. And so, with that said, we focus on the controllables - our attitude, our effort, and how we treat others.

We started our Athlete Brand Management (ABM) division 12 months ago with the strategy of wanting to best position our Georgia Southern student-athletes to take advantage of N.I.L. and branding opportunities. We wanted to ensure our student-athletes had all of the educational pieces surrounding N.I.L. to best position themselves for success. We partnered with our Parker College of Business and incorporated Opendorse's Marketplace, which allows our fans, donors, and alums to connect directly with our student-athletes. 

Then what you have coming out here in July is a forward-facing launch of the Eagle Nation Collective, and we are very excited about that. The Eagle Nation Collective can work with student-athletes directly on different N.I.L. opportunities, and we're excited about its public launch. I'm really proud of what we're doing in this space to be among the leaders of the Sun Belt and among our peers in the country. Our goal is to put all of our student-athletes in a position for success not only in and out of the classroom but also in taking advantage of N.I.L. We're making great strides in this area, but we know we have a lot of room to grow, particularly as N.I.L. legislation evolves and changes.

You mentioned it a few minutes ago, but this past year, the department posted a 3.11 GPA for the academic year. How proud are you of all those involved?
J.B.: I'm really proud of Reggie Simpkins and the work he and the Student-Athlete Services staff continue to do. When you have 430-plus student-athletes you are responsible for assisting on a daily basis, you have to have a plan that is implementable to ensure success, and that's a huge undertaking. You also have to go back to alignment, and it starts at the top with our President Dr. Kyle Marrero, and our Provost, Dr. Carl Reiber, on down throughout our department. To be able to post a record G.P.A. is a big deal, and we're very proud of that.

Beyond Georgia Southern, we want to continue to have more and more student-athletes that pursue professional endeavors in their respective sports. At the end of the day, we also have a larger obligation to prepare them for life after sport. We strive daily to ensure that we are positioning our student-athletes for success, particularly as they pursue a career and life after sport. 

From a competitive standpoint, what are your thoughts on the 2022-23 season? What are your thoughts on the direction of the department as a whole?
J.B.: I think it's only human to index and benchmark all postseason appearances for any year, and I believe it is also important to look at the overall trajectory of the program, both in the classroom and on the respective fields of play. And that trajectory isn't always going to go vertical at a 90-degree angle. It just doesn't always work that way. 

Part of our benchmarking process of observing progress toward our goals is whether or not we are aligned and adhering to the daily process of getting better every day. You're always going to have some teams that over-index. You're always going to have some that perform where you thought, and there might be some teams that under perform. Sometimes, and we don't make excuses, there are good reasons. Sometimes there aren't. Maybe there were injuries. Perhaps they had some key contributors go into the Transfer Portal. Regardless, are we moving the needle in the right direction and I'm very bullish on our future. 

More important for me is determining if we have the right people in leadership positions. This is the first summer in a while that we haven't had a head coaching search. I love the staff we have in place. We're always looking for ways to become more competitive within the conference, which means that nationally we will be competitive because of our Sun Belt scheduling. There are always opportunities to get better, and there are some specific areas that we've talked to our coaches and staff recently about how we need to improve. Everything we do has a sense of urgency; everything matters. How we do anything is how we do everything.

As we continue to move this department forward, we're taking a short-term, intermediate and long-term lens approach to it. We're excited about what we're building and where we're headed. Sometimes you don't always go up like a rocket ship; sometimes, you have to catch your breath for various reasons, make some changes and continue that climb.

You mentioned the Transfer Portal. We've had some teams lose some key players, but we've also gotten a lot of good players to join this department through the Portal. How has the Portal changed college athletics, and how does it affect a school like Georgia Southern?
J.B.: Like anything in life, it comes down to your outlook and approach. The Portal is here, and I don't anticipate it going anywhere. So for us, the Portal has largely been beneficial. It allows you to identify student-athletes who can help your team perform, which can be for any of our 17 sports. 

I feel like there's a lot of good in the Portal. If you don't want to be here and/or feel like you're not excelling the way you want/need to, and we all agree that a new opportunity is best for you, that's great. I want our young people to be successful. I hope it's here in Statesboro, but if it's somewhere else, we will support them the best we can in finding a new home. 

Having said that, there are also opportunities where student-athletes need a new home, and Statesboro would be a great destination. One of the common criticisms I hear is that it's teaching young people that there's an easy way out, and that's a fair argument through some lens. But each case is unique, and there are often extenuating circumstances.

We task our coaches with finding and assessing the best student-athletes who can have successful academic and athletic careers here and represent Georgia Southern in an exemplary manner. However, sometimes it's time for a change, and I'm going to support our student-athletes to ensure they're in a position where they can succeed. We've also benefited from the Portal, so it goes both ways. 

Can you give Eagle Nation updates on ongoing and upcoming facilities projects, including some you can break the news here?
J.B.: That's a great question. Right now, we've got a ton going on. If you look at it from a timing standpoint, the Anthony P. Tippins Family Training Facility is coming along nicely, and we expect to get the Certificate of Occupancy (CO) at the end of July. You'll see some graphics work and some more aesthetics-related things throughout August that still allow us to utilize that facility, which we need because football training camp starts in early August. So that facility is on track, and I'm really excited to open that up. 

Interestingly enough, when you drive by the new Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center, the dirt mounds are pretty high, and you can't see over them. I've seen a few drone pictures, and you can see that they're continuing to lay the foundation and will be going vertical soon. That facility will be transformative, and if you look at how that area is being developed on the south side of campus, it will only continue to grow. The Hill Convocation Center has an expected fall 2024 delivery, and we plan on this being the last full year for basketball in Hanner Fieldhouse.

I think you'll also see a lot of new paving throughout the parking lots this year when you pull up to Paulson Stadium, particularly off of Lanier Drive. You'll see some offline parking lots from last season becoming available again, as well as some new parking lots coming online. Aesthetically, it will be the best the parking lots around Paulson Stadium have ever looked. These lots are also a central parking source for our students when classes are in session, so that's an important parking lot to ensure it has maximum functionality for daily use. Additionally, once you enter the Paulson Stadium, you'll see a brand new turf field, which Eagle Nation helped design. I'm really excited about that, especially having the blue be the right color tone; it just looks clean and crisp. The feedback from our football student-athletes and staff have been great so far, particularly as it relates to it being much cooler than the last surface.

We are currently fundraising for a renovation of a team space at J.I. Clements Stadium. This project is slated to cost $8-10 million, and we are off to a great fundraising start, thanks to Eagle Nation. The programming for this project is very progressive and incorporates several new team and fan areas that are sure to be game-changers. 

We also recently completed the installation of a new throwing cage at a track. We also did a significant locker room and dugout project at softball this past year. We also added the Yellawood Deck, new graphics, and shading structures at baseball. We're always trying to find ways to improve all of our facilities. One of our next big projects is to work on a master plan for the track and soccer complex. Right now, we're trying to get to the finish line on the projects that are online, but you're always planning for the future.

What are your goals for the summer for the department?
J.B.: I shared with our department at a staff meeting in May the acronym "R.A.D." What the acronym stands for is recharge, assess and development. Athletics is a lifestyle. I love it. I chose it and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. But our jobs have non-traditional hours. And so one thing we talked to our staff a lot about is ensuring they're not burning the candle at both ends. So for the summer, it really was putting that charge—pardon the pun­—into recharging. 

From an assessment standpoint, I think it's always helpful to assess your progress each summer. Where am I? What have I done well? Where are my deficiencies? How can I get better? That only happens with one being willing to be vulnerable and self-assessing themselves. I think part of that is how you get better, and finding ways to get better is always important, especially when it comes to serving our student-athletes.

And finally, in terms of the professional development piece, we should grow daily. Part of that is seeking out ways that we can get better. It's not just about us getting better but about trying to position our student-athletes for more success. Collectively we continue to find ways to improve, which is why we're such a proponent of professional development. The student-athletes will be the benefactors, and they're the reason we do what we do.

Every summer, it feels like conference alignment pops up. A year into the new Sun Belt, what are your thoughts on where the league stands and Georgia Southern's place in it?
J.B.: I'm really proud to be a member of the Sun Belt Conference under the leadership of Commissioner Keith Gill. I go back to the President's Working Group and Commissioner Gill, who should get all the credit for our conference expansion last year. When I look back at this past year, I think it played out like we all thought it would: as a conference, we've been more competitive in virtually every sport, and the four new member institutions have been great additions to the conference. 

There is a lot of excitement, not only for football but for all sports. We get to compete against teams we historically haven't competed against as members of the same 14-school conference. When you look at our footprint, it is tremendous. Overall, we're in a great place with where we are right now. Nationally, I think you would be obtuse to say there won't be further conference expansion nationally. Without speculating, you always have to be a surveyor of what's happening around the country. I will tell you that we really like our footprint of 14 schools for the Sun Belt. You can't ever say never, but I think it would be a bad business practice not to keep an open mind to conference membership. At this point, we're in a great position as a league, and I really like the direction we're heading into this new academic year.

Many changes are coming down the pipe regarding the N.C.A.A. How are you best positioning Georgia Southern for these new times?
J.B.: Change is one of the inevitables in life, right? A lot of the discussions nationally center around N.I.L. and other legislative items, but we have to be extremely mindful of what is our why. We must constantly be reminded that our focus and our why are our student-athletes. They offer me encouragement every day that I'm around them.

When you look at what we're doing at Georgia Southern, you look at how we're performing. Do we want to perform better on the field and in the classroom? Absolutely! One of our department's goals includes achieving a 3.2 cumulative G.P.A., being one of the country's preeminent Non-Autonomy Five schools, and obviously, being the top Sun Belt school. We know we have strides to make there. But with all these N.I.L. discussions, we can't lose track that we're here to provide a best-in-class student-athlete experience and ensure our young men and women will be successful in life after sport. I think sometimes, with all the distractions in the world, one can see his/her paradigm shift if they are not careful. We can't lose focus of our mission, vision, and why we're here. And that's to educate and empower young people and help them be successful in life. So it's always a focus on creating meaningful relationships and serving others.

We will always have our heads on a swivel to ensure we know what's going on. I think we've shown the ability to be proactive and strategically patient at times with various things. Everything we do is about positioning Georgia Southern for success as an institution. So for us, I think you always have to be aware of the changes around the corner and be prepared to persevere through them.

Last year, you watched a new football coach mold his program. This year, it's men's basketball. What are your thoughts on Coach Henry early on?
J.B.: I've been impressed with Coach Henry, particularly with his assembled staff and roster. We have a lot of newcomers on the roster, and my first impression is that we have a lot more scorers, which we needed. We weren't scoring at the level we needed to win Sun Belt games and compete nationally. So you're going to see more scorers. Staying on the offensive side of the ball, you'll see a much more up-tempo offense, and overall, you'll see a lot more competitiveness. We will be long and lengthy on the defensive side of the ball, with the ability to change lineups based on who we play. I'm also very encouraged by the coaching staff and their daily approach. With Coach Henry, one of the things that really stuck out to me during the search process is what a tremendous teacher he is. But he also balances that with strong discipline and a team environment of accountability.

I'm very thankful Coach Shumate agreed to stay on staff as well. He did a great job serving our staff as the interim head coach and continues to do a great job for us. He is one of the top assistant coaches in the country. If you look at the rest of the staff, Coach Speights, Coach Hart, and George Neilson, it's a top-notch staff Coach Henry has assembled.

I'm really excited about our team's development, and I think people will see a noticeably different roster this year. Any time you're going through a change in coaching staff, it takes time to assess your roster. You have to make sure you have the right people that not only fit your system but are also great culture fits. Coach Henry will have some success early on and have some things he wants to improve at, which is typical for any first-year coach taking over a new program. He's shown a commitment to identifying and implementing a continuous-improvement mindset and is an excellent communicator. The ability to communicate at a high level can't go understated, and I'm really excited about his addition.

And finally, what's your message to Eagle Nation as we move into the 2023-24 campaign?
J.B.: Thank you! Thank you for another great year of showing up, cheering on our Eagles, and supporting our student-athletes! I want you to know it never goes unnoticed how much you positively impact our student-athletes, not only with your support but also by being in the stands. Our environments, whether Paulson, Hanner, J.I., or any other facility, are top-notch because of you. We're proud to call Statesboro home, and we're proud to be a part of Eagle Nation! 

Thank you for your continued support! As Coach Russell said, "You ain't seen nothin yet" and that's part of what we're excited about going into this new year. Hope springs eternal, and if you look at our department's direction, we're really excited about that direction, the people we have on board, and the coaches and staff leading our young people. So I'm really excited about next year and look forward to seeing everyone this fall!

Thank you for your time.
JB: Thank you! Hail Southern and G.A.T.A.