UNI Athletics Feature: Stacia Eggers
9/8/2020 1:04:00 PM | General
Stacia Eggers has a hard job. She, and her team, help track and manage academic progress and the overall health and wellness of over 400 UNI student-athletes. With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on our daily lives, and those areas being disproportionally impacted, she may have the hardest job in the department.
Eggers enters her 13th year at UNI and faces some of the toughest challenges of her career so far. Along with her regular duties as Associate Athletics Director for Student Services, she was asked to co-chair the UNI Re-Opening and Resocialization Committee, the group responsible for making and enacting policies and procedures for the pandemic response. The group has been busy non-stop since the spring. They have worked through state laws, campus and NCAA regulations which are constantly changing.
"One day this is the plan, this is what we're going to do, and the next day all of the sudden, you pivot, and it is just getting people who like to plan and be organized in a routine, to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in this process because nothing is ever set in stone," Eggers said.
On top of her responsibilities with the committee, her regular duties as the athletic academic advisor for football and men's basketball have changed drastically. She and her staff of Andrea Greve Coello and Jadyn Spencer shifted most of their work online and over the phone. She was taking calls and texts from student-athletes all hours of the day and night, but they worked hard to make sure the student-athletes had everything they needed. The main goal of supporting student-athletes hasn't changed, just the tools used to accomplish the task at hand.
"We made adjustments throughout this," she said. "One thing we've learned is you have to be super flexible because things are changing very quickly, so we did the best we can to be as proactive as possible to keep our student-athletes, coaches, staff, and community safe."
The quick adjustments in the spring made a huge impact. UNI student-athletes recorded a department-wide 3.54 GPA, the strongest academic showing since the department started recording GPAs. Each team finished the semester with a 3.29 GPA or higher and 11 of UNI's 15 teams recorded a semester GPA over 3.50.
Thriving through challenges is a hallmark of UNI athletics, and this spring's performance was another example of doing great things in tough circumstances.
"I am incredibly excited by the performance of our student-athletes during a semester that was unlike anything any of them have ever experienced," Director of Athletics David Harris said. "Our student-athletes, coaches and academic support staff showed great resilience and adapted to the circumstances they were presented with at a blistering pace. They not only met the challenge, they exceeded all of our expectations. We are all appreciative of the fantastic work done by Stacia Eggers, Andrea Greve Coello and Jadyn Spencer in providing academic support to our student-athletes under these unprecedented conditions."
Thriving through challenges is a hallmark of UNI athletics, and this spring's performance was another example of doing great things in tough circumstances.
Her staff has stepped up in response. Spencer acts as the staff advisor to the Minority Student Leadership Team and Greve Coello is leading UNI Athletics staff, coaches, and student-athletes through a 21-day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge. The challenge is a group seminar to help participants examine personal beliefs, engage in self-directed learning, and become a community that addresses racial inequalities and injustices head-on.
Eggers said she believes they have an important responsibility and chance to engage in this time in our nation and challenge the UNI staff and student-athletes.
The goal is to listen, learn and continue to ask questions, whether it be related to the impacts and implications of COVID-19 or the racial and social injustices occurring locally and nationally, to work together as a team to be better.
"It's going to take time but the worst thing we could do is not engage with everything going on right now, and ignore what people of color have endured their entire lives."
Right now, the department faces another semester and with it a lot of uncertainty, but if there is anything that Eggers has learned over the past six months, there is nothing that can't be overcome.
"We've proven we can get through it, and we will do it again."
Eggers enters her 13th year at UNI and faces some of the toughest challenges of her career so far. Along with her regular duties as Associate Athletics Director for Student Services, she was asked to co-chair the UNI Re-Opening and Resocialization Committee, the group responsible for making and enacting policies and procedures for the pandemic response. The group has been busy non-stop since the spring. They have worked through state laws, campus and NCAA regulations which are constantly changing.
"One day this is the plan, this is what we're going to do, and the next day all of the sudden, you pivot, and it is just getting people who like to plan and be organized in a routine, to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in this process because nothing is ever set in stone," Eggers said.
On top of her responsibilities with the committee, her regular duties as the athletic academic advisor for football and men's basketball have changed drastically. She and her staff of Andrea Greve Coello and Jadyn Spencer shifted most of their work online and over the phone. She was taking calls and texts from student-athletes all hours of the day and night, but they worked hard to make sure the student-athletes had everything they needed. The main goal of supporting student-athletes hasn't changed, just the tools used to accomplish the task at hand.
"We made adjustments throughout this," she said. "One thing we've learned is you have to be super flexible because things are changing very quickly, so we did the best we can to be as proactive as possible to keep our student-athletes, coaches, staff, and community safe."
The quick adjustments in the spring made a huge impact. UNI student-athletes recorded a department-wide 3.54 GPA, the strongest academic showing since the department started recording GPAs. Each team finished the semester with a 3.29 GPA or higher and 11 of UNI's 15 teams recorded a semester GPA over 3.50.
Thriving through challenges is a hallmark of UNI athletics, and this spring's performance was another example of doing great things in tough circumstances.
"I am incredibly excited by the performance of our student-athletes during a semester that was unlike anything any of them have ever experienced," Director of Athletics David Harris said. "Our student-athletes, coaches and academic support staff showed great resilience and adapted to the circumstances they were presented with at a blistering pace. They not only met the challenge, they exceeded all of our expectations. We are all appreciative of the fantastic work done by Stacia Eggers, Andrea Greve Coello and Jadyn Spencer in providing academic support to our student-athletes under these unprecedented conditions."
Thriving through challenges is a hallmark of UNI athletics, and this spring's performance was another example of doing great things in tough circumstances.
Her staff has stepped up in response. Spencer acts as the staff advisor to the Minority Student Leadership Team and Greve Coello is leading UNI Athletics staff, coaches, and student-athletes through a 21-day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge. The challenge is a group seminar to help participants examine personal beliefs, engage in self-directed learning, and become a community that addresses racial inequalities and injustices head-on.
Eggers said she believes they have an important responsibility and chance to engage in this time in our nation and challenge the UNI staff and student-athletes.
The goal is to listen, learn and continue to ask questions, whether it be related to the impacts and implications of COVID-19 or the racial and social injustices occurring locally and nationally, to work together as a team to be better.
"It's going to take time but the worst thing we could do is not engage with everything going on right now, and ignore what people of color have endured their entire lives."
Right now, the department faces another semester and with it a lot of uncertainty, but if there is anything that Eggers has learned over the past six months, there is nothing that can't be overcome.
"We've proven we can get through it, and we will do it again."
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