LITTLE ROCK — UALR’s athletic director earns top honor in region
UALR’s Chris Peterson will be named the Central regional Athletic Director of the Year later this week.
Peterson, the athletic director at UALR, is one of four regional award winners and will receive his award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics at a luncheon Thursday in Anaheim, Calif.
“I was extremely surprised when I got the letter,” Peterson said. “The nomination and the work was done out of the league office. I’m very thankful for the Sun Belt Conference.”
This past season, the UALR women’s basketball team advanced to the NCAA Women’s Tournament for the first time.
“You would be hard pressed to find a more knowledgeable and dedicated athletic director than Chris Peterson,” UALR Chancellor Joel T. Anderson said. “Under his leadership, Trojan student-athletes are held to high standards of academic and athletic performance. Chris gives UALR fans much to cheer about year after year.”
The women’s basketball team has won at least 20 games in four consecutive years and will likely be the favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference again this year. The team’s season ended in March with a second-round loss to Oklahoma in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
The men’s basketball team finished 8-22 last season, but had its first consecutive 20-victory seasons in more than 20 years in the previous two years. In 2008 and 2009, UALR became one of 29 NCAA Division I schools with at least 20 victories in both men’s and women’s basketball both seasons.
The women’s soccer team advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament championship game last season, and the baseball team recorded its most victories since 2003.
UALR student-athletes also had a combined grade-point average of 3.0 or better in eight consecutive seasons with 88 percent of full-time freshman exhausting their eligibility completing graduation.
“This award is really about the coaches, athletes and administration,” Peterson said. “Without the success of the coaches and support of administration, it doesn’t happen. I’m very fortunate to be the director of athletics at UALR.”
Peterson, who has served the past two years as a member of the NCAA Division I Recruiting and Personnel Issues Cabinet, will join the NCAA Division I Administration Cabinet this year.
The Central Region is made up of schools in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
- Jeffrey Slatton FOOTBALL
Arkansas’ Love on Outland list
Arkansas senior offensive tackle DeMarcus Love was named to the Outland Trophy watch list Monday by the Football Writers Association of America.
Love, 6-5, 315 pounds, of Lancaster, Texas, started all 13 games in 2009 and now has 24 career starts under his belt. He is one of 63 players on the watch list for the Outland Trophy, which is given to the best lineman, on offense or defense, in college football.
Love, an offensive captain last season, helped the Razorbacks lead the SEC in scoring (36 points per game) and passing (295.5 yards per game), and rank third in total offense (427.3 ypg).
Love was not available for comment.
Love is one of 11 SEC players on the watch list, including Auburn offensive lineman Lee Ziemba, 6-8, 320, of Rogers.
The Outland Trophy winner will be announced at The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show on Dec. 9, and the presentation banquet will be on Jan. 13, 2011, in Omaha, Neb.
Love’s inclusion on a preseason watch list is likely to be the first of many for an Arkansas team that is being projected to contend in the rugged SEC West. Quarterback Ryan Mallett is a probable Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award candidate, while tight end D.J. Williams and receivers Joe Adams and Greg Childs should contend for other awards.
Arkansas has two Outland Trophy winners in its history: Two-way star Bill “Bud” Brooks in 1954 and tackle Loyd Phillips in 1966.
The Outland, presented annually since 1946 and named for the late John Outland, is the third-oldest award in major college football.
Sports, Pages 17 on 06/22/2010