The mission of ACU is to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.
What is Christian service and leadership, though? Is the department of athletics doing Christian service and being Christian leaders?
I believe students and alumni have bountiful opportunities to do so, but the department of athletics routinely fails at portraying how to live a Christian servant life during and after college which is leading to a university’s culture being split in half.
During the summer of 2008, my family made the cross-country move from Jackson, Tennessee, to Abilene, so my parents could begin new jobs. Fifteen years later, I have seen ACU rise to a new level in higher education. Unfortunately, ACU has prioritized professionalism and growth instead of providing faculty and staff with more benefits to support campus. Now, as a senior at this institution, I have been able to abundantly witness these shortcomings.
Primarily through my work with the department of athletics, I believe the culture within this department is burning people out at an immense rate. I have talked to numerous staff members who were working upwards of 80 hours a week and were unable to meet the demands of their respective roles because of pressure from coworkers. These people loved ACU but ultimately either left or transitioned to different roles.
The linchpin of my burnout was when I went to the Western Athletic Conference tournament in 2022 for the Optimist. I was working until midnight each night because of ACU men’s basketball’s run to the championship, but, often, I was done before my coworkers in the department of athletics. I was worn out by the end. My joy for reporting sports was diminished because of the immense pressure I felt from ACU and myself.
While it was an exciting tournament, I felt empty, and I am now burnt out on ACU and, specifically, ACU athletics. I want to find my joy for ACU athletics again, but I am not there yet.
The next semester, during the fall of 2022, I learned why saying no is so important. The structures, systems and processes I was a part of did not value allotting time for myself. My mental health tanked.
Fast forward to now, and I feel more free than ever before and ready to move forward in life. I’m entering a world where I’m learning every day what my limits are and how important it is to rest to give your best.
Aside from the student perspective, faculty and staff have faced significant hurdles to be appropriately resourced for the level ACU is at now. I vividly remember seeing numerous mentors of mine in the same field battling hurdles every day, thrust upon them by coworkers. Specific to ACU athletics, I’ve seen others exhausted of joy for sports who left the industry altogether.
Since making the move to Division I in 2013, ACU has had four athletic directors. Frankly, the inconsistency in leadership has contributed to a culture of toxicity that permeates across campus and students simply do not care anymore about games.
I was 7 years old when Parker Wentz hit a buzzer-beating three to knock off the University of Central Arkansas at Moody Coliseum in 2013. That shot changed everything for ACU athletics and is why I care so deeply about this subject.
Since that shot, ACU men’s basketball has gone to two NCAA tournaments, and the women’s basketball program made it to the NCAA tournament in 2019. These moments are where ACU athletics caught a glimpse of what the future could look like.
In the summer of 2021, ACU announced a move from the Southland Conference to the Western Athletic Conference. ACU is struggling to compete at this new level of competition despite dominating the Southland. Thus, ACU moved conferences far too quickly.
Last year, I wrote a column piece about the department of athletics’ failure to retain employees. Two years ago, I wrote about the trends in the department, and it has since trended downward. If athletics truly wants to see a change for the better, maybe Zack Lassiter, the vice president for athletics, and others need to re-evaluate the mission, vision and purpose for the department. At the end of the day, how does the department of athletics truly exemplify its message of being the doorstep to the university? They preach that message all the time but I have never once since it aligned with ACU’s mission and vision.
Because the department of athletics is not doing an adequate job of meeting the needs and desires of students, who would rather spend their time elsewhere. If they really want to entice the campus into attending games, I believe they should focus on having a stronger awareness of what is going on across campus instead of doing random pizza and wings giveaways.
I hope that Lassiter and others in the future realize what kind of environment they’re creating. ACU must create a culture people want to be a part of, not one running everyone into the ground. I believe by making employees feel valued within the department of athletics, a firm foundation would be set, thus allowing for a heart change to happen across campus and bring new energy to a rising Christian university. No one at a university, let alone a Christian university, should feel like they are always on shaky ground. If you want to know more about employees in the department of athletics being on shaky ground, go read this post by former Sports Information Director Zach Carlyle.
My hope for ACU is to think more critically about the values, missions and purpose the university serves. Zach’s story is one of dozens within the department of athletics. Rather than being professional and setting records, why doesn’t the department of athletics just focus on what they have instead of looking 10 years ahead? Lassiter and his staff need to meet people where they are. Love others well. And focus on being Christian servants and leaders throughout the world.
