NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
CLEVELAND, O.H. — Niagara University Director of Athletics Simon Gray has been appointed to the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (ADA) Executive Committee, beginning a three-year term on July 1st.
Gray, who has been at the helm of the Niagara University Athletics Department since 2014, has focused on a collaborative approach to highlight critical interdependencies across campus. He has placed an emphasis on the student-athlete experience, including building a strong Student-Athlete Affairs program that has put Niagara University at the forefront of addressing and implementing initiatives for the improvement of student-athlete welfare.
Gray has increased engagement with the community through service, events and communication and established the Niagara Athletics Council to assist in moving the department forward. He has helped with the identification and development of plans for facility upgrades, including the renovations made to Bobo Field, the home of Niagara baseball which were completed in the fall of 2017, the Hall of Fame atrium in the Gallagher Center, the upcoming video displays in the Gallagher Center and Dwyer Arena, and renovations of the Vincent O’Malley Strength & Conditioning Center this summer.
Academic excellence has been a hallmark for the department as the overall department GPA for the 2017-18 academic year was 3.27 including 17 programs with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Niagara recorded its highest-ever NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 92 percent which exceeded the national average by six percent and had 11 programs score at or above the national Academic Progress Rate (APR) average in their respective sport in the most recent announcements.
The 2017-18 season was a strong campaign for the Purple Eagles. Four student-athletes (Greg Cullen, Kahlil Dukes, Rylee Hunt, Victoria Rampado) earned conference player of the year awards, the volleyball program was the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, the men’s basketball program played in the postseason for the first time since 2013, and the hockey program earned a national ranking (No. 20) for the first time since 2013.
The Division I-AAA ADA is a professional organization comprised of Division I athletics directors and is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Division I-AAA includes all NCAA Division I member institutions that do not sponsor football. The mission of the Division I-AAA ADA is to advance and enhance initiatives common to its membership.