Wildcat fans,

After our Oct. 7 game against McNeese, we’ve now had three home games on Anthony Field, yet it’s still hard to believe we’re in our own on-campus stadium! If you haven’t made it to a game this season, you still have two opportunities: Oct. 21 vs. Southeastern Louisiana (Homecoming weekend) and Nov. 11 against nationally ranked Sam Houston State. You can still buy single-game tickets for the Nov. 11 game, but the Oct. 21 Homecoming game is already a sellout.

However, we will be selling Standing Room Only seats the day of the game at Gate A (southwest corner of the stadium) for $20 apiece. We will only accept cash for those tickets.

Make sure you attend a game during this historic first season of Wildcat Stadium – not just to see the best venue of its kind in the country, but also to see the improvement head coach Adam Dorrel’s team has made in his first season.

Ticket Giveback Program

If you’ve already bought tickets for either of the final two games of 2017 and know you won’t be able to make it, please take advantage of our newly created Ticket Giveback Program allowing you to give your tickets back to ACU Athletics. We, in turn, will donate those tickets to fans or groups who want to attend one of the final two games.

Simply email tickets@acu.edu with your ticket information (section, row and seat/seats) by Oct. 13 and Nov. 3, respectively. We’ll put them to good use!

First Down Club added

Earlier this week we announced a new initiative to help raise money for the football program’s operating budget as we seek to be more in line with the other 10 universities in the Southland Conference. Our current annual operating budget is $255,000 below the league median.

The First Down Club already has its first financial commitment: a $100,000 matching gift for each of the next three years, which provides the program with an immediate boost and gives donors the opportunity to double their impact on ACU football. With this generous contribution, the goal of the First Down Club is to raise $200,000 annually during the next three years ($600,000 overall).

Donors who give $1,000 or more to the Football Excellence Fund will be members of the First Down Club. All gifts to the Football Excellence Fund for the next three years will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $100,000. Contributions will benefit enhanced academic support, recruiting, team travel and other expenses.

For more information on how to become a member of the First Down Club, contact Dave Kinard, deputy director of athletics, at 325-674-6438 or dlk15a@acu.edu.

Women’s soccer lead the way 

Congratulations to women’s soccer head coach Casey Wilson and his program for its commitment to excellence both on the field and in the classroom. We recently learned the program has the highest cumulative grade point average in all of NCAA Division I women’s soccer at 3.76. 

Only two other soccer programs in the country – Butler (Kan.) Community College (3.81) and NCAA Division III Elmira (N.Y.) College (3.80) – registered higher nationwide GPAs. The Wildcats now have received the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award four times during their five years at the NCAA Division I level (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017). Congratulations to Casey and his team for this amazing accomplishment!

Sports Hall of Fame to add eight to ranks

Homecoming 2017 is next weekend and the full slate of activities can be found here. You don’t want to miss out on all the festivities!

We’ll be hosting our annual Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where we’ll honor eight more Wildcat greats: Lindsey (Martin ’05) Campbell from volleyball, Donny Darville (’91) from golf, Kenny Davidson (’81)and Kirby Jones (’79) from football, Albert Lawrence (’85) from men’s track and field, Katie (Bryan ’05) Thomas from softball, and James Wright (’85) from men’s basketball. Lance Barrow (’77) is this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Also being honored this year is E. Wayne Massey, M.D. (’66), this year’s winner of the Jim Womack Award, which recognizes former student-athletes who have excelled athletically, academically and in their professional field.

For more details on the dinner and to purchase tickets, click here.

Cross country hosting Southland championship

Mark your calendars for Friday, Oct. 27, as ACU hosts the Southland Conference cross country championship meet at the new Cross Country Course on East North 10th Street. This is the first time since we re-joined the league in summer 2013 that ACU has hosted a Southland championship, and we have a great shot at winning the women’s title and moving on to the regional meet in College Station on Nov. 10.

The Wildcats been one of the top-ranked women’s teams in the South Central Region poll all season and will enter the meet as the favorite to reclaim the title it won in 2015. Its top runners were red-shirted in 2016 in an attempt to win the conference title on our home course in 2017.

The women’s 6-kilometer race will get started at 8:30 a.m., followed by the 8-kilometer men’s race at 9:30 a.m. If you can be there Friday morning to see the Wildcat teams race, I know they and the coaches will be glad to see you there.

Men’s basketball dinner

As they’ve done for each of the last three years, our men’s basketball program will host a fundraising event just before the season tips off.

The event will be Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. in the Brown Family Club Level at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium, with Texas Tech University men’s head basketball coach Chris Beard – who worked as a graduate assistant at ACU in the late 1990s – as the guest speaker.

Tickets are $25 a person – register here.

Donors who have given $100 or more to the Men’s Basketball Excellence Fund in 2016-17 or 2017-18 will receive an email providing a promo code to register for the event for free. Please contact Amy McAlister at 325-674-2323 with any questions.

All proceeds benefit the Men’s Basketball Excellence Fund, which supplements the team’s operating budget.

Byron Nelson Golf Tournament next month

The 33rd annual Byron Nelson Golf Tournament will be Monday, Nov. 13, at the Mira Vista Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, and we need you to sign up today! The cost is $300 per player and $1,200 per foursome, with proceeds benefitting the Byron and Louise Nelson Golf Endowment at ACU. The tournament begins with a 10 a.m. shotgun start and we’d love to see you there.

The night before, we’re hosting a dinner featuring Lance Barrow, the executive producer for golf at CBS, as the guest speaker. The dinner will be at 6 p.m. at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth. More information can be found here.

We’ve got a lot of big events coming up over the next few weeks, and I hope to see you at as many of those as possible as we continue with the 2017-18 athletics year.

Go Wildcats!

Lee De León
Director of Athletics
Abilene Christian University