The strategic plan for GW Athletics is taking shape – the result of a multi-month comprehensive review examining the athletics department and the varsity, intramural and club sports it oversees.

Senior Vice Provost and Senior Vice President for Student Academic Support Services Robert Chernak said an extensive report on the findings of the wide-ranging assessment has been passed along to the review’s executive committee, which is in the process of constructing a final draft of the strategic plan.

“Right now it’s all in draft form and confidential to the executive committee,” Chernak said. “There are things going on, [but] nothing concrete yet.”

He said the committee has been busy since receiving the appraisal – reviewing its findings, meeting for discussion, prioritizing action plans and beginning to formulate a business plan for enacting suggested changes.

The executive committee received its comprehensive report from the review’s 20-member steering committee, which used input from seven subcommittees that examined all areas of the athletic department in detail before creating their own reports. In addition to the subcommittees, the steering committee also utilized feedback and findings from public forums, a coaches’ roundtable, the Club Sports Council and the Student Athlete Advisory Council.

Some of the recommendations are already beginning to take flight, including a recently announced plan to replace the artificial turf on the Mount Vernon Campus athletics fields. The field is home to the men’s and women’s soccer teams as well as the women’s lacrosse team and was originally built in 2001. It was evident that the turf needed to be replaced, Chernak said, and it was a project that called for immediate action.

“We didn’t have the luxury of time to deliberate on that,” Chernak said. “It was time to replace the artificial turf, so that project will start sometime this summer and hopefully will be complete in time for the start of the soccer season for the fall.”

Chernak said the final draft of the review and subsequent plan, which will involve more conversation between the executive committee and the steering committee, is expected to be finalized sometime in the fall.

The end result will be a plan with benchmarks and continuity – one that will be a broad, working document that allows for clear direction of the Department of Athletics.

“The plan will never end,” Chernak said. “Every year it will evolve and be a dynamic document.” u