TAMUC – Football

Lion Athletics extends partnership with 88.9 KETR-FM as Flagship Station of Lion Sports Network

Lions Roar weekly show to debut next week

COMMERCE – Texas A&M University-Commerce Lion Athletics and 88.9 KETR-FM have announced a collaborative partnership to extend their relationship, with KETR remaining as the Flagship Station of the Lion Sports Network through the spring of 2019.

“Lion Athletics and KETR have worked together for many years, and I am ecstatic that we can expand this Best In Class collaborative campus partnership,” A&M-Commerce Director of Athletics Tim McMurray said. “Lion Athletics will continue to benefit from KETR’s dominant, terrestrial signal, and the expansion of online coverage is also a progressive step in our partnership.”

The Lion Sports Network will continue to broadcast all Lion football games, as well as most Lion women’s and men’s basketball games. Bringing play-by-play for Lion football and basketball will once again be Charlie Chitwood. Brock Callaway will provide color commentary on Lion football broadcasts.

Additionally, KETR weekly produces and broadcast the new Lions Roar show. McMurray will host the show, which will be taped live from various on campus locations and will feature multiple Lion coaches and student-athletes. Lions Roar will be replayed later in the week by KETR over the air, as well as through online channels.

The first taping of Lions Roar will take place on Tuesday, August 29, in the cafeteria of the Sam Rayburn Student Center at 12:30 p.m.

“College sports on public radio doesn’t happen in a lot of places,” said KETR general manager Jerrod Knight. “The world of college sports has humongous commercial potential, and our station is thrilled to have the opportunity to forge ahead as a flagship station even in the non-commercial media space. We hope this continued relationship can be a model for other similar stations and athletic organizations around the country.”

All Lion Sports Network broadcasts will be available on the terrestrial radio at 88.9 on the FM dial, and will also be streamed online at KETR.org. Archives of Lion Sports Network broadcasts are at host KETR.org. Lion fans will be able to stream over smart devices to their headphones or car speakers through this arrangement.

88.9 KETR-FM is a 100,000-watt public radio station, operated on the A&M-Commerce campus.

51 Lions earn D2ADA Academic Achievement Award

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A total of 51 student-athletes representing Texas A&M University-Commerce has been awarded the Division 2 Athletics Directors Association’s Academic Achievement Award for their efforts in the 2016-17 academic year, as announced Friday.

A&M-Commerce’s 51 honorees are the most for the Lions since the award was created in 2008, beating the previous school record of 41 set in 2015-16.

“This achievement is a crown jewel on a Best in Class year for our athletics program and institution,” A&M-Commerce Director of Athletics Tim McMurray said. “Congratulations to our entire Lion Athletics family on this significant milestone, as our Thrower Center continues to elevate our student-athlete success efforts to new heights.”

In total, a record 10,644 student-athletes from 183 institutions are recognized for the 2016-17 Academic Achievement Awards. For the fifth-consecutive year, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) had the most student-athletes honored with 1,022, followed by the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10) with 941 student-athletes, and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) with 865 selections.

“As an Officer for the D2 ADA Board, I have been pleased to see the increase in the number of student-athletes recognized for their academic achievements,” said D2 ADA President Scott Wiegandt, director of athletics at Bellarmine University. “This program is a point of pride for our current D2 ADA member institutions and a great way to recognize the achievements of their student athletes. On behalf of the D2 ADA, we celebrate these academic accolades and are proud of your accomplishments.”

For a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division II institution MUST BE a CURRENT dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.

Also, the student-athlete must:

· have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale
· have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work
· have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year
·
Texas A&M University-Commerce student-athletes who earned the award are: