From the desk of President Leslie K. Guice

Remarks on Quest for Excellence

Oct 28, 2013 | Reflection

SEZ4See my remarks at the press conference providing updates for the Quest for Excellence program and South End Zone Complex facility:   Good morning, everyone. Three years ago, President Dan Reneau laid out a vision for Louisiana Tech athletics – a quest that would provide superior facilities, resources, and opportunities for our student athletes, facilities that would enable our athletes to perform and compete at the highest levels, and facilities that would put Tech athletics shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most progressive and respected athletics programs in the nation. That vision, known as the Quest for Excellence, would also play a role in enabling Tech to enhance its position in a more appropriate athletics conference. The Quest for Excellence is now becoming a reality as Louisiana Tech has begun competing in Conference USA on July 1, as our student athletes have set new records of accomplishment both on and off the fields and court, and as our facilities have been undergoing significant renovations and improvements. Today, we will provide you with an update on the progress of the new South End Zone Complex that will soon break ground. I am confident that this facility will have a transformative impact on our ability to recruit and support our student-athletes and entire student body. This first phase of the South End Zone Complex will establish a strong foundation for further expansion of our facilities and enrichment of the Louisiana Tech experience for all of our students, fans and guests. There is still much more to do in achieving our vision for ‘Quest for Excellence,’ but this is an exciting milestone and an important step in reaching our goals. We will begin a full campus master planning effort next month, and as part of that effort, we will solidify our master plan for further athletic facility enhancement and development. We want to ensure that our athletics and academics programs and facilities are fully integrated in vision and direction with the goal of elevating the national prominence of Louisiana Tech University. When my administrative team came in place on July 1, we committed ourselves to keeping the South End Zone Complex project on track and to communicate the importance of that to the design team and others. We also placed a priority on communicating the progress of the project with all of our fans and supporters. That leads us to today’s press conference, and we are very excited to show you the plans for the new facility. Before I turn this over to the Athletics Director, I want to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of some of those who have been so pivotal in the success of this project.
  • President Reneau for his vision, leadership, and development of the Quest for Excellence plans
  • The Leadership Team consisting of Steve Davison, Drake Mills and Terry Bradshaw for their fundraising, personal commitments, and leadership support
  • For all of those alumni and friends who have contributed so generously of their time and resources to this vision
  • Our student body and student leaders, represented today by SGA President Allison East and former SGA President Will Dearmon, for their financial support
  • VP Corre Stegall, VP Jim King, VP Joe Thomas, and Facilities Director Sam Wallace for countless hours of support in all aspects of the project
  • Tommy McLelland who made this project his top priority from day 1 of taking the position of Athletics Director.
It is now my pleasure to introduce our Director of Athletics, Tommy McClelland, to provide the project updates. The official press release is located at:  http://www.latechsports.com/genrel/102813aab.html The video of the facility is located at: http://www.latechsports.com/questforexcellence/