Monday was a fantastic day. It began by welcoming our new Bulldogs head basketball coach Eric Konkol to my office along with AD Tommy McClelland. After a brief visit, I introduced Eric to our Athletics Council who had a chance to talk with him and discuss his vision for the future of the program. Next up was a press conference in the Waggonner Room of the Thomas Assembly Center where a great turnout of fans, friends, media and staff were on hand for the formal announcement of Coach Konkol. I could not be happier with our new coach, and I believe he will continue to take our program to new heights!   After the presser, I headed over to the Tonk for a Faculty and Staff Recognition Luncheon that Kathy and I were hosting. Despite the inclement weather, we had a large turnout from all across campus to enjoy the fellowship and a great barbeque lunch. Kathy and I enjoyed the time we had to visit with everyone and thank them for all of their support of our students. It takes a lot of people pulling together to make this the great institution that it is. I am so grateful to our faculty and staff who put their heart into their work every day.     After lunch, I caught a few minutes of a webcast of one of the Louisiana Senate Committees that was considering a bill of importance to higher education. Then, I welcomed four Tech students who are competing in the 2015 Miss Louisiana pageant. Current Miss Louisiana Tech Eva Edinger was joined by Miss Louisiana Tech 2014 Meagan Lee, Morgan Tanner and Anna Blake for some group photos. I offered them some words of encouragement and thanked them for their representation of Louisiana Tech in the pageant!   A little later in the afternoon, I went to University Hall to meet with the Tech Leadership Council class – about 30 students who have demonstrated strong leadership potential and spend the quarter learning principles of leadership and hearing from different leaders from different organizations. I thoroughly enjoyed the hour of discussion, questions and answers with them. Special thanks to Stacy Gilbert and Barry Morales for their efforts to prepare this next generation of leaders. Monday was capped off with the annual President’s Midnight Breakfast that we host for our students at the beginning of spring finals week. Faculty and staff volunteered to serve the students breakfast and do cleanup work. We all had the pleasure of hearing Lawrence Gibbs and the Jazz Band while eating and enjoying time with students, faculty and staff. What a way to start the week!