CR's June 13, 2025 Times Standard Education Matters Article

Published on Jun 10 2025

The entire College of the Redwoods community, and indeed much of the Humboldt, Del Norte, and Trinity counties, have been inspired by the remarkable success of our student-athletes over the last few years. From a competitive standpoint, they have certainly excelled. However, what I am especially proud of are the contributions our Athletic Department have provided to the successful achievement of the College’s broader strategic goals. Our winning seasons, the wonderful work of our coaches, the college’s multi-million-dollar investment in building new athletics facilities, including a new community stadium, and the addition of new sports to our athletic roster have all contributed to increased enrollments across the district and have helped us surpass our overall enrollment and institutional effectiveness goals for this year.  

And it is looking even better for next year. 

As of June 3, 2025, 204 of the 330 projected new student-athletes have already committed to CR this fall. These commitments include 56 in football, seven in volleyball, 13 in men’s soccer, 11 in women’s soccer, four in men’s basketball, 11 in women’s basketball, 22 in men’s wrestling, 12 in women’s wrestling, 28 in baseball, 15 in softball, 19 in men’s and women’s track and cross country, and six in rodeo. Equally impressive is the fact that more than 40% of our new student-athletes are from local high schools. 

The Board of Trustees and I are especially proud to recognize that our student-athletes continue to excel academically. According to a recent report that included all student-athletes who completed or participated in 2024-25 and finished with a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher, 40 student-athletes graduated with at least a 3.0 GPA– up from 38 in 2023-24. Seventy-one earned a GPA of 3.5 or higher, compared to 66 in 2023-24, and 11 had a GPA of 4.0, up from nine in 2023-24, and 37 student-athletes received special Conference or State recognition.

Overall, ten of our fourteen teams finished with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher. For the first time ever, the average GPA for the volleyball team reached 3.6. Other strong academic performances include women’s basketball at 3.32, baseball at 3.27, softball at 2.64, football at 3.17, men’s and women’s cross country/track at 3.16, women’s soccer at 3.08, men’s basketball at 3.07, men’s soccer at 2.54, and men’s and women’s wrestling at 2.33.

I want to thank the parents of our incoming student-athletes who will entrust their children’s academic and athletic future to College of the Redwoods. I want them to know that they have chosen a college that recognizes how integrally linked college athletics is to our institutional success. They are joining an athletic department that takes tremendous pride in the holistic development of each student-athlete and in fostering their academic achievements.

As we celebrate the success of our athletic program, I know that College of the Redwoods, like other higher education institutions, will have to navigate through some very stormy budgetary seas in the coming years. Regardless of the proclamations from the Governor’s Office and the Legislature related to the state’s fiscal outlook, college, university, and community college administrators know that their budgets will continue to tighten. Invariably, the discussion on how best to respond to a reduction in state funding usually includes calls to cut athletic programs. Admittedly, while athletics programs do not necessarily appear profitable from a traditional profit and loss perspective, they do provide measurable value to the college. As the enrollment numbers show, they contribute to our economic outlook by recruiting and retaining students. Beyond that, we know that having a vibrant community-supported athletic program has far-reaching implications for our students, faculty, and the region. 

While cutting athletic programs may seem expedient, experience has shown that cutting sports can have a detrimental effect on a college’s enrollment and community support. More importantly, it takes away an opportunity for the high school student athlete, who may not have seen themselves as “college material”, to compete in an intercollegiate sport they love and to achieve their academic dreams.

As we engage in the discussion about the value of athletic programs to higher education, it will be important to keep in mind the quote from Billie Jean King, “Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose—it teaches you about life.” At CR we believe these are essential life lessons, and we remain committed to carrying them forward as a vital part of our educational mission.