Dear Panther Family,

As we deal with our new reality, I believe it's important to frame any discussion around our core values. Athletics exists at Georgia State because we believe deserving students should have an opportunity to pursue their athletic aspirations and earn a college education. Our program is guided by three fundamental core values:

•Compete with a Purpose – Throughout our day, all of us are given plenty of opportunities to fill time. We can spend our time either creating Action or watching the clock participating in an Activity. The challenge is to fill our time with productive, results-oriented tasks that make us and those around us better in every facet of our lives. It is to embrace innovative and efficient ways of thinking and operating.

•Selflessness – "It's Not About Me." We are about a complete buy-in to the process of winning through a genuine belief that the team is greater than any one individual and no one wants to be the weakest link. It is an eagerness to sacrifice personal interests for the welfare of all. 

•Be Positive Leaders – Ultimately, there is no substitute for hard work with any endeavor. One must truly enjoy what they do and this genuine determination must be self-generated and radiate to others for effective change to occur. This builds consistency through our thoughts, words, ideas, and efforts, and creates trust throughout.

We recognize that in order to effectively promote this identity, coming out from the slowdown created by the Coronavirus, we must refocus our efforts educating our stakeholders about athletics. As an introduction, the value of intercollegiate athletics is clear to benefiting three key stakeholder groups – an individual student-athlete, the GSU student body, and our campus community.
 


Over 375 Georgia State students participate in athletics on our 16 varsity sports teams, including 44 international students from 16 different countries. Like our campus population, the vast majority of our student-athletes call Georgia home, so the opportunity to play at home is a key reason kids choose our University.


 
Annually, we spend approximately $6 million on financial aid for student-athletes, funding our scholarship levels to the NCAA maximums, yet most of our student-athletes are not on full scholarships. In fact, student-athletes and their families account for over $3 million annually to the University in the form of paid tuition, fees, housing, and dining.


 
Our vision is clear, but the pandemic has caused us to pause our growth efforts and focus in the immediate on being a true University partner in stabilizing our campus and community. To accomplish this, financial stability is our most important task, so we focus on finishing the 2019-2020 fiscal year and plan for a range of scenarios beginning in July around what the GSU Experience looks like. I'm proud of our staff and coaches for their willingness to share the sacrifice that it's going to take to for us and all other programs to climb out of our current circumstance. The most gratifying part is that I know we will because we share a commitment to our values.
 

 
We want to be a top-25 athletics program, reflecting on the University's transformation as a school of choice and highly-ranked Research I institution. As the conference's premier academic program, we take great pride in the results our student-athletes produce in the classroom, and we are eager for our across-the-board competitive results to mirror our academic success. Through the experiences of our coaches and student-athletes, their stories will guide our process to redefine Georgia State Athletics. We genuinely thank you for your support and it's because of you and that support that Georgia State will come out of this stronger than ever and, our athletics program will follow suit.
 
Thank you!  "Survive and Advance!"
 
Charlie Cobb
Director of Athletics