Final Board Meeting Minutes February 16, 2021 – 4:30 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Attending:
Skip Dalrymple
Keenan Hale
Barb Nesci
Jim Jerome
Salatha Willis Jr.
Jim DaRin
Karl Lombell
Lavar Lombdell
Rusty Mills
Chris Williamson
Keenan Hale
Cliff Ensley
Todd Kasmar
Kevin McLoughlin
Leonard Campolieta
Richard Murphy
The Final Board Meeting Minutes are as follows:
1. Prayers/Moment of Silence
SFC President Jim DaRin brought the Zoom meeting to order at about 4:40pm with a moment of silence for former players who have recently passed away or are in need due poor health.
2. Approval of Previous SFC Board Meeting Minutes
The draft Board Meeting minutes of the December 15, 2020 were accepted and approved by the attending Board Members. These minutes will now be distributed in their final version with any attachments in a PDF format to not only to all the Board members but also to the entire SFC membership as a means to continuously inform all the SFC members as to the scope of activities conducted by our organization. These minutes will also be posted on the SFC website
3. Financial Information-Money in Savings and Checking Accounts – Jim Jerome
Jim Jerome and Barb Nesci provided the Board with the following SFC financial balances; A combined checking account and saving account balance of $60,654.00 for cash on hand with $38,091.00 in a checking account and $22,563.00 in a savings account.
4. Salatha Willis Jr. Introduction & Presentation
Salatha Willis Jr.was recently appointed the Associate Athletic Director of Diversity, Culture and Climate, a newly established position within the Syracuse University Department of Athletics as of July 2020. In this new capacity, Willis is charged with developing and implementing innovative approaches to building a highly engaged, inclusive and equitable culture for all of the University’s student athletes, administrators, coaches and staff in the athletics department. Willis will provide oversight and effective delivery of diversity educational and developmental programming, evaluate and measure the effectiveness of existing programs and services, and serve on and provide support for University-wide committees and community groups. Salatha provided the SFC with an excellent 20 minute PowerPoint presentation on his newly established program entitled “One Orange.”Attached is Salatha’s PowerPoint presentation describing in detail the future diversity programs within the Syracuse University Athletic Department.
5. President’s Plan for Fall 2021
Jim DaRin spoke about his recent conversations with SUAD Wildhack concerning events anticipated to occur this fall if the Covid 19 restrictions are rescinded with the anticipated success of the vaccines. One idea being considered is to have a football weekend honoring both former SU football coach Paul Pasqualoni who was SU’s head football coach from 1991-2004 as well as all the teams he coached over that 15 season span of time. The traditional SFC weekend would once again be held with the Golf Tournament, Zunic Awards Dinner, Tailgate Tent and other ancillary activities. There are three home football games in September; Rutgers Saturday 9/ 11, Albany Saturday 9/18, and Liberty on 9/24 Friday evening. There are also two home games in the first half of October (pushing the envelope for good weather) are Wake Forest Saturday 10/9 and Clemson Friday evening 10/15. More information will be forthcoming soon as which one of these five home football weekends will be chosen.
6. Other Business
A. Golfing with the Coaches
With the Covid 19 pandemic the 2020 Golfing with the Coaches event had to be cancelled. However, the anticipated date for 2021 has now been set for Monday June 21, 2021. Although the date has been firmly secured, the actual holding of this event will be determined by the success of the vaccinations and the ability of the SU Football Coaching staff to attend this affair. This Golf Tournament will for the fourth time be held at the Tuscarora Golf Club in Marcellus, NY. Nick Marsella will once again be the Chairman for this affair as he did such a great job for the 2019 Golfing with the Coaches event. Items are needed for the auctions, particularly any Syracuse Orange memorabilia. Please submit any auction items to Nick. A firm determination of holding this annual SFC event will be determined in the very near future.
B. New Revised By-Laws
Warren Harvey has now completing his review of the comments received to the newly revised SFC By-Laws. A finalized version of the new By-Laws will be forthcoming as soon as John Cherundolo, Pete Pietryka and Richard Murphy have completed their final review and approval. Once approved for release by these three key SFC members, the By-Laws will be distributed and formally voted upon by the SFC Board.
C. Mentoring Efforts
Rusty Mills mentioned that his mentoring subcommittee will be meeting again soon. Also, some of the proposals in the “One Orange” initiative also call for athletic alumni to support the career development efforts of recent grads.
D. Continued SFC Website Development – Skip Dalrymple
The SFC website improvement continues in an incremental fashion. SFC members with content materials, ideas and other recommendations should contact Skip Dalrymple.
7. Next SFC Board Zoom Meeting
The next SFC Board meeting will occur on March 16, 2021 (the third Thursday of each month). The meeting agenda and the Zoom information will be sent out in the days before the meeting.
Prepared by Kevin McLoughlin