One year after Ryan Erlacher was appointed Augusta University’s new athletic director, both AU and its new AD are settling in together as Erlacher remains diligent at pushing for improvements across the entire athletic program.
Erlacher, who was hired as AU’s athletic director in October of 2022, is working to bring comprehensive facility upgrades and more resources to each of the university’s athletic teams while emphasizing academics.
After just one year, Erlacher has checked off around 60 items from a “wish list” compiled of all the school’s coaches.
“When I first got here, I met with every coach and staff member, and we developed what we call our wish list,” Erlacher said. “I would ask the coaches what they need to be more successful here.”
Lighting and seating for the baseball and softball fields, a new weight room for all the programs, a track facility, locker rooms for tennis and cross country and finalizing the renovations to the Norvell Golf House on AU’s Forest Hills campus are among the major items checked off that wish list.
Head baseball coach Chris Howell says he’s excited about what has taken place and is anticipating the future improvements Erlacher has announced.
“I’m looking forward to the investment into the student athletes and providing them with a real college atmosphere, with bleachers and a locker room,” Howell said. “It’s all about what we can do to make their time here elite.”
Erlacher and the coaches seem to have very positive relationships with each other, between meeting weekly and attending practices.
Head basketball coach Dip Metress meets with Erlacher weekly to discuss their schedules and plans for the week.
“He’s got a little basketball background, playing for Flagler years ago,” Metress said. “He’s a real professional guy who wants to make an impact in the community along with Augusta University.”
Academics is an important part of Erlacher’s job, and pushing the importance of academics was one of the first things he did when arriving at Augusta.
“I think it starts with a complete buy in from everyone involved,” Erlacher said.
Erlacher added, “The biggest change we’ve made is we have just been a bit more intentional with how we emphasize the importance of academics.”
Augusta athletics averaged a 3.28 GPA last spring semester, making it the 14th straight semester with an average GPA above 3.0.
Erlacher found his transition to Augusta to be quite easy since he was previously in a University Systems of Georgia institution at Clayton State. Because of that, Erlacher was already familiar with some procedures and policies.
He weighed out many factors when choosing the job at AU, including the impressiveness of the university itself, the university’s vision for athletics and the resources behind the department.
“From a competitive standpoint, I felt like the athletics department was one that we could compete for national championships here in every sport,” Erlacher said. “You had tremendous leadership with former AD Clint Bryant for years, but there’s a lot that still needs to be done. I love to build and grow, and I saw some really good opportunity for that.”
Erlacher obtained a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Flagler College in 2004 and a master’s degree in sports administration from Florida State in 2007.
“The support for athletics in this town and on this campus is real exciting,” he said. “It reminds me of the support I saw during my time at Florida State.
“When I walk through a grocery store or at Little League with my son, and I have AU logos on, people stop me and ask. It’s exciting to see the support we have locally for Augusta University and Augusta athletics.”
Despite the progress, Erlacher says he has also faced many challenges in his short time at AU.
“The biggest challenge has been continuing to find ways to be creative, to find ways to get things done, never settling for status quo and always pushing to make sure our department has what they need to be successful.”
Erlacher’s grand vision for AU, a NCAA Division II school, is to become a top-10 athletic department in the country, which is measured by the Learfield Directors Cup. Last school year Augusta University finished in 92nd place out of 296 programs. With the winter athletic schedule starting, and spring sports soon to follow, it doesn’t take much imagination for coaches like Howell to see AU’s athletic department profile continue to rise.
“I don’t think there is a cap for our ceiling,” Howell said. “I think we can establish and develop our own ceiling, which makes it exciting to have success up to this point within our athletics. Then, after you invest and continue to provide resources to these student athletes, I think the sky is the limit.”
