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The term "student-athlete" gets thrown around loosely at many NCAA and NJCAA programs, but inside the walls at Daytona State College it's all about academics. The question remains, however, as the school's athletic program's academic achievements reach new heights, is its athletic success on the field struggling? Since 2007, the athletic program's off the field accomplishments include, among others, back-to-back Florida Community College Athletic Association Academic Team of the Year awards for the women's golf team and back-to-back NJCAA Academic Team of the Year honors for the baseball program. Perhaps coincidentally though, the school's success athletically has slumped at times.

Aside from a 2007 Mid-Florida Conference baseball championship and two consecutive Top 3 performances at the women's golf national championships, Daytona's playoff appearances have been dismal at best, leaving Falcons sports fans wondering where the program's attention is really at.

"Obviously we're all competitive, we like to win, but at the end of the day what's really most important for these kids is their academic progress," Daytona State athletic director Will Dunne said. "We love winning. Winning is important. We don't want to lose games, but the biggest focus has to be on their academic achievement." Dunne's vision is shared by the college and has radiated through each coach and athlete.

Head baseball coach, Tim Touma, has had his share of success in his eight years at Daytona State. But despite four conference championships in six seasons, including the school's first Mid-Florida Conference title and first No. 1 state ranking in 2003, it is the back-to-back years of coaching the team with the nation's highest G.P.A that he is most proud of.

"It (Academic Team of the Year) means the most. I said after we achieved it that it's the greatest accomplishment in my seven years here, because it truly is the mission of the college," admitted Touma, who himself was an All-SEC academic performer at the University of Florida.

"It's been the mission of my life. Education has gotten me to this point, not the baseball. To take a young group of guys and to show them the importance of getting their education, I don't think we can do anything on the yard that can trump that accomplishment."

All in all, Daytona State graduated over 80 percent of its student-athletes for the third consecutive year in the 2007-2008 academic year. Fifty-two athletes earned Academic All-Conference honors with a G.P.A of 3.0 or above, 36 earned Academic All-State honors with G.P.A's of 3.3 or higher and 12 student-athletes were Academic All-Americans with G.P.A's over 3.6. A stunning five Falcons athletes earned NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-American awards with G.P.A's over 3.8. Much of that success, Dunne admits, is the academic support system the college puts in place for its athletes.

"In our department we have people that care, whether it's their academic adviser in the department or any of the athletic staff or coaches," he said. "I think we have a very good group of people within the athletic department that cares about the interest of the student-athlete."

Coaches keep constant tabs on their players' grades with academic progress sheets and encourage study time in the Academic Support Center. Every coach has a method to ensure academic success for their players, including head softball coach, Sabrina Manhart, who has her girls meet bi-weekly with their academic advisor and attend study groups twice a week.

But as grades are at an all-time high, athletic performance has not been on par with past seasons. While the women's golf team is the favorite to win the national championship in May and the baseball team is in the thick of a race for the second spot in the conference standings, post-season success has been out of reach for the other sports.

Manhart's softball team is having a solid season, but at 18-20 and three games out of the second spot in the conference, it will take a winning streak for them to be in contention for a post-season spot. The women's basketball team had a great overall record at 20-9, but with six of those losses coming in conference play, the team was relegated to third in conference. The men's basketball team struggled again in a rebuilding year, finishing 12-19.

Despite an apparent correlation between success academically and minimal success athletically, Dunne says that's certainly not the case and that each athlete's academic success is more a product of their character and hard work at Daytona State than anything else.

"We're not going to exclude kids who may have a 2.5 (G.P.A) in high school or say, 'if you don't have a 3.0 you can't go to Daytona State'…we're not that way. We're looking for the traits and characteristics that are going to be important for them to be successful in the classroom," he said. "We're not going to recruit just kids with a 3.5 and above, but we need to know when we are recruiting them if they are willing to invest and work hard."

As some programs struggle, the baseball program is on the verge of returning to its perch at the top of the conference standings and the women's golf team is among the nation's elite. As the softball team also continues to improve, it's becoming apparent that maybe it's just been a few down years for some programs and that the school's athletic program is not sacrificing W's in the win column for A's in the grade book.

"It all starts with picking the right people," Touma says of his baseball program's success. "We spend a lot time in the recruitment process on families and getting to know mom and dad. If we can pick the person that has our goals and wants to fit into our environment, because Daytona State is amazingly unique in what we look for compared to other two-year situations, they will succeed."

While Daytona State is admittedly an academic-first school for its student-athletes by Dunne, the ideal situation would be to be as successful on the field, court or course (and now pool) as off. It may be impossible for every sport to win state academic honors and compete for a state title, but the women's golf team is certainly the model, winning its second consecutive Academic Team of the Year award in the same year it produced seven All-Americans at the 2008 National Championship.

"You want balance in your program, so to be able do well on the field and in the classroom begins to start painting a picture that you have holistic programs, you can do both," Dunne admits. "At the end of the day we've talked to the staff about this a lot and the staff certainly understands at some point in time these student-athletes are not going to be engaged in athletics. They're going to be in society working a job in a career, doing something they need to do to be successful in life.

"If athletics can play a role in that, then I think it's a win-win."

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