April 20, 2007

Fort Wayne, IN - Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Chancellor Michael A. Wartell announced at noon today (Friday, April 20) that he has regretfully accepted Director of Athletics Mark Pope's letter of resignation, effective June 30, 2007.

Wartell said, "It is with a profound sense of sadness that I accept Mark's resignation. Mark has been with IPFW for six years, and in that time, he has been the driving force propelling our athletics department to great levels of achievement. I must thank Mark for his tireless efforts in getting NCAA Division I certification for IPFW in September 2002 and more recently, for getting IPFW into the Mid-Continent Conference." 

Wartell continued in his praise for Pope, noting some of his other achievements, including increasing attendance at many of the Mastodon sporting events:  men's basketball attendance has increased ten times over what it was in 2000, including the highest-percentage increase in all Division I institutions in 2003-04; women's volleyball attendance doubled from 2004 to 2005; and men's volleyball attendance was ranked third in the country in 2004 and 2006.

Wartell also cited the increase in corporate marketing revenues by 175 percent from 2003 to 2006. "But Mark wasn't just concerned with increasing attendance or contributions," said Wartell, "He was truly focused on what was best for our student-athletes. He knows the importance of getting a good education, and set a departmental goal of a 3.0 grade point average.  That goal has been met for the past three years, and we are all very proud of that." 

Pope came to IPFW from Lincoln National Corporation, where he served as Vice President of Federal Regulations. He is a graduate of both Purdue and Indiana, earning a B.A. at Purdue and a J.D. from Indiana University's School of Law. Pope has been very involved in the Fort Wayne community over the years. He is a graduate of Leadership Fort Wayne, and has served on the boards of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, ARCH, Fort Wayne Urban League, the History Center, Junior Achievement, Bishop Luers High School, United Way, and the Fort Wayne Bicentennial Council. He has been an attorney for 27 years and is listed in Who's Who in American Law and is a Fellow of the Indiana State and Indianapolis Bar Foundations.

Pope and his wife, Julie, are the proud parents of two sons, Brent and Brad.   

Pope said when he came to IPFW, he developed five goals for the Athletics Department. The first goal was to attain Division I certification, which was achieved September 1, 2002 on schedule and on budget. Second was to increase the departmental grade point average to 3.0; that has been achieved for the past seven semesters, culminating in a 3.11 GPA this past fall. On top of that, the softball, tennis, and cross country and track teams have earned All Academic honors from their respective associations. Third on Pope's list was gender equity. He said, "In 2001, our campus was 57 percent female and 43 percent male, but athletics was just the opposite:  57 percent male and 43 percent female. That's a violation of Gender Equity and Title IX. I made the hard decisions to get our department in balance with the campus numbers, so that, for the past two years, we have achieved the Gender Equity requirements of both the NCAA and Title IX."  Next on his list was fundraising. Under Pope's guidance, the department developed the first comprehensive Sports Marketing program within IPFW Athletics. He says it will raise more money this year than in any prior year. The fifth and final goal Pope set was gaining conference affiliation. He called that the most important and difficult goal, because it was also the most critical to IPFW's coaches, fans, and student-athletes.

Pope says all of the other notable accomplishments of the department, such as the redesign of the Soccer Showcase, moving the men's basketball games to the Memorial Coliseum, helping establish IPFW's Homecoming tradition, the Athletics Hall of Fame, and instituting men's and women's golf as sponsored sports, were strategies to accomplish his five primary goals. Pope said, "Having accomplished these goals, I believe that the time is appropriate for Julie and me to pursue new interests and adventures. That's why I told Chancellor Wartell that I would resign as Director of Athletics at the end of the fiscal year. Julie and I are pursuing some opportunities, both in and out of Fort Wayne at this time, and the June 30 ending date may be modified, if one of those opportunities presents itself to us before that date."

He went on to thank a number of people. "First of all, I want to thank Chancellor Wartell for giving me this wonderful opportunity six years ago; I'd like to thank the faculty and staff of IPFW for their generous and significant help in developing our program. I sincerely appreciate all the boosters, the corporate sponsors, and the fans who made this all possible. There aren't enough thanks for the hardest-working and most dedicated group of people that I've ever had the pleasure to work with:  our coaches and staff. They went far beyond the expected, performing incredible tasks under very difficult circumstances. Finally, I want to thank the reason I'm here:  our student-athletes. Their daily examples of dedication, hard work, and self-sacrifice have been my inspiration. I hope I leave this place better than it was before I arrived; but that's for others to determine. Julie and I will always have a warm place in our hearts for IPFW and we can't wait to watch our teams compete for conference championships and NCAA tournaments!"  

Wartell said the search for Pope's replacement will begin immediately.

~Dons~