Who am I to demand excellence, he who only recently found his own car keys in the refrigerator? I’m doing it anyway. I demand excellence from Arkansas State in 2024. Not just athletically, but in all facets of what it means to be a university.

Earlier this year, we took the Arkansas Democrat Gazette to task for largely ignoring Arkansas State and its critical importance to the future of northeast Arkansas. (After all, if the state’s only statewide newspaper doesn’t find Arkansas State essential to Arkansas, why should its readers?) The reality is that for Arkansas State to win the hearts and minds of the Natural State, it has to be twice as spectacular as everyone else. It’s not enough

Launch a New Doctoral Program

It may sound odd to advocate for higher education in a state that seems to regard education as some kind of direct pathway to Satan, but I am a societal rebel to the bone that believes education actually leads to economic and social growth. Today, Arkansas State offers two interdisciplinary doctoral degree programs: Environmental Sciences and Molecular Biosciences, and they’re both very good programs. By comparison, the University of Arkansas offers eleven.

Doctoral programs are expensive – perhaps not as expensive as, say, a football program, but pricey nonetheless. Doctoral programs require resources, perhaps even a new building to house those resources, and above all talent. After all, if you want to launch a doctoral degree is astrophysics, you will need to dig deep into your academic NIL collective (no such thing) to lure the very best (or at least half-decent) astrophysicist professors to campus.

The molecular bioscience program at Arkansas State is headed by globally renown research Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar and features all-star professors such as Dr. Jay Xu and Dr. Argelia Lorence, the latter receiving national attention for her work with protecting rice from climate change. They’re research is conducted largely at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) located on the Arkansas State campus. (Fun Fact: ABI was funded by the settlement from a lawsuit brought against the tobacco industry. It was Arkansas State alum Governor Mike Beebe who insisted that ABI be located at Arkansas State.)

Building institutes and hiring all-star faculty requires investment, but the deepest requirement is vision – an element that Arkansas State has in suitable supply. After all, establishing a campus in Mexico (and most recently Qatar), founding an osteopathic medical school, and establishing a veterinary school are bold steps. But what if Arkansas State were to build a doctoral program around Artificial Intelligence? Engineering Technology? Data Science?

An intriguing direction to take is metallurgy. With northeast Arkansas rapidly becoming a staging ground of steel innovation, the region can become an intellectual hot spot for metallurgy. Places like University of Utah, University of Alabama and the legendary Colorado School of Mines offer PhD degrees in metallurgy. Northeast Arkansas steel mills can recruit talent from those campuses, but why draw talent from these institutions when one can buy local?

Creating a metallurgy doctoral program at Arkansas State would likely require private investment from some deep pockets – perhaps U.S. Steel, the most direct beneficiary for a local pipeline of talent. It would also likely require support from the state’s legislature, who at the moment seems more intent on funneling education funds to private religious schools than fostering innovation.

Remember That A-State Has a Baseball Program

It’s easy to forget that Arkansas State fields a baseball team, but it’s true. The Red Wolves have a baseball team, and it’s played in the dark shadow of football, track, bowling, basketball, women’s soccer and volleyball for far too long. Arkansas State has never been a baseball powerhouse, but there was a time when the university put out a competitive team. Of late (and perhaps later than late), the program is floundering and friendless and hasn’t enjoyed a winning record since 2017.

Earlier this year, I beseeched the A-State donor class to show some love to Arkansas State baseball. So far, there hasn’t been much movement to pull the Red Wolves out of the Sun Belt basement. As other SBC conference programs have looked to invest more in hardball, Arkansas State continues to wait for…something. We can only hope that the something happens in 2024.

It’s Time for A-State Bowling to Go Get That Natty

Last year, the Red Wolves were a single game from national bowling glory, only to fall to Vanderbilt in heartbreaking fashion. It was the closest Justin Kostick and his team have come to sealing the deal, and to come so close must have caused unyielding pain to the highly competitive Kostick. However, this could be the season the NCAA National Championship comes to Jonesboro. Led by seniors Faith Welch and Emma Stull, and bolstered by Karli VanDuinen strike-queen Brooklyn Buchanan, Coach Kostich has the talent and experience to finally deliver victory.

Expectations for A-State Football and Men’s Basketball Will Be High

The pressure – fair or not – will be on head football coach Butch Jones and head men’s basketball coach Bryan Hodgson to produce results. Coach Jones will enter 2024 in Year 4 of his tenure (or year three, by Jones’ calendar), and will be beneficiary to three outstanding recruiting classes, making this team 100% his team. At the very least, Red Wolves fans will demand that A-State make a serious run at the SBC West – and perhaps even the conference championship.

Meanwhile, how well or poorly Coach Hodgson completes his “mulligan” year at A-State won’t effect how fans will feel about Year 2. With Hodgson landing two fine recruits in Josh Hill and R’Chaun King, plus the hopeful return of Derrian Ford, Freddie Hicks, Izaiyah Nelson and the majority of a highly talented line up, the expectation will be the Red Wolves challenging for a conference championship.

Can Arkansas State Retain a Tennis Coach for More Than a Year

Perhaps the biggest challenge of them all.

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