"Dedicated to the pursuit of high-level athletic goals for true student-athletes, Rice prides itself on its dual goal of excellence in both the academic program and the athletic arena, and refuses to use the rigors of either as an excuse for less than high quality performance in the other."

These ideas, taken from the mission statement of the Department of Athletics, sum up well the integral role that athletics has played at Rice since the university's inception.

Rice University, although the smallest school in Division I-A, has lived up to its challenges both on and off the field.  Rice athletes have won twenty conference championships in the past ten years, have beaten nationally ranked teams, have been ranked nationally themselves, have been to the College World Series, the NIT and the NCAA tournament, have sent individuals to the national championships and the Olympics, and have won medals at both.  Rice has sent players on to professional sports in every sport that has a professional level.

Academically, Rice student-athletes graduate at a rate that is regularly in the top ten in the nation, and we currently have the 5th longest streak for being honored for our football graduation rate -- a streak that is 15 years long.  In 2002, Rice was honored for having the highest graduation rate for student-athletes in the nation - 91%. Every year, Rice student-athletes graduate cum laude, magna and summa, and Phi Beta Kappa, and go on to win conference scholar-athlete awards and NCAA postgraduate scholarships, in addition to Watson Fellowships, Marshall Scholarships, and Fulbrights.
How are these goals accomplished?  In part through an athletic administration and a coaching staff dedicated to recruiting only those student-athletes who combine the athletic and academic talent to excel at Rice with the work ethic and the character to achieve that goal.  And above all by the student-athletes themselves, who regularly demonstrate, on the field and in the classroom, that they are the best in the nation.

Malcolm Gillis