In an era where most collegiate athletic champions have some sort of funding scandal surrounding their star players, it’s tough to have any athletic success without proper funding. The lack of membership in the club that directly funds athletic scholarships has caused issues, especially as the price of athletic scholarships has increased over the same period.

Nine years ago, the UNC Wilmington Seahawk Club had more than twice as many members as it does now. Patrick Ransdell, executive director of the Seahawk Club, is making some changes to try to get things back on track.

Some structural alterations have been made to the club and the way membership works. There are different donation requirements for membership now, especially for recent Seahawk graduates. Within three years of graduation students can take advantage of the Young Graduate Program and join any of the donation brackets and enjoy all the benefits that go along with that bracket, while only donating half of the requirement.

There are also new season ticket bonuses for Seahawk Club members. Both baseball and women’s basketball are being added to the list of ticket packages available through the Seahawk Club. Trask Coliseum is receiving various upgrades as well. The improvements should help to reward faithful Seahawk Club members and entice new ones to join.

“If the men’s basketball team made it to the Final Four, then obviously, membership wouldn’t be an issue,” Ransdell said. “Winning basketball games is beyond the control of everyone in this office, though, so we’re going to focus on things we can control.”

 Ransdell wants to focus on getting the word out to current students involved in the Team Teal program so that they know exactly what opportunities are there for them after graduation in the Seahawk Club. He plans to push hard for more community involvement with sponsorship of the club. He cited UNCW athletic director Jimmy Bass’ speaking circuit at a number of local organizations as a major part of the effort to turn the Seahawk Club around.

“It’s a long process. It’s certainly not going to be in three months’ time that our membership gets back to ’02 levels, but we understand that,” said Ransdell. “We’re working hard and being patient. We’ll get there.”