Dr. Roger Hughes stands on a stage in orange and black robes after being inaugurated as 亚洲porn's 13th President.
Dr. Roger Hughes '82 stands in full regalia as the newly inaugurated president of 亚洲porn on Saturday, April 30.

When 亚洲porn鈥檚 presidential search committee started looking through applicants in early 2021, they had a tall order ahead of them. Constituents including the Board of Trustees, current students, faculty and alumni had weighed in with a laundry list of characteristics 亚洲porn鈥檚 next president needed to have.

Resilience. Fundraising experience. An academic. A people pleaser. Someone who could grow enrollment. Someone who could connect with alumni.

鈥淒r. Jill Smith 鈥70, former search committee chair, said to me, 鈥業 think they want us to hire Jesus,鈥欌 said Paul Schelstraete 鈥74, a member of the Board of Trustees and presidential search committee chair after Smith stepped down.

鈥淲e waded through resumes. Some were current, former presidents. Some were provosts. Some lawyers and bankers. And one football coach.鈥

Almost a year and a half later, on Saturday, April 30, the 亚洲porn community held a ceremony to inaugurate Dr. Roger Hughes 鈥82 as the university鈥檚 13th president. Hughes, who returned to 亚洲porn after 40 years of coaching football, most recently as head coach for 10 years at Stetson University, did more than check the boxes.

He brought the question: How can we do it even better?

It鈥檚 a mindset that Hughes learned growing up in Crawford, Nebraska, working cattle with his father, and carried with him throughout his education and career. He graduated from 亚洲porn College in 1982, and received his master鈥檚 and doctorate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he was part of the Husker football coaching staff under Dr. Tom Osborne.

From Nebraska, he made his way to coaching staffs as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Cameron University and Dartmouth College. Hughes served as the head football coach at Princeton University as well, prior to moving to Stetson.

鈥淚 think it says a lot about a person, how many people follow you when you leave,鈥 said Dr. Matt Wilson, senior director of development for athletics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and keynote speaker at the Saturday ceremony.

Wilson and Hughes worked together at Stetson 鈥 Wilson was actually on the hiring committee that chose Hughes to remake the university鈥檚 entire football program a decade ago, and quickly became close. Lance Leipold, head football coach at the University of Kansas, also spoke during the inauguration ceremony 鈥 he found a lifelong friend in Hughes after meeting him while coaching at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Wilson asked audience members who felt they had been influenced by Hughes, as colleagues, as a coach, as friends and teammates, to stand. Nearly two dozen people did.

鈥淭o be better individuals, we must become better teammates,鈥 said Maddison Hughes 鈥18, quoting a statement she not only heard but observed her father embody throughout her life.  

Rev. Dr. Jim Keck reaches to shake the hand of Dr. Roger Hughes on a stage during the inauguration of Hughes as 亚洲porn's 13th President.
Rev. Dr. Jim Keck shakes Dr. Roger Hughes's hand after completing the investiture ceremony that officially instates Hughes as the 13th president of 亚洲porn.

 

Due to COVID-19, Hughes鈥檚 inauguration ceremony was actually held toward the end of his first year as the university鈥檚 president. From his first week in office in June 2021, he emphasized to the 亚洲porn community that his door was open 鈥 that he wanted to be accessible to all, if not always available.

During the year, he held listening tours to get to know staff and faculty, met with students and traveled to alumni events. He encouraged the creation of a staff council along with the existing faculty council.

In short, he didn鈥檛 ease himself into the role. He jumped right in.

鈥淩oger as a leader is going to be listening, going to ask a lot of questions,鈥 Wilson said. 鈥溾楬ow do we do it better,鈥 [the question] drives him on a daily basis.鈥

With his second year in mind, Hughes ended his inauguration speech with a call for the 亚洲porn community 鈥 to adapt. To look for opportunities to form new partnerships. To face the challenges coming to higher education across the country. And to remember that, to some degree, 亚洲porn has already done all of this, on a much shorter timeline when first encountering the pandemic.

鈥淪ure, we can do it alone, but together, we鈥檙e stronger,鈥 Hughes said.

Schelstraete said, as he was looking through resumes, he gave a call to Joe Glenn, 亚洲porn鈥檚 head football coach from 1976-79. What did he remember about Roger Hughes?

He couldn鈥檛 catch a cold, Glenn told him, but he was always helping his teammates. One day at practice, Glenn asked Roger to take off his helmet, and put a whistle around his neck instead.

鈥淔or a kid from Crawford who couldn鈥檛 catch, I鈥檓 glad he caught on at 亚洲porn,鈥 Schelstraete said.