The new website is here!

Well, it's done! After several months of work, Augsburg now has a new athletic presence on the web. Change your bookmarks from the old website (www.augsburg.edu/athletics) to this, brand-spankin' new website:

athletics.augsburg.edu

Maybe it's lucky, since we launched on St. Patrick's Day!

But seriously, folks, this website is the result of a lot of hard work, most particularly by Kelly Anderson Diercks, our assistant athletic director/assistant sports information director. She took the reins of the redesign process, and joined by your friendly neighborhood SID, several student workers and Bryan Barnes from the Marketing and Communications department, helped make this new athletic website happen.

Augsburg partnered with Internet Consulting Services, a web design firm based in Syracuse, N.Y. (Go Orange in the NCAA tournament!) that has worked with more than 250 colleges and universities across the country. Augsburg is the seventh MIAC school (along with the MIAC office) to partner with ICS for its athletic web presence.

The new website features a more contemporary look, in line with the new look for the rest of the Augsburg website. The site also has numerous new features, including an imbedded YouTube video channel, biographical pages for more than 400 student-athletes, and an interactive calendar. Other features will be added in the future.

Take a look around, and give us your feedback. E-mail me at stoner@augsburg.edu and Kelly Anderson Diercks at diercks@augsburg.edu and let us know what you think. If you see bugs in the site, please tell us (we tried to ferret out everything, but something may pop up). If you like or don't like a feature, let us know.

Thanks from Coach Bateman

Baseball head coach Keith Bateman wants to thank the fans who came to the Metrodome in earnest to root on the Auggies in their season-opener against Edgewood (Wis.) on Saturday night. After winning the season-opener against the Eagles 4-3 (11 inn.), the Auggies have two early-morning doubleheaders at the Metrodome this week -- against Dickinson State (N.D.) on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., and against Mayville State (N.D.) on Friday at 6 a.m.

I wanted to take a second and thank the fans that made their way out to the Metrodome on Saturday night. The atmosphere for our opening game was great. Playing at 10 p.m., I am not always sure what the attendance will be like. The fact the 200-plus Auggie faithful showed up was awesome!

The energy that you brought to the dome was felt in our dugout. That same energy helped us get out of some jams in the field and get the big hits at the dish.

Thanks again for your support of the baseball program. My guys are working hard to bring an MIAC title back to Augsburg. Thanks especially to the fans that came out last night. You truly made it an Augsburg victory.