The third in a series of stories on the people behind-the-scenes of Indiana women's basketball. In this edition, director of academic services Lorian ‘Lo’ Price enters her fourth year with the program and has used her student-athlete experience to help the team become successful on and off the court.
Not a day goes by that Lorian 'Lo' Price doesn't reflect on her own days as a student athlete trying to balance sports and academics at IU.
As the Director of Academic Services for Indiana women's basketball, the former track standout said she feels like her days as an athlete give her an advantage when she's working with her students.
Price knows the athletes' struggles. She's felt what it's like to succeed. She tries to use her experiences to relate to her players.
And at the end of the day, Price says she knows that if her athletes are doing well in the classroom, everything else will take care of itself.
"My biggest motto is that if you take care of the student, everything else will fall into place," Price said. "They'll play. They'll be happy. They're getting their degree. That's my motto, and that's what drives me in everything that I do."
Price is demanding when necessary, a cheerleader when she can be and arguably her players' biggest fan whether they're on the court or in the classroom.
"Lo's a rock star," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "Just watching the way she communicates with our kids and the way she supports them is something to see. She's such a great role model for our kids in terms of what it means to be here and compete here and go on to have success here."
Price has been at Indiana since stepping onto campus in 2003 as a freshman with no intentions of ever having a career in academic support.
The Indianapolis native was a two-time Big Ten champion at Indiana in the 100m hurdles (2005) and the long jump (2007). She still owns top five marks in program history in the 60m hurdles, long jump and 100m hurdles. Lorian 'Lo' Price lettered four years at IU in Track and Field (2004-07) and was a two-time Big Ten champion. Mattie White, now the Associate Athletic Director of Academic Services, approached Price about an opportunity to work with the football team while Price was in the middle of completing her master's degree.
Price began as an intern in 2009 before becoming an academic advisor with track and field, women's golf, field hockey and women's soccer along the way. She started working with women's basketball in the fall of 2012 and has been with the team ever since.
"I guess you could say I caught the academic bug," Price said. "It was one of those things where—and I tell this to my students all the time—but it was a matter of taking advantage of your opportunities."
Price works with the players year-round creating class schedules, working on homework and keeping tabs on academic progress.
Last season, she helped Indiana earn a 3.23 team GPA average, but Moren said that's only part of what Price brings to the table.
"It's not just the academic part of it. It's everything," Moren said. "I always allude to it as a "big sister" type of deal because I feel like she's a role model that they can trust. They know she has their best interest at heart and that there's no alternative motives other than just support and to make sure they're successful."
Price, who travels with the team, said she typically gets into her office around 9 a.m. or so and almost immediately begins working with the athletes. She said an early day is when she gets out of the office at 7 p.m., but the time often flies by.
"No day is alike. Not even one part of the season seems similar," Price said. "It's just a day full of helping students in different ways. Whether it's a meeting or making sure they met their tutor. It's really just about the students all day long."
Price uses sports analogies when she's working with her students, a reflection of her own athletic career and her current lifestyle where working out remains one of her favorite hobbies. (A medal from completing a half marathon in 2011 still hangs prominently in her office.)
A self-described "straight shooter" and a "workout freak," Price compares tackling the hardest academic challenges to running eight sets of 200m runs or running stadium steps or hills. Once you finish the hardest part, the rest is easy.
"Every day is a reflection back to the student athlete days," Price said.
There are days where Price feels like she's still the same student athlete she was.
On some days, Price said she feels like she can hit the track and run hurdles again—"I can't," she adds—and she was recently challenged to do squats in full work clothes while the team was lifting.
Without hesitation, Price got underneath the bar and did the lift wearing the outfit she wears in the office.
"Sometimes I've got to show them I've still got it," Price said. "But to see them go out and be successful...To see them go out and be great. That's what it's all about."
