NO BUBBLY GAIN, NO PAIN, NO TARP - School of Business ...

THE OTHER
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF
TODD
REESING
Ku quARTERBACK &
FiNANCE mAJOR ExCElS
iN ACADEmiCS, TOO
By Laura Wolfe
Starting quarterback Todd Reesing led the 2007
Kansas University football team to a 12-1 record
and an Orange Bowl victory, and the 2008 team
to its second Bowl Championship Series (BCS) victory
in two years. He currently holds the University records for most
career and season touchdown passes and most career and
season completions, among many others.
Football fans may be surprised to learn that Reesing is double
majoring in Finance and Economics. After taking FIN 310, the
introductory Finance course, a friend recommended he take an
independent study with School of Business lecturer Lisa Bergeron.
He is now one of Bergeron’s teaching assistants for FIN 310.
“I would suspect he is the poster child for an NCAA studentathlete,”
said Associate Head Coach Ed Warinner, Reesing’s
quarterback coach. “He has over 35 school records, along with
the high GPA he carries in his school work.”
“You just have to manage your time,” Reesing said. “You can’t
really procrastinate as much because, as an athlete, you need
your sleep, too.”
Bergeron had a different take on Reesing’s time management
skills. “He’s just amazing,” she teased.
Reesing will graduate in December 2009. “I’ve always enjoyed
numbers more than words,” he said of his major. “No matter what
you do in business, you’ll need to know how to manage your
money, how to manage your investments.”
Reesing and several other students enrolled in an independent
study with Bergeron and studied The Gap Inc. “We picked a
company that would be easy to get data on,” Reesing said.
“Right now they are working on a company evaluation; they’re
doing an acquisition project,” Bergeron explained. “In the lower
level classes it’s a lot of projects that are nicely tied up at the end,
but here we try to give more realistic examples.”
KU Finance lecturer Lisa Bergeron and Todd Reesing
Reesing’s favorite magazine is The Economist, and he has been
known to read it in class when he gets bored. “I don’t really want
to mention any names,” he said with a smile. “It’s just a good
overview of world politics and economy.”
Reesing’s days at KU are jam-packed. “He works out 4 days a
week, running in the winter at 6 a.m., and then comes back and
lifts weights and throws the football in the afternoons,” Warinner
said. “He practices very hard, competes in every drill we do, leads
our team on offense and does it with high energy and a smile.”
“What truly makes him unique is not that he’s a great quarterback
or a great student or a great person, it’s that Todd is all three,”
Bergeron said. “I’ve had plenty of students with less on their plates,
who don’t play football and don’t work, and they struggle.”
“I doubt there are too many college kids busier than him who
perform at such a high level,” Warinner said.
When he isn’t too busy with practice and studying, Reesing likes
to play tennis and his favorite bar and place to eat in Lawrence
is Johnny’s Tavern. Reesing advises fans to take his favorite
activities listed on the KU Athletics website with a grain of salt...
“Two years ago I put ‘snake wrangling’ as a hobby,” Reesing
said, laughing. “I had all these reporters from different areas
asking me ‘Is that true?’ Of course not!”
Reesing, who was named KU Offensive Player of the Year in
2008, and who made the Academic All-Big 12 First Team for
the second year in a row, will graduate in four years with two
degrees, and would like to get a masters degree someday.
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