3 minute read
Support Staff
progress of more than 150 student-athletes and navigated their individual academic relationships with their coaches and professors. Prior to that, she worked as a graduate assistant student-athlete support specialist at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Mariani graduated cum laude from TCU in 2019, earning her bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in creative writing. While a student, she was a manager for the men’s basketball team for two years. She completed the requirements for her master’s degree in higher education leadership from Mercer in 2020.
BLAKE BARNES
Learning Specialist
Blake Barnes joined the student-athlete development unit in January 2020, working with the football program. He started as an assistant learning specialist before being promoted to his current role as learning specialist in July 2021. Barnes works primarily with student-athletes who have a documented learning disability. He provides one-onone learning support to help ensure their success in the classroom. He also helps the student-athletes improve their reading comprehension and develop their writing skills. Barnes coordinates all individual psycho-educational testing for freshmen and transfer student-athletes, and then develops a plan specific to their academic needs. In addition, he monitors and documents the academic progress of the student-athletes and assists with course scheduling. Barnes also serves as the staff liaison with the office of accessibility services on campus, where he ensures the student-athletes have the proper assistance and accommodations necessary to be successful. He came to WVU after serving as a learning specialist intern at Minnesota (July-December 2019), managing student-athletes from multiple varsity sports, monitored their academic coursework, grades and weekly progress and communicated the results to their academic counselors.
LORI RICE
Administrative Associate
RAY WATKINS
Defensive Graduate Assistant
JAKE PRADY
Equipment Graduate Assistant KIRK BARRON
Offensive Graduate Assistant
TUCKER DONATI
Special Teams Graduate Assistant
LANSE ROBBINS
Sports Medicine Graduate Assistant STANTON KEANE
Offensive Graduate Assistant
DREW CASA
Recruiting Assistant
DR. LAUREN BAKOS
Oral Surgeon
Prior to that, he worked at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Athletics Department, first as a compliance intern (2017-18), before serving as a compliance and academic graduate assistant (2018-19).
Barnes, a member of the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals, earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in business with a dual emphasis in business administration and finance in 2017, and his master’s degree in leadership, also from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in 2019.
VICTORIA HEHLI
Assistant Learning Specialist
Victoria Hehli joined the Mountaineer student-athlete development staff in 2020, first as a graduate assistant, before being promoted to assistant learning specialist with the football program in 2021. In her current role, Hehli is responsible for providing academic support for the student-athletes in the areas of study skills, note taking, time management, test-taking strategies, personal and skill development and instruction in course work.
She monitors and documents the academic progress of the student-athletes, assists the students with course schedules and selecting academic majors and assists student-athletes with learning disabilities to acquire and use accommodations.
Prior to coming to Morgantown, she served as a learning assistant with the academic services unit for student-athletes at UCF in Orlando, Florida (2019-20). She monitored the academic progress of 25 student-athletes within the sports of football, baseball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s soccer and women’s rowing. Hehli earned her bachelor’s degree in human communication from UCF in 2020 and her master’s degree in higher education administration from WVU in 2021.
