POINT CLEAR, Ala. – The Sun Belt Conference concluded its 2019 Spring Meeting on Friday after a week of emphasis placed on the academic success and personal development of student-athletes, the competitive success of the league and how the Sun Belt’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is a competitive advantage for the conference.
“I was impressed by the work of the Sun Belt membership to further our commitment to the student-athlete experience, diversity and inclusion, academic success and competitive excellence,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill. “It is a tribute to the Sun Belt’s commitment to shared governance that students, faculty, staff and coaches worked collaboratively to support the values of the conference.”
Administrators, coaches and bowl representatives that were present recognized that Sun Belt football saw its single season non-conference win record set this past season with 24 total wins, that the league had the best non-conference win percentage of any Group of Five Conference and that the Sun Belt continues its postseason success in football as the conference has the best bowl game winning percentage in the FBS over the last three seasons.
Importantly, the Sun Belt is proud that student-athletes from each institution participated in meetings and developed their own legislative items that could bring great change to all of intercollegiate athletics. The group’s discussion of what student-athletes can achieve beyond sports led them to propose that mandatory time should be issued for personal and professional development, community service and additional educational programming. While such activities regularly take place, student-athletes participate on a voluntary basis.
With representatives on hand from ESPN, the conference membership reviewed the significant increases of coverage and exposure that the network provides to the league year after year. The Sun Belt’s agreement through 2027-28 with ESPN guarantees that a minimum of 500 events a year will appear on an ESPN platform. Starting in 2020 every Sun Belt football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball game will be available on one of ESPN’s distribution channels. Digital productions will also expand to include regular season and championship competition in Sun Belt sports that have received only limited coverage previously.
Another important topic covered was diversity and inclusion. In fact, the conference dedicated a day to discuss the topic as the league conducted its first ever Diversity and Inclusion Summit on Friday. Katrice Albert, NCAA Executive Vice President of Inclusion and Human Resources, delivered the keynote address at the Summit. Additionally, an interactive exercise led by Kim Miller and Dr. Andrew Mac Intosh with the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) led to increased dialogue on where diversity and inclusion stand from the national perspective and within the conference.
Success in basketball was also a discussion point as 2018-19 saw a number of significant achievements across the conference. Women's basketball saw a nine-spot improvement in conference RPI ranking and men's basketball saw a three-spot increase. Women's basketball also set a record for teams in the postseason with seven participants, while men's basketball tied its record for postseason teams with four.
Other topics of note included student-athlete welfare and health related issues. This discussion included concussion protocol, heat illness, nutrition, access to healthcare and overtraining.
Jon Duncan, Vice President of Enforcement at the NCAA, was also on hand and he provided insights to coaches and administrators about the NCAA’s approach to the FBI investigation, changes to the infractions process and other regulatory matters.
The presidents and chancellors of the league will meet in June to review future Sun Belt Championship venues, proposed legislation and rule changes that were discussed over the course of the last several days.