ATLANTA – As part of its annual Fall Meetings in Atlanta, the Sun Belt Conference formally recognized award winners from the 2023-24 season at the Sun Belt Honors Banquet. 
 
Texas State claimed the league’s highest honor, the Vic Bubas Cup, which is the Sun Belt’s all-sports championship trophy. The Bubas Cup is awarded annually to the top athletics department in the conference based on a points system. The honor is the third all-time for the Bobcats, with all three Bubas Cup wins coming since 2019 (2019, 2022 & 2024). 


 
Texas State, which sponsors 16 of the Sun Belt’s 20 sports, won the Sun Belt women’s outdoor track & field and women’s golf titles, as well as the softball tournament crown. The Bobcats also tallied top-four league finishes in women’s volleyball, men’s indoor track & field, women’s indoor track & field, men’s golf and men’s outdoor track & field. 

The Sun Belt announced its Student-Athletes of the Year—Texas State’s Jessica Mullins (softball) and South Alabama’s Francois Prinsloo (men’s track & field). 

     
 
The conference also acknowledged its previously-announced Postgraduate Scholar-Athletes of the Year—ULM’s Kaitlyn Nowak (beach volleyball) and Troy’s Martin Bouldo (men’s track & field)­—and its NCAA Woman of the Year nominees—Georgia Southern’s Simone Timm (women’s soccer) and Marshall’s Abby Herring (women’s cross country & track & field). 

     

      
 
James Madison Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Planetarium Director Dr. Geary Albright was acknowledged as the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Faculty Member of the Year, while each institution’s nominee was also recognized. 


 
From the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Louisiana received the Community Service Award and Georgia Southern received the Community Impact Award. 
 
     

App State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and James Madison were recognized with the newly-instituted Student-Athlete Graduation Success Rate Award, bestowed upon any member institution that has a single-year graduation success rate at or above 90 percent for student-athletes as published in the NCAA Division I Graduation Rate Award report. 

     

     
 
Troy faculty athletics representative (FAR) Dr. Fred Green was recognized for his service to the institution, the Sun Belt Conference and college athletics at large ahead of his retirement in Spring 2025.