ATLANTA — As part of its annual Fall Meetings in Atlanta, the Sun Belt Conference formally recognized award winners from the 2025-26 season at the Sun Belt Honors Banquet. 
 
South Alabama 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 league-leading 17th all-time for the Jaguars. 


 
South Alabama, which sponsors 17 of the Sun Belt’s 19 sports, won the Sun Belt softball tournament title. The Jaguars also earned top-three league finishes in women’s soccer, men’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s golf, men’s outdoor track & field, women’s outdoor track & field and baseball. 

The Sun Belt announced its Student-Athletes of the Year—James Madison’s Kennedy Louisell (volleyball) and Troy’s Jimmy Janicki (baseball). 

     
     
The conference also acknowledged its previously-announced Postgraduate Scholar-Athletes of the Year—Arkansas State’s Sarah Millard (women’s tennis) and Louisiana’s Caemon Scott (men’s track & field). 

     
 
Paul Feirtstein, a Teaching Associate in the Wall College of Business at Coastal Carolina, was honored as the Faculty Member of the Year, while each institution’s nominee was also recognized. 
 
From the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, App State received the Community Impact Award for the second-straight year. 
 
     

App State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss were recognized with the 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.