grant mccasland

MEDIA
SUN BELT CONFERENCE
The Sun Belt Conference has been part of the
collegiate athletics landscape for four decades,
and in that time there may not be another conference
that can match the Sun Belt's innovation,
vision and progressive thinking.
This is, after all, the league that initiated basketball's
shot clock ... the league that was the
first to partner with a fledging ESPN cable television
entity that is now the "worldwide leader"
... the league that went against the status quo
and inaugurated football to start the century,
the first already-existing Division I conference to
ever take that step ... and the league that is on
the forefront of "new media" and internet-based
advancement.
The Sun Belt is all about being progressive—
change for the better. The league's embracing
of innovations and advancements, its constant
efforts to adapt in the ever-changing world of
college athletics, and its continuing process of
evolving to better serve its membership has been
well documented since the day the conference
was founded in 1976.
But one thing hasn't changed: Since that
founding, the Sun Belt Conference has always
been a league of opportunity. Athletic and academic
programs who have shown progressive
thinking and the desire to improve have always
found a home in the Sun Belt.
More importantly, opportunities exist for student-athletes
in the Sun Belt in untold numbers.
The league is not a member of the heralded "autonomous
five" group of conferences, but it does
share the table as part of the NCAA's powerful
24-member Board of Directors. In other words,
the conference has a voice in determining the
future as college sports continues to change and
evolve. It is a decision-maker, along with being a
trailblazer.
And opportunity is not a word that the Sun
Belt takes lightly. The conference is uniquely
positioned to provide opportunities for its institutions
and student-athletes that the "autonomous
five" leagues and schools often cannot.
Student-athletes that for one reason or another
were not given a chance by those at a higher
echelon have found a home in the Sun Belt, and
many have gone on to find success athletically
and academically that might not have been possible
at more heralded institutions.
Last December, there were three teams in the
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) that played their
first-ever bowl game. All three were members of
the Sun Belt Conference — Appalachian State,
Georgia Southern and Georgia State.
For student-athletes, Sun Belt institutions are
leaders in providing career services and the tools
to assist in the pursuit of personal goals. Sun Belt
members all employ full-time academic advisors
and have on average more than 20 tutors for academic
support. During the 2015-16 academic
year, Sun Belt member institutions awarded over
$50 million in scholarships to more than 3,100
student-athletes, while also providing life experiences
such as team building, domestic and foreign
travel, community service, mentoring, and
recognition through honors and awards.
Individual opportunities also extend between
the line. The Sun Belt had 40 layers on active NFL
rosters during the 2015 season, with representation
on 23 of 32 NFL teams. Professional teams
in several other sports are dotted with Sun Belt
alumni.
The league is an intriguing combination. It is
a fixture on the national scene, involved in the
conduct and competition of college athletics,
but also provides chances for success on many
unique and different levels. In athletic parlance,
the Sun Belt has “upside,” and that makes for
even more excitement as the league begins its
fifth decade. Its motto, “Together We Rise,” is
just as applicable now as it was when the league
was founded to give a home to some of the nation’s
premier mid-major basketball programs.
That very first year, one of those programs
(UNC Charlotte) reached the pinnacle of NCAA
men’s basketball competition with a berth in the
Final Four. Since then, the league’s 40-year history
is strewn with success in many different men’s
and women’s sports, and that success continues
to the present day.
But when the desire for a higher national profile
and the desire of its membership brought
about football sponsorship in 2001, the conference
was figuratively reborn. No league in history
had ever pulled off what the Sun Belt was
attempting – an established league jumping
directly into Division IA (now FBS) competition.
Now, the league stands as one of the 10 premier
college football leagues in the country.
The Sun Belt Conference will hold its first
ever football championship game as the league’s
presidents and chancellors, as well as athletic
directors, voted unanimously to play the game
beginning in 2018.
And with the College Football Playoff now an
integral part of the nation’s sports fabric, the Sun
Belt is guaranteed universal access based strictly
on performance as the winner of the Sun Belt’s
Championship game can be in the national championship
picture. The league is also a permanent
part of the “Group of Five” conferences (joining
the American Athletic Conference, the Mountain
West Conference, the Mid-American Conference
and Conference USA) that sends its highest-rated
champion to a “New Year’s Six” bowl game every
season.
The CFP has provided much excitement over
the past two years, but bowl games have long
been a tradition in college football and the Sun
Belt has established its own bowl tradition. The
league has secured ties to no fewer than five
bowl games, having added three bowl games
each of the last three years. In addition to the
potential of the College Football Playoff, the
league has guaranteed berths in the R+L Carriers
New Orleans Bowl – an honor it has held from its
very first football season -- the GoDaddy Bowl in
Mobile, Ala., the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
in Montgomery, Ala., the AutoNation Cure Bowl
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ARKANSAS STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE >> 2016-17