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<strong>FBA</strong> Executive Director<br />
Wright Waters<br />
When the Football<br />
Bowl Association’s<br />
executive committee<br />
went in search of the<br />
organization’s first-ever executive director four years<br />
ago, they were looking for someone who had been<br />
successful in the world of athletic administration.<br />
They were seeking someone who possessed hands-on<br />
experience with the inside workings of a collegiate athletic department.<br />
They wanted someone who had worked in a conference setting, one<br />
who had been successful in developing policies and procedures for a group of<br />
institutions with similar interests. In that realm, they also sought someone who<br />
had worked extensively with media entities, specifically television, to further<br />
that conference’s exposure and visibility.<br />
Knowledge of the inner workings of a bowl game was critical. But, most of<br />
all, the <strong>FBA</strong> wanted someone who was passionate about college football, and<br />
committed to the idea that the welfare and well-being of the student athlete is<br />
the most important task of everyone involved with intercollegiate athletics.<br />
As it turned out, they didn’t have far to look to fill all those needs.<br />
In June of 2012, the <strong>FBA</strong> announced that Wright Waters would serve as<br />
executive director of the <strong>FBA</strong>, taking over leadership role of the non-profit<br />
association that represents postseason college football bowl games.<br />
A member of the NCAA Football Competition Committee, Waters' primary<br />
task is to build upon college football’s rich tradition of bowl games, while<br />
helping increase public and institutional knowledge of the bowl experience<br />
and its benefits to the game and its student-athletes as well as all participating<br />
educational institutions.<br />
He is responsible for the overall management of the <strong>FBA</strong> in areas including<br />
finances, administration, government relations, marketing, licensing and legal<br />
issues, and also serves as official spokesperson for the organization.<br />
Those duties fall in line with Waters’ vast experience in a lifetime devoted to<br />
collegiate athletics, most recently as commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference<br />
for almost 14 years before retiring in 2011. During that time, the Sun Belt made<br />
strides that were unprecedented in the collegiate athletic realm, including<br />
inaugurating football as a Bowl Championship Series conference and one of the<br />
NCAA’s 10 Division I-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) conferences. He also<br />
was the guiding force in founding the New Orleans Bowl in the league’s very<br />
first year of football play, giving the league champion an automatic bowl berth<br />
against a Conference USA participant in the Sun Belt’s inaugural year.<br />
During his time at the Sun Belt, the league also expanded to sponsorship of<br />
19 sports, shifted geographically to create a larger regional presence, gained a<br />
What they said:<br />
“Given Wright’s long and genuine commitment to the collegiate<br />
model, this is an opportunity for the NCAA and the <strong>FBA</strong> to address<br />
a common interest in providing quality postseason experiences for<br />
student-athletes. For more than a century, football bowls have helped<br />
nurture the relationships between college football and communities<br />
across the nation. That is a unique feature of the American sports<br />
culture. Wright will make great contributions in these efforts.”<br />
-- Dr. Mark Emmert, NCAA President<br />
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