First week of May – SEC Athletics Directors Meeting
The 14 SEC AD’s discussed a variety of topics in preparation for the Spring Meetings. A few of the topics of interest: outcomes of the Rice Commission on College Basketball; the future of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in basketball; league-wide men’s basketball scheduling expectations; discussion of reviewing tipoff times, including why we tend to have so many midweek games that tip in late evening; future bowl agreements; and the future of baseball replay reviews in the SEC.
May 8-11 – Adidas AD Meetings
For the second consecutive year, adidas hosted AD’s from its client schools spanning all conferences with the company’s top brass. For me, the highlight of the meeting was my first interaction with the new president of Adidas North America, Zion Armstrong. We established a very easy rapport and I’m excited about building a mutually beneficial relationship with Zion going forward.
May 15-17 – Horizon Performance Exchange
Our relationship with Horizon Performance has been exceptionally beneficial and a highlight of 2017 was our hosting of HP’s “The Exchange” at Kyle Field. This year, it was held at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The invitation-only event was devoted to connecting like-minded professionals who otherwise may never cross paths to share challenges, discuss best practices, and empower individuals and teams to achieve extraordinarily high levels of performance. The goal is for participants to leave with new ideas and practices to implement in their current working environments.
May 21 – San Antonio A&M Club Luncheon
I had the honor and pleasure to introduce Jimbo Fisher as their luncheon speaker. It’s always fun to visit the Alamo City and meet with a special group of Aggies. The spirit of Aggies there is always very strong and it was an excellent visit.
May 24 – Lunch with 3 College Deans
I had lunch with the Dean of Libraries (Dr. David H. Carlson), the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (Dr. Eleanor Green) and the Dean of the College of Education and Human Development (Dr. Joyce Alexander). The deans reach out to various individuals at the University who are not deans, but are important collaborators, partners, and campus leaders to open a dialog. The goal is to create a rapport to discuss issues, share perspectives, and, quite simply, just get to know each other a bit better while fostering better understanding and communication from all corners of campus. Mission accomplished!
May 27-June 1 – SEC Spring Meetings
As many of you know, I recently joined Coach Blair, Coach Fisher, Coach Kennedy, and several members of our Senior Staff at the annual SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fla. Over the course of four days of meetings, a variety of items are discussed and voted upon that shape the future of the SEC and, to some degree, college athletics. Overall,
10 legislative measures successfully evolved from proposals to reality on the SEC level, and
an additional 5 proposals will move on from the SEC to the NCAA with the intent of becoming a national standard.
