BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference concluded its annual Conference Spring Meetings last Friday in Nashville. The event ran May 29-31.
Items of business that highlighted the meeting included amendments to the Conference’s membership entrance and exit fees, the formation of a presidential subcommittee to examine the philosophy of bracketing and seeding for the sports of baseball, soccer and tennis, the approval of a change to the hosting model for the OVC golf and tennis championships, an enhancement to the funding model for the OVC Football Hosting Pool, the agreement to the establishment of a “Rainy Day Fund” for the Basketball Enrichment Plan, the approval of the establishment of minimum expectations and accountability measures for the OVC Digital Network and the approval of a contract extension for Commissioner Beth DeBauche as well as the approval of the Commissioner’s priorities for the Conference.
“The action items at the OVC Spring Meetings were made with progress in mind,” said DeBauche. “From changes to the membership entrance and exit fees to the basketball enrichment plan and the football hosting pool, decisions were made with the vision of our league moving forward and continuing to strengthen.”
After a long period of no increase to the league’s membership and exit fees, a purposeful increase to each was approved. The amendment was made to reflect the appropriate value of league membership. The OVC added Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2008 and Belmont University in 2012 to give the League a record 12 member institutions. Alternatively the OVC has only seen one school depart over the past 13 years.
The subcommittee formed by the Board of Presidents will examine the sports of baseball, soccer and men’s and women’s tennis in regards to the philosophy of championship bracketing and seeding prior to approving any recommended changes to the current formats of those championships. Any changes made would be to create long-term growth and enhance success in each of those sports. The OVC currently includes six schools in each of those championship fields.
In addition it was approved that the OVC golf and tennis championships would now be managed by the Conference office instead of being hosted by member institutions on an annual rotating basis. It was approved that the 2014 Men’s & Women’s Golf Championships will be held at The Shoals on the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Muscle Shoals, Ala. The venue played host to the 2008 OVC Women’s Championship and the 2009 OVC Men’s Championship. The 2014 Men’s & Women’s Tennis Championships will be held at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville; it was last held there in 2012.
For almost a decade the OVC has maintained a Football Hosting Pool to help league members with bids to host playoff games. Starting with the next fiscal year the pool will annually have $60,000 available to institutions that apply to host a Division I playoff game. The fund will operate as a matching grant with no institution awarded more than $30,000 annually. Previously the pool included $1,000 per school per year that was rolled over annually depending on successful bids.
A year ago the OVC Board of Presidents approved the Basketball Enrichment Plan that distributed revenue earned through victories in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship back to schools for use to enhance the sport of men’s basketball. The plan was put in place to help continue to grow the sport of men’s basketball because the league had experienced unprecedented recent postseason success in the sport. The “Rainy Day Fund” was implemented in order to ensure the sustainability of the plan over a long period of time. The OVC has won a game in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in four of the past five years.
The 2012-13 school year marked the first of the OVC Digital Network, which re-branded the League’s web streaming efforts and made the broadcasts free for the first time. The high-definition webcasts, made available on any computer, tablet or smart phone, saw over 600 events streamed and more than 250,000 viewers. The set of expectations approved will ensure that the broadcasts continue to improve on the quality efforts that were delivered this past year.
The OVC Board of Presidents also approved an extension to Commissioner DeBauche’s contract which now runs through the 2016-17 academic year. DeBauche was named the seventh full-time OVC Commissioner on July 29, 2009 and began her duties with the league in September 2009.
Along with the extension came the approval of the Commissioner’s priorities for the Ohio Valley Conference. Those priorities included to manage the OVC in a financially prudent fashion, to continue to enhance the visibility of the league and its new tagline “Inspiring Excellence Since 1948,” to provide leadership and vision for the OVC Digital Network, to provide vision and a forward-looking plan of action for membership issues and to complete a comprehensive review regarding the state of OVC women’s basketball with the goal of improving overall performance as well as the student-athlete experience.
The Presidents also received a visit from NCAA President Mark Emmert during their Friday meeting. Dr. Emmert discussed his vision relative to governance and leadership items on the Division I agenda and engaged the OVC Board of Presidents in discussion on those topics.
It was also announced that next year’s Chair of the Board of Presidents will be Dr. Bill Meehan from Jacksonville State University while the Chair of Board of Directors of Athletics for 2013-14 will be JSU’s Warren Koegel.
On Thursday the league concluded a year-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX with a luncheon. At the event 12 pioneers in women’s athletics, one from each OVC institution, were honored for their accomplishments in providing equality for all.
The week concluded on Friday with the League’s annual Honors Brunch, which honored the OVC Male and Female Athletes of the Year (Eastern Illinois’ Erik Lora and Morehead State’s Ellie Roberson), the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award winner (Austin Peay’s Sean Bailey) and inducted former Eastern Kentucky administrator Martha Mullins into the Conference’s Hall of Fame.