May 17, 2007
DESTIN, Fla. - Conference USA concluded its annual Spring Meetings today in Destin, Fla. C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky and staff hosted Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, Faculty Athletics Representatives and head coaches for football, men's and women's basketball from all 12 member institutions. Conference television partners, bowl representatives and other guests also participated in the event.
The meetings launched on Monday with a presentation to the group, representing East Carolina University, University of Houston, Marshall University, University of Memphis, Rice University, Southern Methodist University (SMU), University of Southern Mississippi, Tulane University, University of Tulsa, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), University of Central Florida (UCF) and University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Banowsky provided his thoughts on the state of the conference and Tim Pernetti, Executive Vice President for Content at CSTV, offered a multi-media presentation to the group.
During the meetings a number of recommendations were adopted and will be forwarded to the Board of Directors during their meetings next month for final approval. Recommendations included:
1 - Adding the Texas Bowl in 2007 as one of our bowl partners, giving C-USA six contracted bowls.
2 - A recommendation to hold the 2008 C-USA Women's Basketball Championship in Orlando, with games to be held at the brand new $113-million UCF Convocation Center.
3 - To award 12 postgraduate scholarships to C-USA student-athletes.
4 - To implement new academic improvement initiatives.
In addition, it was announced that a record distribution of revenues will be allocated to the membership this year.
"I am very pleased with how productive these meetings were for all of our groups," Banowsky said. "It was a hard-working session, but I also feel our members had an enjoyable time together. We have a lot of special people representing this conference and I feel we were fortunate to get their collective thoughts on various policies and issues affecting college athletics today."
