BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference concluded its annual Conference Spring Meetings last Friday in Nashville. The event ran May 31 through June 2.
Attendees (which included the league's newest school in Western Illinois, who officially joins the Conference on July 1) heard from a variety of speakers, discussed and voted on OVC business items and planned for the 2023-24 academic year. The agenda for the meetings was built purposely around topics as part of the Division I Holistic Model for Student-Athletes.
With the acceptance of WIU as the League's 11th member in May, the Council of Directors of Athletics reviewed and approved new schedules for the 2023-24 season for the sports of women's soccer, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, softball and baseball.
As part of the OVC's Strategic Planning implementation process, the OVC Board of Presidents and Council of Directors of Athletics had joint session to discuss developing a road map for additional success in basketball focused on issues pertaining to non-conference scheduling, staff support and student-athlete benefits. The group also discussed expanded sportsmanship initiatives, establishing more formal recommendations regarding regular season medical coverage and heard from NCAA Vice President Kevin Lennon on issues on the Division I agenda.
As part of the OVC's concentration on the holistic student-athletes model, attendees heard from National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) President Tory Lindley, reviewed student-athlete voice survey findings with Ann Kearns Davoren, Chief Science Officer for Prevention Strategies, and Todd Petr, former NCAA Managing Director of Research and Founder & Project Lead of Total Analytics Performance, and examined OVC student-athlete academic performance metrics with Binh Nguyen, NCAA Director of Academic and Membership Affairs.
The members committed to enhancing the student-athlete voice in the OVC governance structure by agreeing to maintain student-athletes participation on each OVC cabinet, increasing the size of OVC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) with an emphasis on ethnic, gender and sport diversity and strengthening the report lines to the OVC Council of Athletic Directors.
Attendees heard from OVC SAAC member Clayre Shaver (Eastern Illinois), regarding issues impacting student-athletes. Among the items they highlighted were the OVC SAAC's efforts to hold a Diversity & Inclusion Day, Mental Health Awareness Week and to develop their own sportsmanship statement to be endorsed by all OVC student-athletes.
Additionally, attendees participated in a social justice workshop with three members of the OVC Social Justice Subcommittee in Dr. David Briscoe (Professor of Sociology and Faculty Athletics Representative, Little Rock), Dr. Venessa Brown (Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SIUE) and Dr. Robert Owens (Chief Diversity Officer, Tennessee Tech).
It was announced that next year's Chair of the Board of Presidents will be Dr. Carlos Vargas from Southeast Missouri State University, while the Chair of the Council of Directors of Athletics will be Little Rock's George Lee
Attendees celebrated the 75th anniversary of the OVC at a dinner on Thursday night of the meetings. The event included a panel of special guests with OVC ties in former OVC and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, former OVC Associate Commissioner and current America East Commissioner Brad Walker, former Tennessee State women's basketball coach and Director of Athletics Teresa Phillips, and former Tennessee Tech student-athlete Dr. M. Dianne Murphy, who went on to a coaching and administration career after her playing days and is currently a Vice President at The PICTOR Group.
The week concluded with the League's annual Honors Brunch, which honored the OVC Male and Female Athletes of the Year (Southeast Missouri's Geno Hess and Eastern Illinois' Olivia Price), the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award winner (Tennessee Tech's Seth Carlisle) and saw three individuals inducted into the OVC Hall of fame in Jerry Carpenter (former UT Martin men's golf coach), Dean Hayes (former Middle Tennessee track & field coach) and Sandy Montgomery (former SIUE softball coach and administrator).
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