2008 Season Big South Conference LIBI FI_AJVIE5

The Big South Conference is celebrating Its play In the NCAA Tennis Singles Championship ball for the first time In conference history, as 25th Anniversary In 2008-09, a milestone com three times, had the No. 1 ranked men's golfer well as Increased national television exposure ing on the heels of unprecedented achieve In the country, had the national team and Indi to the League as a whole through aggressive ments and unparalleled success In League his vidual scoring leader In men's twice, and unique television packages. tory over the past few years. received an at-large playoff berth In the NCAA Under Kallander's leadership, the Big South Since Its founding In 1983,the Big South Con Football Championship Subdivision In 2006, developed and Initiated Its first long range stra ference has matured into a competitive leader and had an Institution finish fifth In the NCAA tegic plan, re-affirmIng the league's vision as In college athletics, actively pursuing excellence Men's Golf Championships - the conference's a distinctive athletic conference committed to on the field of play and In the classroom. The highest-everteam finish In an NCAA event. the quality of Institutional life through athletic league's growing presence as an NCAA Divi In 2006-07 alone, the Big South was the only competition. He also spearheaded the efforts sion I athletic conference Is evident by athletic conference nationwide to have an at-large par to add football as a championship sport, which accomplishments on the national stage. Inno ticipant In the football (Coastal Caro came to fruition In 2002. vative marketing and media partnerships. In lina), a team In the second round of the NCAA Kallander's long range vision has also Included creased television packages, and quality athlet Men's Basketball Tournament (WInthrop) and technological advancements, as the conference ic competition while Intentionally fostering the a No. 1 seed In the NCAA Reglonals Introduced Its first live event video streaming academic, personal, social, athletic and leader (Coastal Carolina). In fact. Coastal Carolina's In 2005 and has since expanded Its video offer ship development of each student-athlete. baseball program has been a No. 1 seed three ings to more than 500 events annually through The Big South Conference was formed on out of the last four years, while Its playoff berth a partnership with the member Institutions, as Aug. 21,1983, when Charleston Southern (then In 2006 came In just the fifth-year of the Big well as the creation of a conference blog and an Baptist College) Athletic Director Howard Bag South's football existence. online merchandise store. well and Augusta President George Chrlsten- In August 1996, Kyle B. Kallander replaced The conference's on-field accomplishments berry began recruiting members Into the Big Sasser as the league's third Commissioner, and have been duplicated In the classroom. An South, receiving Initial commitments from Au In his 12 years at the helm of the Big South, Kal nually, more than 40 percent of conference gusta, Charleston Southern, Campbell, Coastal lander has been Instrumental In aggressively student-athletes are named to the Big South's Carolina and WInthrop. promoting the conference to new levels. Presidential Honor Roll for maintaining a cumu One month later. Dr. Edward M. Singleton The conference has enjoyed record levels lative 3.0 grade-point average, and the league was selected as the league's first commissioner In marketing revenue during the past several has had more than 90 Academic All-Americans and continued to solicit new members. His ef years, he has brought television coverage to Big In Its quarter-century of existence. forts led to the additions of Armstrong State, South women's basketball, baseball and soft- Radford and UNC Ashevllle, giving the Big South more than the required six members to consti tute an official conference. The Big South's first The Big South Conference year of competition was In the Fall of 1984, and In September 1986, the Big South Conference was granted full-fledged NCAA Division I sta tus. During Its Infancy and prior to securing au tomatic bids to NCAA Championships, the Big South made early strides In earning at-large berths In several national postseason events, Including , women's basketball and women's golf. The league received Its first auto matic bid In 1990 to the NCAA Baseball Cham rij pionship. In 1989, George F. "Buddy" Sasser replaced the retiring Dr. Singleton as commissioner. Un der Sasser's leadership, the conference Imple mented Its public relations and compliance programs, and Introduced Its first-ever men's basketball television package, featuring the Big South competing among some of the finest som teams In the nation. In the last 15 years alone, the Big South Con ference has experienced monumental growth and success In nearly every sport. During this time,the conference has had two Individual NCAA national champions, close to 200 All-Americans, has reached the "Sweet 16" In men's soccer, women's basketball and base ball, has received national Top 25 rankings In men's soccer, men's basketball, women's bas ketball, baseball, men's outdoor track & field, and men's golf, had an Individual selected to

2007 NCAA Tournament 21