Q&A with Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett
Southland Conference
Q-and-A, Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett
Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett, in his 13th year with the league, recently addressed the NCAA’s passage of autonomous legislation, specifically formulated to placate the wishes of the Equity Five conferences – ACC, Big 12, SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 – and how these changes impact the remainder of Division I members, including those in the Southland. The commissioner also touched on a number of other pertinent subjects regarding the Southland Conference.
Q: What are the Southland Conference’s plans for the NCAA’s recently-approved autonomy legislation, including Cost-of-Attendance (COA)?
TB: The Southland presidents, along with athletic administrators, have been meeting regularly over the past 18 months or so to discuss cost-of-attendance and other autonomy legislation proposed by the Equity Five conferences. Following the approval in January of the five autonomy items, all of which are permissive but not mandated for the remainder of Division I membership, the presidents met again to discuss future possibilities. The group determined that the autonomy legislation be permissive for Southland athletic programs to apply as they see fit, but that there be no Conference mandate to either follow the autonomy rules or to prohibit any member from doing so. Thus, Southland members can follow any of the autonomous legislation.
Q: Were Southland presidents in favor of the autonomy legislation?
TB: No, Southland presidents didn’t show much, if any, collective interest in advance of the approved autonomy plan, and they made that known with numerous institutional override requests last summer and fall. Many of the presidents, in consultation with their athletic administrators, expressed grave concern over the growing financial disparities among Division I members, and how the autonomous system would dramatically increase that gap. Further, for many, the new system goes against the traditional collegiate model within the educational missions of universities. However, the override attempt did not succeed, and the Southland presidents understand that this is now the world our athletic programs live in, and autonomy measures must be addressed at each institution.
Q: Why didn’t the Southland presidents ban all or some of the autonomy measures conference-wide?
TB: Our league, like many other conferences, has been advised by legal counsel against colluding as an organization, prohibiting our members from following approved NCAA legislation. Further, some of the autonomous items are fairly innocuous. Thus, the decision whether or not to follow NCAA autonomous legislation is completely up to each Division I institution.
Q: Will any Southland programs apply the approved autonomous legislation?
TB: Those are decisions our members are now contemplating, and I believe that most will make a determination before the April signing period if they haven’t already. Some of our administrators have talked about versions of COA in basketball and maybe some other headcount sports, but all of that is under consideration. Since the members are free to apply any or all of the autonomous items, and with budgeting plans now being made for the 2015-16 academic year, our athletic and financial administrators are rapidly exploring what’s possible. Additionally, they are studying the gender equity implications of the autonomous items.
Q: What about providing cost-of-attendance for Southland football programs, and what are other Football Championship Subdivision leagues planning to do?
TB: Again, that will be up to each football-playing member. Currently, I don’t detect a lot of administrative interest in providing COA within FCS. The FCS conference commissioners met a few weeks ago, and there seemed to be little enthusiasm in applying COA in the subdivision, especially in the full athletic scholarship conferences (63 equivalencies) like the Southland. That’s not to say some won’t, even in the Southland. But as most people know, FCS is different by design, most notably its financial and scholarship structure. Simply put, COA applied across the board in football does not seem to be financially practical for the larger subdivision. But again, that’s going to be an institutional decision.
Q: So how will the Southland fare in the new world of autonomy?
TB: We’re going to be just fine, as nothing has happened that prevents the Southland and its members from continuing to provide outstanding academic and athletic opportunities for its student-athletes. We’re going to keep winning games, continue graduating our student-athletes at a high rate, produce quality citizens for a lifetime of success after athletics, and do it in a manner that makes our various support groups very proud. That’s been the case for over 50 years as a membership organization, and it should continue for a long time to come.
Q: Any movements expected with new Southland membership possibilities?
TB: Not at this time. While always an interesting subject for some, the Southland presidents have not indicated any recent interest in exploring new members, and the subject has not been on any recent meeting agendas. As the past has shown us, things can change, but there’s nothing to drive new membership at this point.
Q: Regarding future football schedules, can you discuss the move to nine Conference games beginning in 2015?
TB: When the Conference expanded to 11 football teams in 2013, the football athletic directors expressed a strong interest in playing nine league games at the first opportunity to do so – which is the 2015-2016 two-year cycle. However, there is a wrinkle in that – due to the math involved – one team will only play eight conference games in the two-year cycle – HBU. In the 2017-2018 two-year cycle, UIW will be eight-game team, provided the scheduling plan remains the same.
Q: Also, some have asked how the new schedule format determines what teams are missed in a given cycle. How does this process work?
TB: Looking back, when I arrived as commissioner before the 2003 season, we only had six football members, thus had to schedule six non-conference games in addition to the five league opponents. With subsequent program additions at Southeastern and Lamar, the expansion that brought UCA into the league, and the later growth with ACU, HBU and UIW added, we now have more Conference teams than we can play each season. There is certainty and randomness to how the schedule is built, and ultimately approved by the athletic directors. A good example would be how Northwestern State’s schedule is built. NSU’s certainty -- wanting to play the other three Louisiana opponents every year – and considers them “must plays.” Also, Northwestern State has a longstanding tradition with SFA – the “Battle for Chief Caddo” – another “must play.” The randomness for NSU comes in the remaining pool of six opponents -- UCA and the other Texas programs – to fill out the five remaining conference games. Someone gets left out as an NSU opponent randomly, Houston Baptist in this case. Every program is slotted into the “certainty” and “random” system, although some don’t have the well-defined “must play” demands that this examples provide. If your favorite team misses a conference opponent in the 2015-2016 cycle, they’ll be matched in the 2017-2018 schedules.
Q: What’s been the reaction to the Southland becoming the first FCS league to implement full-time instant replay at its football games?
TB: The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and I think we’ll see our peer FCS conferences begin to implement full-time replay over the next two seasons. While we didn’t do ourselves any favors with only a 90-day period for stadium installation and training last summer, we were very proud of how our members accepted the challenge and made it work. We also benefited greatly from our officiating alliance with the Big 12 and Mountain West conferences, and the replay training and staffing those leagues already had in place. In the 64 home games we utilized replay, the average length of the game was 3 hours and five minutes, so we were very pleased to discover that game lengths weren’t extended beyond a comfortable range. We’re looking forward to the second year of this program.
Q: What’s the latest plan regarding future basketball schedules? And, how has the new Thursday-Saturday-Monday format been received?
TB: The 2015-16 Southland schedule has already been approved, as it will reflect a home-and-away flip from the current slate. Beyond next season, our men’s and women’s basketball head coaches will meet after this season is complete, and make known what their future scheduling interests may be. Regarding the new format, there was overwhelming interest by the membership to rid ourselves of the Thursday night doubleheaders for many reasons, thus the women are now playing a single game on Thursday and the men are playing the same opponent on Monday. There has been some movement of games from Thursday to Wednesday or Monday to Tuesday to accommodate some far-flung travel. The Conference athletic directors will be meeting during the Basketball Tournament to provide formal feedback on the new format.
Q: In general terms, what are your thoughts on the State of the Conference?
TB: Well, by the nature of my position, I’m normally going to be bullish on the league and speak to its many strengths and successes. As most know, our Southland Strong promotional campaign acknowledges our fantastic accomplishments in the arena and classroom on a daily basis. The 2013-14 academic year set a high bar of success, with some unprecedented collective competitive success in many sports, including football, and men’s and women’s basketball. I see a lot of the same things happening this year: another successful football campaign, some promising things ahead with basketball, and the start of what looks to be another great spring sports season. With each passing year, our nearly 4,200 student-athletes are performing better academically and graduating at higher rates, and our institutional student-athlete advisory committees are involved with such meaningful and selfless community service and charitable activities. Our presidential leadership is committed to athletic and academic excellence, and that expectation works its way through the athletic administration and coaching ranks, all for the benefit of our student-athletes and those that follow our programs. It’s a great time to be in the Southland Conference!