NEWPORT, R.I. – American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco delivered the following remarks to introduce Tuesday’s portion of The American’s Summer Kickoff and Media Days at the Hyatt Regency Newport.
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Thank you, Brent (Stover) for that kind introduction. We are extremely pleased to have you here today. We appreciate your fine work at CBS Sports Network and your support of our league.
As always, I first want to recognize some individuals who are instrumental to this conference’s success and to its future prospects.
Susan Herbst, President of UConn, serves ably as our conference’s Board Chair. Her vision and strong support have been critical to this conference’s progress and accomplishments, and to UConn’s incredible success in men’s and women’s sports.
Stead Upham, President of Tulsa, is retiring at the end of this year, but not before having made enormous contributions to the conference and also serving as our vice chair. He served two tours at Tulsa’s leader and has guided the university to unprecedented academic and athletic heights.
Steve Ballard, President of ECU, is also retiring, and likewise Steve has been a huge advocate for the conference and has done a brilliant job at ECU.
As you know, Navy joined our conference in 2015 after 134 years as an independent and competed strongly for a division title. We are proud of the Midshipmen and appreciate their dedication to a life of service to our country. That dedication is epitomized by Academy Superintendent Ted Carter, who was a decorated combat pilot and carrier task force commander. We challenged our Midshipmen here in Newport last year to keep their dress whites clean during the frenzy of the Monday lobster dinner, and I think they accomplished the feat.
We welcome three new ADs and all are quickly making their mark, Danny White of UCF, Troy Dannen of Tulane and David Benedict of UConn. Jeff Compher, our AD group chair, and Mark Harlan, our AD vice chair, do an outstanding job for their schools and for the conference.
We welcome four outstanding new coaches – we have a habit of hiring top coaches and this group is no exception. Scott Frost of UCF, Scottie Montgomery of ECU, Mike Norvell of Memphis and Willie Fritz of Tulane. Our conference has as fine a roster of coaches as any conference, and as a result our teams are extremely competitive.
I want to recognize Scott Draper and Mike Costa from our office for all they do to ensure the success of our football efforts and Terry McAulay for his fine work as our officiating coordinator.
I want to thank our staff for their outstanding work in organizing this terrific event.
We appreciate the attendance of our friends from ESPN, CBS, and ASN, and appreciate all they do for us all year. We have the best media companies in the world televising our games and promoting our brand. We welcome the many bowl reps who are here. We have eight bowl tie-ins this year in outstanding destinations against top competition. It is always gratifying to see how many of our friends in the media attend our media days and we appreciate all that you do for college sports and for our student-athletes.
Steve Hatchell, CEO of the NFF and Hall of Fame, is again here with us. Steve has a vital role in promoting and defending our great game of football in the face of its challenges, and we applaud his efforts, and his passion for the college game.
We are also pleased to welcome here today Gina Lehe, senior director of communications and brand management for the College Football Playoff.
I take great pride in congratulating two of our athletic directors on winning very significant awards. Chet Gladchuk is the recipient of the NFF and Hall of Fame’s prestigious John L. Toner award as Athletic Director of the Year and Pat Kraft was named a 40-under-40 award recipient by the Sports Business Journal.
I also want to recognize the University of Houston Athletics Communication Office and associate athletic director David Bassity as the Cougars office was cited by the Football Writers Association of America with its “Super 11” award as one of the best in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision during the 2015 season. It’s the second honor for the department in the last four years.
Last, but not least, I want to pay a special tribute to retired UCF Coach George O’Leary, who enjoyed a wonderful coaching career and who built the UCF program and built it the right way. His players collective APR was always at the top of our conference and I will always remember the Fiesta Bowl executives telling me that George’s team in 2014 was the nicest group of kids they had ever hosted. I could not have been prouder. This conference will always owe a great debt of gratitude to George and that team for giving us instant credibility with an 11-win season and the resounding victory over fifth-ranked Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. George was one of our league’s biggest supporters when we needed support the most, he believed in what we could quickly become, he was colorful and committed, and he produced great teams over the years. We wish him and his family a happy retirement.
I cannot stand here this morning and ignore the recent Big 12 news regarding realignment, and although I want to address it at the outset, I am not going to dwell on it. That would be a disservice to our conference and to the outstanding student-athletes and coaches here with us today. Big 12 expansion, if it happens, and it appears probable, will again change the landscape of collegiate athletics and may well have an impact on our conference. As presently constituted, The American is a Power 6 conference and has earned that designation. We have been incredibly competitive, and the fact that virtually all of our schools are the main focus of realignment speaks to our strength, speaks volumes about us.
And although perception of our conference may change somewhat as a result of further realignment, that will be temporary, as I can assure you that our success will continue. Regardless of what may happen, we will return most of our membership and our schools have been high-achieving and have made incredible progress. This progress will not be interrupted. We will get right back to work building the league. Three years ago, there was skepticism, and look what we have accomplished, even under the shadow of near constant realignment speculation.
Our ambition and commitment to be a Power 6 conference will always remain strong. That moniker is not a function of a legislative autonomy arrangement, it represents achievement and competitiveness on the field and court and we have excelled competitively.
***
Thank you, Brent (Stover) for that kind introduction. We are extremely pleased to have you here today. We appreciate your fine work at CBS Sports Network and your support of our league.
As always, I first want to recognize some individuals who are instrumental to this conference’s success and to its future prospects.
Susan Herbst, President of UConn, serves ably as our conference’s Board Chair. Her vision and strong support have been critical to this conference’s progress and accomplishments, and to UConn’s incredible success in men’s and women’s sports.
Stead Upham, President of Tulsa, is retiring at the end of this year, but not before having made enormous contributions to the conference and also serving as our vice chair. He served two tours at Tulsa’s leader and has guided the university to unprecedented academic and athletic heights.
Steve Ballard, President of ECU, is also retiring, and likewise Steve has been a huge advocate for the conference and has done a brilliant job at ECU.
As you know, Navy joined our conference in 2015 after 134 years as an independent and competed strongly for a division title. We are proud of the Midshipmen and appreciate their dedication to a life of service to our country. That dedication is epitomized by Academy Superintendent Ted Carter, who was a decorated combat pilot and carrier task force commander. We challenged our Midshipmen here in Newport last year to keep their dress whites clean during the frenzy of the Monday lobster dinner, and I think they accomplished the feat.
We welcome three new ADs and all are quickly making their mark, Danny White of UCF, Troy Dannen of Tulane and David Benedict of UConn. Jeff Compher, our AD group chair, and Mark Harlan, our AD vice chair, do an outstanding job for their schools and for the conference.
We welcome four outstanding new coaches – we have a habit of hiring top coaches and this group is no exception. Scott Frost of UCF, Scottie Montgomery of ECU, Mike Norvell of Memphis and Willie Fritz of Tulane. Our conference has as fine a roster of coaches as any conference, and as a result our teams are extremely competitive.
I want to recognize Scott Draper and Mike Costa from our office for all they do to ensure the success of our football efforts and Terry McAulay for his fine work as our officiating coordinator.
I want to thank our staff for their outstanding work in organizing this terrific event.
We appreciate the attendance of our friends from ESPN, CBS, and ASN, and appreciate all they do for us all year. We have the best media companies in the world televising our games and promoting our brand. We welcome the many bowl reps who are here. We have eight bowl tie-ins this year in outstanding destinations against top competition. It is always gratifying to see how many of our friends in the media attend our media days and we appreciate all that you do for college sports and for our student-athletes.
Steve Hatchell, CEO of the NFF and Hall of Fame, is again here with us. Steve has a vital role in promoting and defending our great game of football in the face of its challenges, and we applaud his efforts, and his passion for the college game.
We are also pleased to welcome here today Gina Lehe, senior director of communications and brand management for the College Football Playoff.
I take great pride in congratulating two of our athletic directors on winning very significant awards. Chet Gladchuk is the recipient of the NFF and Hall of Fame’s prestigious John L. Toner award as Athletic Director of the Year and Pat Kraft was named a 40-under-40 award recipient by the Sports Business Journal.
I also want to recognize the University of Houston Athletics Communication Office and associate athletic director David Bassity as the Cougars office was cited by the Football Writers Association of America with its “Super 11” award as one of the best in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision during the 2015 season. It’s the second honor for the department in the last four years.
Last, but not least, I want to pay a special tribute to retired UCF Coach George O’Leary, who enjoyed a wonderful coaching career and who built the UCF program and built it the right way. His players collective APR was always at the top of our conference and I will always remember the Fiesta Bowl executives telling me that George’s team in 2014 was the nicest group of kids they had ever hosted. I could not have been prouder. This conference will always owe a great debt of gratitude to George and that team for giving us instant credibility with an 11-win season and the resounding victory over fifth-ranked Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. George was one of our league’s biggest supporters when we needed support the most, he believed in what we could quickly become, he was colorful and committed, and he produced great teams over the years. We wish him and his family a happy retirement.
I cannot stand here this morning and ignore the recent Big 12 news regarding realignment, and although I want to address it at the outset, I am not going to dwell on it. That would be a disservice to our conference and to the outstanding student-athletes and coaches here with us today. Big 12 expansion, if it happens, and it appears probable, will again change the landscape of collegiate athletics and may well have an impact on our conference. As presently constituted, The American is a Power 6 conference and has earned that designation. We have been incredibly competitive, and the fact that virtually all of our schools are the main focus of realignment speaks to our strength, speaks volumes about us.
And although perception of our conference may change somewhat as a result of further realignment, that will be temporary, as I can assure you that our success will continue. Regardless of what may happen, we will return most of our membership and our schools have been high-achieving and have made incredible progress. This progress will not be interrupted. We will get right back to work building the league. Three years ago, there was skepticism, and look what we have accomplished, even under the shadow of near constant realignment speculation.
Our ambition and commitment to be a Power 6 conference will always remain strong. That moniker is not a function of a legislative autonomy arrangement, it represents achievement and competitiveness on the field and court and we have excelled competitively.