The Sun Belt Conference signed commissioner Keith Gill to a contract extension that runs through at least June 30, 2030.
The school didn’t announce financial terms for the deal with Gill, who was named commissioner on March 19, 2019.
Gill has seen the conference grow into a 14-member Football Bowl Subdivision conference and spearheaded the return of men’s soccer to the league in 2022. He’s also navigated realignment, with James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss becoming full members on July 1.
In the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), the Sun Belt has a .649 bowl winning percentage. Six basketball programs played in the postseason in 2022, and the conference had four postseason bids in baseball in 2022 and softball in 2021.
“Commissioner Gill has been a tremendous leader for the Sun Belt Conference, just as we expected he would be when we hired him. What we did not anticipate at the time was the impact of a global pandemic on athletics or how soon we would be dealing with realignment. In both cases, Keith provided excellent leadership,” said Dr. Kelly Damphousse, president of conference member Texas State. “During realignment, Keith kept campus leaders informed about the rapid changes taking place and ensured that the Sun Belt Conference was able to accomplish its goals of adding outstanding new partner universities that fit our strategic and geographic goals.” ”
Gill, who played football at Duke, is the first Black commissioner in FBS history. Before leading the Sun Belt, he was the executive associate commissioner of the Atlantic 10.
–Field Level Media
