Tech grad named Southland Conference Commissioner

[EJ]

Former W. M. man, Tech grad named SLC head
News-Star news services
Posted on December 24, 2002

PLANO, Texas - A former West Monroe resident has been named commissioner of the 11-university Southland Conference, following an extensive nationwide search by the conference's Board of Directors. Tom Burnett is also a graduate of Louisiana Tech University.

Burnett, currently the associate commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, becomes the sixth commissioner in the 39-year history of the Southland. He will assume his new duties Feb. 1, 2003.

Burnett, a 17-year veteran in athletics administration, takes over for Greg Sankey - who resigned Nov. 1 after accepting a position as associate commissioner with the Southeastern Conference.

"We are pleased to announce that Tom Burnett will serve as the next commissioner of the Southland Conference," said Lamar University President Dr. James Simmons, who also serves as chairman of the Southland Conference Board of Directors. "Chosen from an outstanding pool of candidates, Tom has a high level of intercollegiate athletic administration experience, and we are confident that he will be able to move our conference forward in the years ahead."

Burnett has served the Sun Belt for more than 11 years in the roles of director of communications, assistant commissioner and associate commissioner.

His latest responsibilities as associate commissioner, a role in which he has served since 1999, include television negotiations and production, public relations, administration of the Sun Belt's men's and women's basketball tournaments, serving as a liaison to the league's athletic directors, and providing oversight of the league's officiating programs.

Previously, he directed the Sun Belt's efforts in media services, championships administration, scheduling, and served as a liaison to coaches' groups and the NCAA Championships staff.

"This is a league of outstanding academic institutions and tremendous athletic traditions," Burnett said, "and I am excited about the future possibilities for the conference."

"I am eager to get to work with the member institutions and conference staff to help advance the league and provide our student-athletes with the best academic and athletic experiences possible," he said.

Burnett, 38, has also served in an administrative capacity with numerous NCAA Championship events, including the 2002 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championships and the 2003 NCAA Men's Final Four, both in New Orleans.

For the 2003 Final Four, he serves on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Local Organizing Committee as the Public/Media Relations Chair. He's been a member of the media services committee at the NCAA Men's Final Four since 1991.

He also worked in the development of football as a Sun Belt-sponsored sport, as well as the New Orleans Bowl, which debuted in 2001. Burnett produced the Sun Belt's football and basketball television packages with ESPN Regional Television, which debuted in 2002 in approximately six million television households.

He began his career as a sports information student assistant at Louisiana Tech University in 1985, when the institution was a member of the Southland Conference - and later served as a full-time athletic department staff member at Tech. He joined the American South Conference staff in 1989, and two years later the league merged into the Sun Belt Conference.



Burnett is a native of Houston, Texas, and spent his high school years in West Monroe. He is a 1988 graduate of Louisiana Tech, where he studied journalism and spent one year as the sports editor of the school's student newspaper, The Tech Talk.

He and his wife Tracy, a native of Baton Rouge, are the parents of a 2-year-old son, Cole Thomas and a 2-year-old daughter, Jesse Caroline. They live in Prairieville.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Congrats to Tom Burnett!