The Big South Conference Council of Chief Executive Officers formally determined the league’s next executive committee during its most recent meeting, and Campbell University President Dr. Brad Creed has been elevated to the league presidency.
UNC Asheville Chancellor Dr. Nancy Cable was elected Vice President, and North Carolina A&T University Chancellor Dr. Harold Martin has been added to the executive committee as an at-large representative.
Dr. Creed, who served as Big South Vice President for the past four years and has spent six years overall on the league’s executive committee, will also serve the conference on the NCAA Division I Presidential Forum, replacing Radford University President Brian Hemphill.
Dr. Creed’s term as Big South President is through the 2022-23 academic year.
In other Big South Conference news, the league announced Wednesday that it has added three associate members in the sport of women’s lacrosse: Furman University, Mercer University, and Wofford College. The change is effective with the 2022 season.
The three additions join Campbell, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Longwood, Presbyterian College, Radford and Winthrop and increase the Big South’s women’s lacrosse sponsorship to 10 programs.
The three schools previously competed in the Southern Conference, which announced it is no longer sponsoring the sport following the 2021 season. Furman was 12-5 overall last season and was the SoCon regular-season champion with a 4-0 record. Mercer was 7-8 overall (2-2 SoCon), and knocked off the Paladins, 14-13, to win the SoCon Tournament. Wofford finished 2-9 (1-3 SoCon) in 2021.
Furman began its women’s lacrosse program in 2015 and recently completed its seventh season of competition, all under the direction of head coach Rachel Whitten. The Paladins have compiled 68 victories while capturing Southern Conference regular season championships in 2019 and 2021. Furman boasts 21 all-conference performers in its history, two Freshman of the Year selections, one each Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year performers, and one Coach of the Year honoree.
Mercer began women’s lacrosse in the spring of 2015 under head coach Samantha Eustace. Over the first seven years as a program, Mercer has compiled 56 wins and was the only program to win a Southern Conference Tournament Championship, doing so three times. Mercer qualified for its first NCAA Tournament during the 2018 season and again in 2019 and 2021.
Wofford began its women’s lacrosse program in the 2018 season. This past season, the Terriers landed a program-best four honorees on All-Southern Conference teams, including Elisabeth Ralph on the first team. Kim Eldridge became head coach in June 2019 and completed her second year at the helm this past spring.
In more conference news, the Big South has awarded its Dr. Edward M. Singleton Leadership Award to the athletic training staffs of its member institutions for the group’s dedicated work during this challenging 2020-21 year. The conference formally recognized the honorees as part of the league’s annual spring awards banquet at The Westin Resort in Hilton Head, S.C.
The Singleton Leadership Award is named for the Big South’s first commissioner and is not an annual award. Its purpose is to recognize a former Big South student-athlete or administrator who has exhibited exemplary leadership and character during his or her career. The Singleton Award Selection Committee waived its normal criteria for this year in light of the extraordinary dedication of the conference’s athletic trainers during the pandemic.
“Having worked with our head athletic trainers since last spring on the Big South’s response to the ever-changing pandemic, I witnessed firsthand their sacrifice, work ethic, and selfless dedication to Big South student-athletes,” commented Big South Commissioner Kyle Kallander. “The fact that Big South teams completed over 90% of their scheduled contests is directly attributable to our athletic training staffs, who helped craft policy, implement protocols, and kept our student-athletes and staff safe.”
