USF Vice President of Athletics will serve on the prestigious national NCAA organization through June of 2025
TAMPA, JUNE 16, 2021 – Vice President of Athletics Michael Kelly, who will enter his fourth year leading USF Athletics in the 2021-22 season, will begin an appointed four-year term on the prestigious NCAA Division I Council on July 1.
Kelly will be among 40 members of the council – including a representative from each of the 32 Division I conferences, four commissioners, two student-athletes and two faculty athletics representatives – appointed to serve by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.
“I am honored to represent USF and The American in serving on the Division I Council and to have the opportunity to help steward the governance of the NCAA and the experience of student-athletes across the nation,” Kelly said. “I look forward to serving with my colleagues and sharing their commitment and dedication to the athletic and academic success of NCAA student-athletes.”
The Division I Council is a high-level group responsible for the day-to-day decision-making for Division I. The representatives serving on the council from the 32 conferences are comprised of athletics administrators (e.g., athletics directors, senior woman administrators, conference administrators, compliance administrators and other senior level administrators) and faculty athletics representatives.
There are eight standing committees that report to the council on major issues concerning NCAA governance, including committees on student-athlete experience, strategic vision and planning, legislation, competition oversight, football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAC).
As part of Kelly’s responsibilities on the NCAA Division I Council, he has been appointed to serve as a member of the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee, which has oversight responsibility of regular season and championships administration in all sports other than football and men’s and women’s basketball, including supervision of qualification and/or selection procedures for Division I and National Collegiate Championships.
The council members meet regularly and issue monthly reports and recommended legislative actions for the NCAA on the major issues of the day, including name, image and likeness legislation, diversity and equity, transfer rules, compliance infractions and enforcement, eligibility, championship qualification and conduct, competition seasons, recruiting and much more.
Kelly was named the chair of the American Athletic Conference’s Athletic Directors Executive Committee in June of 2020 and also serves as USF’s representative on the conference’s Racial Equality Action Group. He also currently serves on the President’s Board of Advisors for St. Thomas University (Miami Gardens, FL) and the Board of Trustees for St. John’s College High School (Washington, D.C.)—two of Kelly’s alma maters.
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men’s and women’s teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls’ athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 55th season in 2020-21. Nearly 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 23 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, and own 127 conference titles overall. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the sixth straight year in 2019-20 and have posted a program record 13 straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has had nearly 450 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.
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– #GoBulls –
