Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill joins ADU’s Steph Garcia Cichosz at the 2023 NCAA Convention to reflect on the leadership lessons he’s learned from nearly three decades in college athletics through a career that includes stops at the NCAA, AD chair and conference office as well as experience as a football student-athlete. Gill, a first-generation college graduate, dives into the influence his mom had on the development of his identity and value system and reaffirms his belief in the value of a college degree in today’s NIL era. Gill also discusses the Sun Belt’s position on issues such as gender equity, championship access and DEI.
The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing: - 0:30 - How did you define your identity and values when you were a football student-athlete at Duke?
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1:29 - How did you set goals for yourself? How has that goal-setting process evolved as you ascended throughout your career?
- 2:38 - How did you ensure that opportunities you said yes or no to aligned with your values?
- 4:25 - What lessons did you learn from your stops at three levels of college athletics (the NCAA, an AD at an individual campus and at a conference office) that still inform you today?
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8:23 - How do you keep a connection with Sun Belt student-athletes from your vantage point as commissioner?
- 9:50 - How do you manage the different personalities and priorities of Sun Belt institutions when you're representing them and making decisions on their behalf?
- 11:42 - How can you capitalize on the energy and momentum of Sun Belt football for other sports the conference sponsors?
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14:15 - What are some unique ways we can enhance the championship experience for student-athletes?
- 15:55 - If you were starting your career over as a young professional in today's social and political climate, would you do anything differently?
- 17:23 - How can we continue to embed DEI into the fabric of college athletics?
- 19:03 - What's the next big conversation we need to be having as an industry?
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