Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)

Purpose of SoCon SAAC

The purpose of the organization shall be to lay the foundation for developing the SoCon SAAC into a solid organization, while utilizing each other's resources and providing guidance to strengthen SAAC's throughout the Southern Conference. Specifically to:

1. be an organization in which individuals serve as a voice for their institution,
2. share ideas, network, and develop lasting friendships,
3. try to address issues and problems,
4. create opportunities for unity, change, and rewards, and
5. foster communication among all schools in the conference.

SAAC Organizational Structure

National SAAC

The Southern Conference participates in the NCAA Division-I national SAAC, which consists of one student-athlete from each of the 31 Division-I conferences. Members are selected by the Division-I Management Council from a pool of three nominees from each of the represented conferences. Each student-athlete serves a two-year term. These conference representatives offer input and assist in shaping the proposed legislation for Division-I athletics. The SoCon SAAC representative to the national NCAA SAAC for 2010-12 is Western Carolina's Chris Everett.

Click here to go to the NCAA Division 1 National SAAC Webpage

SoCon SAAC

The SoCon Student-Athlete Advisory Committee consists of at least one student-athlete representative from each member institution and a liaison from the Directors' of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrators' and Faculty Athletic Representatives' Committees.

Chris Everett, a former football player at Western Carolina University, is currently in this 2nd year as our SoCon SAAC Representative.  Click here for his National Representative Address.

Institution SAACs

Each SoCon member institution has its own SAAC, comprised of at least one representative from each SoCon-sponsored team. This committee functions in the following ways:

• Promote communication between athletics administration and student-athletes
• Disseminate information
• Provide feedback and insight into athletics department issues
• Generate a student-athlete voice within the campus's formation of athletic policies
• Build a sense of community among all athletic programs and teams
• Solicit student-athlete responses to conference and NCAA legislation
• Organize community service efforts
• Provide student-athlete representation on campus-wide committees
• Promote a positive image of student-athletes throughout each campus

To learn more about individual campus SAAC leaders, visit our Members page or check out each schools SAAC webpage.

Institutions

Appalachian State Mountaineers

College of Charleston Cougars

The Citadel Bulldogs

Davidson Wildcats

Elon Phoenix

Furman Paladins

Georgia Southern Eagles

UNCG Spartans

Samford Bulldogs

UTC Mocs

Western Carolina Catamounts

Wofford Terriers

Chris talks to YOU!

Greetings to Everyone,

I won't make this long because I know everyone has many things they are busy with, including the fall legislation. Just would like to ask my SoCon SAAC members to post the following Facebook post to your status. It's just an effort of the D1 SAAC to garner more attention to what we do on a national basis and how important SAAC truly is.

DI STUDENT-ATHLETES: Check out the official page for Division 1 SAAC at: www.nationalsaac.weebly.com! Navigate through the page and gain a better understanding of what SAAC can do for you and how to make your campus SAAC more efficient. Also, join our Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41063840131 and follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/divisionisaac to receive constant SAAC news from campus SAACs nation wide and see what others are doing with their SAACs!  Be sure to help your campus SAAC with the fall legislation that is out for discussion now. OUR VOICE COUNTS!

SAAC Athletes Year Round

• Chattonooga volleyball player, Paula Passmore, was named the defensive player of the week for the week of October 22. Passmore is very active in Chattanooga's SAAC and was a 2012 SALI particiapnt. Click here to view the press release.
• Furman volleyball player, Chandler Ambrester, was named one of eight October student-athletes of the month. Click here to view the press release.
• Appalachian State soccer player, Lee Williams, was named to the 2012 Men's Soccer Championship All-Tournament team. Williams was a 2012 SALI participant. Click here to view the press release.
• Elon basketball player, Kelsey Evans, was named the Southern Conference student-athlete of the week for the week of January 9. Evans is an active leader in Elon's SAAC. Click here to view the press release.
• Western Carolina soccer player, Samantha Hodge, was named a semi-finalist for the Wooden Citizenship Cup. This award is given for being an outstanding role model among athletes. Hodge was a 2012 SALI participant and plays an active role in SAAC. Click here to view the press release. 
• Kelsey Evans, Christin Newman, and Samantha Hodge were named as three of the ten Graduate Scholar Recipients for 2013. Evans, Newman, and Hodge are members of SAAC and were 2012 SALI participants. Click here to view the press release.
• Click Here for the 2011-2012 SAAC Presidents and Contact Information.

Keeping Tabs on Kids

This program was created in an effort to unite the Southern Conference SAACs in a joint project. Each school's SAAC collects pop tabs of various types throughout the year and delivers them to SoCon staff at each championship to be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities. With Ronald McDonald houses in all four states, each school will get to enjoy the effort put forth during the year.

Standings as of 4/25/2013

1. Wofford- 202.43 lbs or 349,191 tabs

2. Western Carolina- 108.17 lbs or 186,593 tabs

  3. UNCG - 36.99 lbs. or 63,807.75 tabs

4. Samford - 36.47 lbs. or 62,910 tabs

5.  Elon- 28.67 lbs or 49,455 tabs

6. Georgia Southern 26.16 lbs or 45,126 tabs

7. College of Charleston- 3.08 lbs or 5,313 tabs

8. Appalachian State

9. The Citadel

10. Davidson

11. Furman

12. Chattanooga

About Ronald McDonald House Charities

Other "SAAC STUFF" going on

• SAAC to Collect Coats for Local Charity
  
  11/8/2012
   
  ELON, N.C. – Elon Athletics and the Elon Student Athlete Advisory Committee are partnering for the second straight year with Allied Churches of Alamance County to collect new and gently used coats of all sizes for both children and adults.
   
  Coats will be collected at all men’s and women’s basketball home games through Dec. 13. Anyone who brings a coat to donate to the men’s game against Dartmouth on Tuesday, Dec. 4, or the women’s game against Morgan State on Thursday, Dec. 13, will receive one free admission per coat.
   
  On game days, student-athletes will be on hand in Alumni Gym’s main concourse and student entrance to accept coats and other cold weather apparel, such has hats, gloves and scarves. Monetary donations will also be accepted for SAAC to purchase coats.
   
  Bins will be stationed at all times in the Koury Athletic Center for donations.
   
  Last year, Elon’s SAAC collected over 100 coats during seven home athletic events to donate to Allied Churches.

• Wofford SAAC Teams Up With Carolina Miracle League

Spartanburg, N.C.-On Monday, April 29 nearly 40 members of the Wofford Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) enjoyed an evening of baseball with the players in the Carolina Miracle League. The Wofford student-athletes, representing every Wofford athletic team, participated as "buddies" in a doubleheader of fun at Miracle Park located in the North Spartanburg Park in Boiling Springs, SC. Participation for Wofford student-athletes with the Miracle League has been an on-going community outreach program for several years.

The Carolina Miracle League (CML) is a baseball league for kids of various ability levels. Wofford has supported the league since its first game in the Spring of 2007 by sponsoring and lending the Terriers nickname to one of the teams in the league. Wofford then began the conversation with all of the other colleges in the area to also sponsor a team, meaning all the league's teams have nicknames with local ties.

In all, the CML has over 100 participants this spring split into eight teams. For more details about the league's mission log onto carolinamiracleleague.org.

For many more photos from the event, find both Wofford Terriers and Carolina Miracle League on Facebook.

Student-Athlete Leadership Institute (SALI)

Now enteringits 16th year, SALI is perhaps the most unique educational forum involving student-athletes in the country. Student-athletes from all 12 SoCon schools, who are actively involved in their own campus SAAC, come together for three days in the summer for an influential learning experience. The philosophy of the institute and the Southern Conference SAAC is to promote the welfare of student-athletes within the conference through mutual interaction and discussion; to educate the participants on topics of interest to student-athletes; to help the participants develop leadership and team mentoring skills;  to provide a forum for the development of campus SAACs for the purpose of improving communication between administrators and student-athletes; and to give student-athletes on SoCon campuses input into the administration of Conference championships and activities.  Click here to see 2011 SALI Participants.

2011 SALI Photo Gallery