Southeastern names Bellairs new athletic director

• By DEBRA LEMOINE
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Nov 25, 2009 - Page: 1C

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HAMMOND — Southeastern Louisiana University officials announced Tuesday the university has selected W. Bart Bellairs as its new athletic director.

Bellairs, 52, currently the athletic director at Savannah State, is expected to take the reins in January. His appointment must be approved by the Louisiana Board of Supervisors.

He succeeds Joel Erdmann, who left Southeastern in August to assume the athletic director’s position at South Alabama in Mobile. Erdmann held the position at SLU for two years.

When announcing his selection, Southeastern President John L. Crain said Bellairs was his top choice — as well as that of the selection committee’s — out of 45 applicants.

“He shares Southeastern’s focus on the student part of student-athlete,” Crain said.

Stephen Smith, chairman of the selection committee, said Bellairs was willing to make a long-term commitment to SLU.

“We think he’ll be here for a while,” Smith said.

Bellairs said he was attracted to the small college-town life offered by Hammond that is similar to the town he grew up in, Richmond, Ky.

“When you’re in a big city, sometimes you can’t have a big impact,” he said.

Bellairs said one of his main roles will be to go out into the community to garner more support and funding for athletics.

At SLU, Bellairs will oversee 15 NCAA Division I programs that compete in the Southland Conference.

Bellairs, who has spent the last 26 years working in collegiate athletics, has been at Savannah State since July 2008. While there, he implemented an academic “road map” plan for each student-athlete from registration to graduation, university officials said.  He also reworked the athletic budget to solve issues with staffing and scholarships as part of a Title IX/Gender Equity program.

Before heading to Georgia, Bellairs served as senior associate director of intercollegiate athletics at Virginia Military Institute from 2005-08. He also was the head basketball coach at VMI from 1993 to 2005.