SE's DOBBINS TO HEAD OVC

Southeast Missouri State University President Dr. Ken Dobbins has added another presidential title to his duties.

The Ohio Valley Conference Board of Presidents, during the league's annual summer meetings last week, elected Dobbins to serve as president of the OVC in 2001-2002.

Although Dobbins downplayed his new title, which basically puts him in the role of chair of the OVC Board of Presidents, he said he's excited about the coming year.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "We have an excellent group of presidents and some exciting things are happening in the OVC, especially with expansion. There are things we have to do to get ready for expansion."

The OVC recently announced that it is expanding to 11 members with the addition of two Alabama schools -- Jacksonville State and Samford -- in 2003-2004.

Dobbins and OVC commissioner Dan Beebe both say they would like to ideally expand the conference to 12 members, which would allow for two six-team divisions in most sports.

"I really feel like a 12th member would make the conference even better," Dobbins said.

In the past, the position of OVC president rotated yearly among the schools. But the conference has gotten away from that because of a recent major turnover in presidents around the league, which led to Dobbins actually being elected last week.

"We want to make sure the presidents (of the OVC) are not brand new," said Dobbins, who has been president at Southeast for two years. "We've had a lot of turnover in presidents in the conference. I think I'm now third or fourth in seniority in OVC presidents."

Presidents in the OVC play a vital role in conference legislation, with the Board of Presidents having the final say in most matters.

"This is a presidents' conference," Dobbins said. "Final decisions are made by the presidents. That doesn't mean the athletic directors don't make decisions and have input, but the presidents have the final say."

Dobbins pointed out that his new position does not actually place him in the role of decision-maker.

"We have two annual meetings and I'm just there to chair those," he said. "I do what the other presidents want."