COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Colorado College President L. Song Richardson, chair of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Board of Directors, announced today that Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry has agreed to a five-year contract extension and will remain as the league's executive director at least through the 2027-28 academic year.
"We are thrilled to secure Dwayne Hanberry as the conference leader moving forward," said Richardson. "We are grateful for his work over the years, and he is the right person for the league as we focus on stability, growth, and opportunity. This is an important moment in time for the SCAC, and Dwayne's commitment is key as we look forward."
Hanberry, 57, is the longest-tenured employee in SCAC history and is currently serving in his 28th year with the conference office and 16th as commissioner.
"I am honored the membership continues to value the work that my staff and I do on behalf of the student-athletes of the conference," said Hanberry. "Over the years, the names of the schools on the letterhead have changed, but the commitment remains the same - to provide the absolute best experience possible for every student-athlete who participates under the umbrella of the SCAC."
"I am fortunate to work for a group of institutions that share that same vision and commitment, and I don't take it for granted," said Hanberry. "It has long been my goal to retire as a member of the SCAC family, and this contract extension goes a long way toward making that a reality."
Hanberry has directed the SCAC through a historic period in the league's existence, including during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years, when he guided the conference through the COVID-19 pandemic. His leadership made it possible for the membership to safely complete meaningful seasons of competitions both years, including 2020-21, when the SCAC pushed its entire fall and winter sports schedules to the spring semester. Along with regularly scheduled spring sports competition, the SCAC completed play and championships for all 19 league-sponsored sports, one of just a handful of Division III conferences that successfully conducted championships in every sport it sponsored. During the 2021-22 academic year, with COVID-19 still presenting logistical concerns, in the seven sports for which the league conducts regular season scheduling, the SCAC successfully completed 447 of 448 scheduled conference contests.
Hanberry has also shepherded the conference through several membership changes during his tenure, most notably in 2012 when the SCAC was down to five institutions (the conference's lowest number since the 1979-80 academic year) after seven of the league's Eastern schools broke away to form their own conference effective with the 2012-13 academic year.
The league quickly regrouped as Centenary College accepted an offer to join the SCAC effective the 2012-13 season and Schreiner University and Texas Lutheran University joined the membership rolls in 2013-14. The latter two additions insured the conference would retain its status as an active NCAA Division III conference as well as automatic bids in nine of its AQ sports, including baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, and volleyball. Just this past season, the league reacquired its men's and women's golf automatic bids.
The addition of the University of St. Thomas (effective the 2019-20 season) gave the SCAC its ninth core member and this past October, McMurry University was announced as the league's 10th member with participation slated to begin the 2024-25 academic year.
Once Southwestern University and Trinity University announced their plans to depart the league following the 2024-25 season, the league moved quickly and announced the additions of both Concordia University Texas and the University of the Ozarks last month, joining McMurry as core SCAC members effective the 2024-25 academic year.
With the addition of Lyon College as an affiliate football member, the league will reinstate the sport of football as an officially sponsored sport effective the 2024 playing season and expects to have its automatic bid reassigned effective the 2028 playing season.
A 28-year veteran of the conference office, Hanberry started as an intern at the SCAC and served in that role for two years before becoming the league's first full-time sports information director in the fall of 1997. He was promoted to assistant commissioner in 2000, associate commissioner in 2005, and served as interim commissioner for six months before officially being named the league's second commissioner in June of 2008.
Hanberry holds a B.B.A. from Oglethorpe University (1988) where he was a two-year starter on the Petrel basketball team for Coach Jack Berkshire.