Feb. 18, 2010
Orlando, Fla. (www.UCFAthletics.com) - Keith R. Tribble, Director of Athletics at the University of Central Florida, will serve as one of five panelists at the upcoming Business of Sports breakfast, hosted by the Orlando Business Journal in partnership with the Central Florida Sports Commission.
Tribble will be joined on the panel by Steve Hogan, Chief Executive Officer, Florida Citrus Sports; Steve Liverani, Senior Vice President & General Manager, FOX Sports Florida & Sun Sports; Alex Martins, Chief Operating Officer, Orlando Magic; and Ken Potrock, Senior Vice President, Disney Sports Enterprises.
The sold-out event begins at 8 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, at the Hilton Orlando (6001 Destination Parkway - next to the Orange County Convention Center).
Since his start as Director of Athletics and Executive Vice President for UCF Athletics in 2006, Tribble, one of only nine African-American Directors of Athletics in the Football Bowl Subdivision, has quickly reinforced the school's intercollegiate athletics program for present and future success.
To date, Tribble has overseen $150 million in new construction and improvements to UCF athletic facilities, including the on-campus 45,323-seat Bright House Networks Stadium, amongst several other projects. When finished, the plan will touch all areas of the student-athletes' well-being, including residential housing, academic and mentoring support facilities and state-of-the-art performance venues.
Academically, for the third straight year in 2008-09, the Knights placed the highest number of student-athletes on the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll with 224 representatives maintaining a 3.0 grade-point average or better. UCF's 224 honorees represented 60-percent of the school's total student-athletes and an increase of 13.5-percent from a year ago. The 224 student-athletes also stands as a C-USA record for one school.
Outside the classroom, Tribble helped reintroduce the Knights' PRIDE program, to better prepare UCF student-athletes for life after college. This new department has now overseen job fairs and networking events aimed at assisting student-athletes in post-graduate employment, in addition to serving over 1,000 community service hours at area schools and recreation centers.
UCF Athletics can now compete for Conference USA championships in all sports, and has been steadily progressing in this direction under Tribble since his first year at UCF. In recent years, the football program has played for two C-USA titles, winning it in 2007. That same year, women's soccer and softball, and members of women's track and field, first claimed C-USA titles. In 2008-09, C-USA Coach of the Year Joi Williams led a young women's basketball program to a memorable conference championship and NCAA Tournament invitation. Men's golf won its first C-USA championship, while finishing among the top ten teams nationally in 2009. Women's track and field had three All-America performers under 2009 NCAA regional coach of the year Caryl Smith Gilbert, in her second season at UCF.
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