While the college sports landscape is evolving by the day, you might expect someone like Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill to be worried.
However, Gill exuded a cool confidence at Sun Belt Media Days 2025 in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana this week.
The annual kickoff to the 2025 college football season for the league took place on Tuesday and Wednesday inside the Marriott Warehouse Arts District in the Crescent City. After Gill had given his opening address, he appeared as a guest on The LohDown with D-Loh on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.
Gill spoke on the matter of playoff expansion, explaining that the SBC benefits no matter the format.
“If it’s all AQs (Automatic Qualifiers), that’s not my preferred model, but I don’t know that it impacts us that much,” Gill said. “The one thing about the at-larges is it would give us a chance to get a second or third (at-large) in our subdivision. I think that helps in that regard, but I think those opportunities aren’t going to be so prevalent that the other option is bad.”
What he’s speaking on is the notion that the Big Ten Conference has reportedly been pushing for AQs that would guarantee them a certain number of playoff teams in an expanded format. Currently, the 12 teams are selected based on the highest five conference champions with the remaining seven slots going to at-larges, or the highest ranked remaining teams.
In addition to playoff expansion, another topic that Gill is seemingly always asked about is divisions. The SBC is currently the only FBS conference to still use a divisional model, separating the East and the West. While Louisiana Tech’s entry date could affect that plan for one year, Gill does not expect divisions to leave the league anytime soon.
“The regional rivalries are really important to us, so being in divisions allows us to play 75% of our games in division… if you start getting out of divisions, then you’re going to start having more west teams go east, and more east teams go west. And that’s not exactly what we’re (the SBC) designed to do,” Gill said about keeping divisions.
On a lighter note, Gill was asked about ULM head coach Bryant Vincent’s comments at the main podium about the SEC. Vincent called the Sun Belt the “SEC of the Group of 6.”
Gill seemed to enjoy that.
“I think it’s great, you know? I look at that as a compliment. I appreciate that from Coach Vincent, someone that has coached in a lot of places, seen a lot of things… anytime anybody wants to compare us to the SEC that’s a good thing,” Gill said with a smile.
The Sun Belt gets another college football season going in just more than a month.
ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles’ Sun Belt Media Day 2025 coverage is presented by Morain Coffee Co. and The Wetlands.