Dr. Kurt Patberg Conference Commissioner (770) 447-5700
Immediately prior to joining the SSAC, Kurt spent seven years as the general manager of Competitive Resources which he helped build into the leading career and placement service in the country for persons with competitive athletic experiences. During that time, Kurt was not only in a management capacity but also assisted in the areas of career development and placement and recruiting of mostly collegiate athletes. Kurt was one of the primary designers of the SCORE programs which is a seminar that assists student athletes in preparing themselves for their professional careers after their days as a student-athlete. Kurt received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Evansville before continuing on with his masters in sports administration from Ohio University the following year. He recently completed his PH.D. in kinesiology with emphasis on higher education and sports administration from the University of Minnesota. He has served on multiple committees and associations, including the Chick-fil-A Bowl Selection Committee, the Southern Catholic University Athletic Consultation Team, the Colonial Athletic Association Basketball Championships Tournament Committee, the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation Board of Directors. The Commissioner is serving on several NAIA committees. One is the study of the possible need for a National Letter of Intent program and the other two committees are both Conference Commissioner Association committees relating to national marketing programs and championship sport sponsorship requirements, respectfully. |
Greg Black Sports Information Director (334) 799-3147 Greg has served as the conference sports information director since July 2001. He is employed by eSolution Architects and is the creator of SIDHelp, a content management system for athletic sites, which is used on the conference website. Greg is a member of NAIA-CoSIDA and has served as the chair of the Computer Services committee as well as been a technical consultant for many NAIA computer related projects. Greg attended Faulkner University and later transfered to Troy State University - Montgomery where he received his BS in Computer Science in 1997. Later he received his MS-Computer Information Systems from The University of Phoenix. Greg has married to Rayla Black since 2000 and has one son (Tucker) who was born in 2005. Greg and his family reside in Montgomery, AL. |
Robert Cliatt Marketing & Operations Director Robert joined the Southern States office in June 2010. As Marketing & Operations Director, Robert handles the day-to-day marketing, communications, financials, and operations for the conference. Robert also will oversee many aspects of the Southern Sports Athletic Conference television show including stories, script writing, planning, and webcasts. Robert attended the University of Georgia where he received his BS in Sport Management in 2008. While in Athens he held internships with multiple organizations including the University of Georgia Athletic Association, EvoShield, ProEdge Sports, and Crocs Inc. as well as serving on the College of Educations Budget Allocation Committee and as President of the UGA Sports Business Club. After graduation he worked as an Assistant in the Promotions Department of the University of Georgia Athletic Association serving as the primary contact for volleyball, equestrian, men's and women's tennis while assisting with gymnastics, men's basketball, and baseball. Later he received his MS in Sport Administration from Georgia State University. While attending GSU he worked as a Marketing Graduate Assistant in the Georgia Tech Athletic Association. |
Dr. Richard Cowan Eligibility Chair (706) 233-7207 Richard has been a faculty member at Shorter University for 35 years and counting. He is currently a full professor of mathematics. Richard has been involved continuously in eligibility at the District and Conference level for the past 30 years. In this capacity he has presented numerous eligibility workshops at District and Conference meetings and at member schools, while also attending the NAIA National Convention on a regular basis. Recently for the NAIA Richard has served on six site visit teams. These teams are set up by the NAIA to visit colleges and universities who have applied for NAIA membership. Richard currently serves on an NAIA task force investigating five years of eligibility in a sport. |
Ricci Lattanzi Director of Basketball Championship (706) 233-7347 Ricci is a full-time employee of Shorter University, but willingly donates a significant amount of time to the SSAC. In 2007-08, Ricci served as the interim commissioner capacity for the SSAC, and since the hiring of Commissioner Patberg, has retained the responsibilities of business manager. As the Director of Operations for the Shorter Athletic Department, Ricci is involved in many of the hands-on operations of the athletic department, including game day operations, facilities management, concessions and community relations. |
Kurt is excited to be back in the leadership role of a conference which began with the SSAC in March of 2008. He has spent over nine years in the role of commissioner of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. During his tenure as commissioner, his primary accomplishments have been advancing the exposure of the league through various medians such as television, radio, and online marketing. These projects have been possible by Kurt's ability to secure working corporate partnerships with businesses that benefit from partnering with small college athletic conferences and its member institutions. 
