Savannah State athletic director chosen as new Southeastern Louisiana A.D.

Former A.D. W.Bart Bellairs leaves SSU Tigers for Southeastern Louisiana University Lions and Southland Conference.

SSU names interim AD

Savannah State University named Marilynn Stacey-Suggs interim athletics director on Tuesday. Stacey-Suggs, SSU’s Assistant Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator, replaces Bart Bellairs, who was hired as athletics director at Southeastern Louisiana University on Monday. Bellairs was introduced as Southeastern Louisiana’s athletic director Tuesday during a news conference in Hammond, La. Stacey-Suggs, a native of Reidsville, N.C., earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Winston-Salem State University in 1980. She earned an associate in arts degree from Fayetteville Technical Community College in funeral service education in 1983.

SSU athletic director resigns

Bart Bellairs told the Savannah Morning News that he resigned Monday as Savannah State University's athletic director, a position he held since May 20, 2008. During a 3 p.m. telephone interview, Bellairs said he would inform his staff during an athletic department meeting at 4 p.m. Monday. "I am leaving Savannah State University, but I am not confirming where I'm going at this time," Bellairs said. Bellairs, 53, is the first white athletic director at SSU, a historically black university that began playing sports in 1915.

"It's a family thing," said Bellairs, whose wife, Jacki, and four school-age children remained in Lexington, Va., after he accepted the job at SSU. "It's because of my family. I've loved my time here, but I'm a family man and it's always been about my family." SSU paid Bellairs $110,000 annually. He was chosen among 32 applicants to become the Tigers' 15th athletic director.

Bart Bellairs Named Director Of Athletics At Southeastern

HAMMOND, LA – W. Bart Bellairs, former director of intercollegiate athletics at Savannah State University in Savannah, Ga., and a senior athletics administrator at Virginia Military Institute has been selected to serve as director of athletics at Southeastern Louisiana University, it was announced today (Nov.24). His appointment is contingent upon final approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. He is expected to join the Southeastern staff in early January.

“I liked what I saw at Southeastern from the start but when my wife Jacki and I met the people, we knew we had found a home,” Bellairs said. “My whole life I have spent time in college towns; growing up, as a coach, and as an administrator, and I have been blessed by living in some great places. When I started preparing for the interview I was very impressed with the campus and the attention Southeastern paid to supporting the students; but when I met the people -- the faculty, coaches, and members of the community – I wanted to be a part of it.”

At Southeastern, Bellairs will oversee 15 NCAA Division I affiliated programs that compete in the Southland Conference. Bellairs had been at Savannah State, an NCAA Division I program, with 15 teams, since July 2008.

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