Karl David Benson (born December 1, 1951) is a former college

baseball coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

and college athletics administrator. Benson last served as the

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) from 2012 until his retirement in June 2019. Previously, Benson was the commissioner of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) from 1990 to 1994 and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) from 1994 to 2012. Benson is the only person to have served as commissioner at three

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

/ FBS

athletic conferences An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. C ...

Early life and education

Early life

Benson was born in

La Grande, Oregon La Grande () is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Oregon, Union County, Oregon, United States. La Grande is Union County's largest city, with a population of 13,082 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. The La Grande metro population ...

, on December 1, 1951Marriage Applications 1974 May-Aug
Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; ''Washington Marriage Records, 1854-2013'' to Leonard Benson (father): a freight agent at

Consolidated Freightways Consolidated Freightways (CF) was an American multinational Less-than-truckload shipping, less-than-truckload (LTL) freight service and logistics company founded on April 1, 1929, in Portland, Oregon, and later relocated to Vancouver, Washington ...

and construction company co-owner and Ruth Oxford (mother): a small construction company co-owner and active member of the Lutheran church. Benson had an older brother named Michael and has two other brothers named Eric and Mark. Before high school, Benson grew up in

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the state's 11th most populous city. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

, and

Pullman, Washington Pullman is the most populous city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 32,901 at the 2020 census, and estimated to be 32,508 in 2022. Originally founded as ...

. Benson attended and graduated from

Pullman High School Pullman High School is a State school#United States, public secondary school in the city of Pullman, Washington, the home of Washington State University. It is the only traditional public high school in the city and in the Pullman School Distric ...

in 1970, and played for the high school's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

teams. Benson played

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

, and earned first-team all-league honors in, both, his junior and senior seasons in 1969 and 1970. Additionally, during his senior season, Benson led the league in home runs and batted a .405

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

College years

Benson spent his first two years of his undergraduate education and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

career at

Spokane Falls Community College Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) is a Public college, public community college in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1967, it is a part of the Community Colleges of Spokane. SFCC enrolls approximately 3,805 students and has an open admis ...

on scholarship and played for its baseball team as a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

for its 1971 and 1972 seasons. The college's head coach Bill Johnson described Benson as a "hardworking, competitive young man who accepted the role of leader and role model for his teammates". Benson was inducted into the college's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. Benson then transferred to and played second baseman and catcher at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

: where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

Physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

in 1975. Benson was named its "most inspirational baseball player" at the university's all-sports banquet. During the 1974 season, Benson finished with a .306 batting average. Benson also graduated in 1986 with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in athletics management from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

Career

Early career

Upon graduation, Benson became the head coach of Fort Steilacoom Community College (n/k/a Pierce College) from 1976 to 1981. Benson won his 100th game as a head coach on March 9, 1982 after winning against

Everett Community College Everett Community College (EvCC) is a public community college in Everett, Washington. EvCC educates more than 19,000 students every year at locations throughout Snohomish County, Washington, with most students and faculty at the main campus in ...

in the

Edmonds College Edmonds College, formerly Edmonds Community College, is a public community college in Lynnwood, Washington. More than 17,000 students annually take courses for credit toward a certificate or degree at the college. The college employs more than 1, ...

Invitational baseball tournament. Benson got his first Athletic Administration job by serving as the college's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

from July 17, 1979–March 9, 1984. From 1984-1986, Benson served as, both, a coaching assistant to the

Utah Utes baseball The Utah Utes baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The program's first season was in 1892, and it was a member of the NCAA Division I Pac-12 Conference from th ...

team and an administrative assistant to the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

athletics department. In January 1986, Benson left Utah to work for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) initially as a Compliance Representative, then promoted to assistant director of championships in June 1987 and, finally, director of championships in 1988. As assistant director of championships, Benson played a role in coordinating the

NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships The NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships have been held since 1928. In addition to determining the national champion in each weight class, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships also determines All-American wrestlers for each weight. ...

to the

Myriad Convention Center Prairie Surf Studios (originally Myriad Convention Center and later Cox Convention Center) is a Filmmaking, film production complex located in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was formerly a convention center and the home of several minor lea ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

for the 1989 and 1992 seasons. As the director of championships, Benson "actively supervised eight assistant directors in their administration of 68 NCAA championships".

Commissioner of the Mid-American Conference (MAC)

On June 18, 1990, Benson became the 5th commissioner of the Mid-American Conference to replace, outgoing, Jim Lessig. During Benson's four years with the MAC, he oversaw the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

becoming the 10th member of the conference in 1992. Benson also extended, for 2 years, the conference's existing

sports broadcasting The broadcasting of sports events (also known as a sportscast) is the live coverage of sports as a television program, on radio, and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one and more sports commentators describing events as they happen ...

deal with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

in 1991 to televise its men's basketball championship tournament game. Benson was also partly responsible for forming the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, before moving t ...

starting in the 1992 season; which continued to give a each team from both the MAC and the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

a bowl tie-in after the California Raisin Bowl ceased operations the year before. Benson oversaw the conference's

Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament The Mid-American Conference men's basketball tournament is an NCAA Division I postseason single-elimination tournament. The winner of the tournament receives the Mid-American Conference (MAC) automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball ...

change venues from

Cobo Arena Huntington Place (formerly known as Cobo Hall, Cobo Center, and briefly TCF Center) is a convention center in Downtown Detroit, owned by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) and operated by ASM Global. Located at 1 Washi ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Battelle Hall Battelle Hall (originally known as the Ohio Center) is a 6,864 seat multi-purpose exhibit hall located in Columbus, Ohio, part of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. It opened as the Ohio Center on September 10, 1980, and although sometimes c ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, beginning in the 1992-93 men's basketball season. Benson also oversaw the conference sponsor men's soccer in 1993. On October 22, 1993, Benson also helped renew the MAC's television deal with ESPN, Pro-Am Sports System (PASS), and

SportsChannel SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

to broadcast the members' men's basketball and women's basketball teams.

Commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC)

On April 21, 1994, Benson became the 5th commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference to replace, outgoing, Joseph Kearney effective July 1, 1994. During his eighteen years with the WAC, Benson oversaw the conference's membership changing during

conference realignment Since 2020 many college or university athletic programs have changed membership from one National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic conference to another. Announced future changes ;Notes * The "year" column indicates the calendar year ...

. Benson also coordinated multi-year sports broadcasting deals for the conference to broadcast the conference's football, men's basketball, and women's basketball teams with

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

, ESPN, SportsWest, and

Fox Sports Networks Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on M ...

Commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC)

On February 16, 2012, Benson became the 5th commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference. During his seven years with the SBC, Benson oversaw the addition of the five following universities that most recently competed in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and to replace its outgoing members located in Texas, Tennessee, and Florida:

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, ...

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...

, and

Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...

. Benson also extended the conference's television deal with ESPN, the conference's primary and sole sports broadcasting partner, into the 2027-28 season. Additionally, any game not selected to broadcast on ESPN's

linear television Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automatio ...

networks (ABC, ESPN,

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

) would be streamed on

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

. After leaving the Sun Belt Conference, Benson became an associate for CarrSports Consulting: A Florida-based consulting company that conducts nationwide searches for athletic administrators and athletics management.

Personal life

Benson married to his first wife and Boise State alum: Sallee Ann Kosterman on August 3, 1974. Benson then married to

Flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

Sharon Ryan from

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, in 1979. The couple birthed a daughter named Jessica in 1992. In 1983, Benson got his first

hole in one In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. Holes-in-one most commonly occur on par 3 holes, the shortest distance holes on a sta ...

Tumwater, Washington Tumwater is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. The population was 25,350 at the 2020 census. The city is situated near where the Deschutes River enters Budd Inlet, the southernmost point of Puget Sound; it also borders the s ...

, at Tumwater Valley Golf Club's 2nd hole from 157 yards out. Benson currently resides in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

with his third wife: Sarah Glaza. The couple married in October 2016.

References

External links

Sun Belt Conference bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Karl Living people Mid-American Conference commissioners Sun Belt Conference commissioners Western Athletic Conference commissioners Boise State Broncos baseball players Spokane Falls Bigfoot baseball players Utah Utes baseball coaches University of Utah alumni Boise State University alumni National Collegiate Athletic Association people People from Pullman, Washington 1951 births Student athletes People from La Grande, Oregon Sports executives and administrators People from Whitman County, Washington