Tiffany-Dawn Sikes gets real about Virginia State’s potential move to the MEAC
Virginia State University Athletic Director Tiffany-Dawn Sikes was a special guest at the HBCU Sports “12-Hour New Year’s Eve Pod-A-Thon” and started the thread potential move to MEAC. MEAC expansion is always a big topic in HBCU athletics, and schools like Tuskegee, Clark Atlanta and Morehouse are often talked about. But Virginia State has an incredible academic and athletic pedigree and could be an institution ripe for a move to Division I.
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HBCU sportswriter and podcast host Chris Stevens asked about the possibility and got a very clear answer.
“Regarding the MEAC, Chris, not today. Not today. And, you know, people talk to me in general during my (for) interview. You know, I had an all-day interview. I met with the boosters, I met with the students, I met with the university leadership, and the question of us moving to the MEAC kept coming up. Because we can say, can’t we say we have money, don’t we know? they actually have MEAC money.
Sykes then went on to explain the big problem with a potential move to MEAC.
“We don’t have MEAC money for 21 sports. Now, if I had 14 sports or 15 sports and I supported that number of sports with my budget, sure, we could move tomorrow. Right? But my goal is to keep all the sports that we had so that my student-athletes have a great experience to allow them to compete because we joined conferences quickly.
She then went on to explain that the Trojans compete in different conferences outside of this CIAA for their sports outside of football, basketball and volleyball.
“So that’s why we’re joining the Peach Belt. We’re joining the South Bay. We’re joining the USCAA, and I’m just happy to have a president who is as bold and progressive and innovative and fearless as I am, and he just set me free.”
2025-12-31 22:53:00
