Hall of Fame
Don Landry – Sunshine State Conference (Commissioner, 1994-2004)
During Don Landry’s 10-year tenure as Sunshine State Conference commissioner, the SSC emerged as a national power in virtually all of its 14 sports. SSC teams captured 25 of the league’s 58 national championships during the decade, 1994-2004, including titles in baseball, golf, soccer, tennis and volleyball. Landry helped lead the SSC into the 21st century with conference membership increasing to nine institutions, the largest total in 29 years of existence, with the addition of Lynn University in 1997 and Nova Southeastern University in 2002. Under Landry, conference championships were also added for women in golf, rowing and soccer. He is responsible for creating the SSC’s first conference office, while also enlarging the Conference’s full-time staff to its current size of four. Landry brought many corporate sponsors to the SSC family and created the SSC’s partnership with Sunshine Network, one of the first conference-wide television packages in Division II. Landry, the SSC’s second full-time commissioner, had a highly successful 36-year career in coaching and athletic administration. A 1960 graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Landry coached basketball at Louisiana Tech and Nicholls State and was a two-time finalist for National Coach of the Year. Landry served for eight years as athletic director at Nicholls State, overseeing the school’s successful transition to Division I. He followed three years as commissioner of the Southland Conference by working as the executive director of the National Cutting Horse Association and later as director of special projects for the Texas Rangers. A member of the Louisiana Basketball and Nicholls State University Halls of Fame, Landry was honored by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches, which created the “Don Landry Award” for outstanding contributions to Louisiana basketball. Landry is credited with the inception of the Louisiana Athletic Directors Association, the Gulf Star Conference and the Disney Division II Tip-Off Classics. On a national level, Landry has served as president of the Division II Commissioners Association and chair of the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Committee.