Barke Appointed to NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (Ohio Valley Conference) Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brady Barke has been appointed to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee and will serve a four-year term through August 2030.

The NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee is an 11-person panel responsible for selecting, seeding and bracketing the 24-team field for the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.

"I am honored to represent SEMO and the OVC as a member of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee. This appointment is a tremendous responsibility and an exciting opportunity to contribute to the championship experience and continued growth of FCS football," said Barke.

Committee functions include choosing the 24 participating teams, awarding the top national seeds (including first-round byes) and finalizing the postseason bracket; monitoring teams throughout the fall season and chairing regional advisory committees; and releasing periodic top 10 or top 15 snapshots during the final stretch of the regular season to gauge playoff contenders.

The panel consists of athletic administrators representing FCS conferences. Members evaluate weekly game performances, conference standings and head-to-head results to determine the playoff field.

Casey Fox (Athletic Director, Tennessee Tech/Southern Conference), Jim Curry (Athletic Director, East Texas A&M/Southland Conference), Josh Looney (Athletic Director, North Alabama/Atlantic Sun Conference), Phil Esten (V.P. and Athletic Director, St. Thomas (Minnesota)/The Summit League), Elliott Charles (Athletic Director, Long Island University/Northeast Conference), Leon Costello (Athletic Director, Montana State/Big Sky Conference), John Mack (Athletic Director, Princeton University/The Ivy League), Bill Chaves (Athletic Director, North Dakota/The Summit League), Kit Hughes (V.P. and Athletic Director, College of Holy Cross/Patriot League) and Mark Benson (Athletic Director, University of Albany/America East Conference) are the other committee members.

Barke is in his 11th year leading SEMO's Department of Athletics which has reached unprecedented success under his tutelage. Since 2019-20, every SEMO program has won at least one conference championship. In all, Redhawk teams have won a total of 41 titles, most of any school in the OVC in that stretch.

In 2025-26, SEMO won the OVC Commissioner's Cup for the second-straight year marking the first time in school history the Redhawks repeated as OVC Commissioner's Cup Champions. It was also the fourth time in six years where SEMO claimed the prestigious honor that is a symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conference-sponsored championships.

Academically, SEMO Athletics is equally impressive with Barke at the helm. In 2025-26 alone, the Redhawks won their first-ever OVC Institutional Academic Achievement Award that is presented annually to the member institution with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes that earn a 3.25 grade point average or higher for the academic year. SEMO had 75 percent of its student-athletes earn that distinction.

During every year Barke has been in his position, SEMO Athletics has accumulated a department GPA of 3.23 or higher. Last year, SEMO put together its best academic year in department history posting a 3.53 GPA in the Fall 2025 and 3.56 GPA during the Spring 2026 semesters. Additionally, SEMO Athletics has gone 18-consecutive semesters with a 3.2 or higher departmental GPA.

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