June 8, 2012

TTU’s Kellie Cook named OVC’s SAAC representative

Tennessee Tech women’s basketball player Kellie Cook has been selected to be the Ohio Valley Conference’s representative to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the upcoming 2012-12 athletic season

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tennessee Tech women’s basketball player Kellie Cook has been selected to be the Ohio Valley Conference’s representative to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the upcoming 2012-12 athletic season.

“It’s an honor to represent the OVC and TTU at the national level,” Cook said. “It was a real blessing to be chosen and I’m really excited about the next two seasons.”

Cook, who will be a senior on the women’s basketball team this fall, has been a member of the Tennessee Tech SAAC program for the last three seasons and will serve as TTU’s president and one of Tech’s two representatives to the OVC.

During her time at Tech, Kellie had made frequent appearances on the TTU Athletic Director’s and OVC Commissioner’s Honor Rolls and has been instrumental in the women’s basketball team’s success in recent years. She helped guide the Golden Eagles to the OVC Championship game twice in the last two seasons and helped her team win the OVC regular season championship in 2011.

Representatives from each conference in the NCAA will offer insight to college athletics and voice their opinions on new rules that will be voted on by the SAAC representatives.

“We will represent student-athletes across the nation and be their voice,” Cook said. “This also shows that the OVC and Tennessee Tech matter on the national stage and it will be exciting to be part of it.”

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, commonly called SAAC, is a group made up of Tennessee Tech student-athletes assembled to provide insight on the student-athlete experience, and organize, plan, oversee and participate in community service activities. The committee offers input to the administration and the conference on rules, regulations and policies that affect student-athletes. SAAC encourages and facilitates the opportunities for all of Tech's student-athletes to participate in community service projects to promote a positive image of the athletic department. The committee participates in numerous projects including food, clothing and toy drives to support the community, the Wounded Warrior project, Habitat for Humanity and much more.