SIAC Commissioner talks new unified HBCU football poll

The commissioners of the SWAC, MEAC, CIAA, and SIAC made headlines in April with the announcement of the launch of the Black College Football Poll. The poll is a unified effort from the four HBCU conferences to honor the best players and teams in HBCU football.In a recent interview on HBCU Gameday's podcast The SIAC Sitdown, SIAC Commissioner Dr. Anthony Holloman spoke about the inception of the poll, saying it was several years in the making.“The poll was something that we had been working on for several years understanding that we wanted to control the narrative on how our teams and our players are recognized.”Per Holloman, all four HBCU conference commissioners believe that it is in the best interests of their leagues to work together.“We understand that we have a responsibility to… grow our member institutions and we think that the best way to do it is being collaborative in the nature of how we go about our business.”The Black College Football Poll is set to start in fall 2026 and will be conducted weekly during the football season. The poll will be conducted by a panel of media members and head coaches who will rank the top HBCU football teams in the nation on a weekly basis. The weekly top ten submitted by the panel members will have point totals varying by rank, with a 1st-place vote being 10 points and a 10th-place vote being 1 point. 10 points will be the highest amount a team can get, with 1 point being the lowest amount a team can get.The collaboration will also see individual player superlatives created, which will be presented at the end of the season. The individual awards include Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Offensive Player of the Year, as well as a list of Black College Football All-Americans. The April joint statement by the HBCU conferences clarified that Division I and Division II teams will have separate polls and All-American teams.The first Black College Football Poll is scheduled for release on July 1, ahead of the separate conference media days.The commissioners of the SWAC, MEAC, CIAA, and SIAC made headlines in April with the announcement of the launch of the Black College Football Poll. The poll is a unified effort from the four HBCU conferences to honor the best players and teams in HBCU football. In a recent interview on HBCU Gameday's podcast The SIAC Sitdown, SIAC Commissioner Dr.