DALLAS – Conference USA unveiled its 2024-25 Michael L. Slive Male and Female Athletes of the Year on Wednesday in Jax State’s Jaron Pierre Jr., who was the league’s Player of the Year in men’s basketball, and Liberty’s Rachel Roupe, who was tabbed the softball Player of the Year.
 
Pierre Jr. ranked in the top three in CUSA play in scoring (2^nd, 20.8), three-pointers per game (2^nd, 3.1), total field goals made (2^nd, 124) and minutes per game (1^st, 38.4), while finishing 7^th and 10^th in field goal percentage and assists, respectively. Overall, he finished as the nation’s fourth-leading scorer (21.6) and recorded 20 or more points on 23 occasions and 30 or more six times.
 
The New Orleans native led the Gamecocks to a second-place finish in the league standings after being picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll. Jax State advanced to the championship game of the CUSA Men’s Basketball Championship and earned a bid to the NIT, where the Gamecocks picked up a first-round road win over Georgia Tech. Pierre Jr. was named to the CUSA Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team and picked up two CUSA Player of the Week awards.
 
Pierre Jr. becomes the first Jax State student-athlete to earn Male Athlete of the Year honors and is the first men’s basketball player to garner the award since North Texas’ Javion Hamlet in 2019-20.
 
Roupe adds to her jam-packed awards shelf from the 2025 season, which includes Second-Team All-America, First-Team Academic All-America, Rawlings Gold Glove and a league-record five CUSA Player of the Week nods. She played a vital role for the Lady Flames as they claimed both the regular season and conference tournament titles, before knocking off top-seeded Texas A&M in the Bryan-College Station Regional and securing the league’s first Super Regional appearance since 2013.
 
The Sharpsburg, Md., native set a CUSA record for most RBI (39), tied the record for most home runs (13) and led the league in seven offensive categories, including batting average (.486), OPS (1.745), runs (27) and doubles (10) in conference play. She posted the second-most RBI in a single season (73) in CUSA history, and her 23 home runs and 166 total bases were the third-most in a season in the league’s record book.
 
Roupe becomes the first Liberty student-athlete to earn Female Athlete of the Year honors and is the first softball player to achieve the feat since Marshall’s Morgan Zerkle in 2016-17.
 
The 2024-25 academic year marked the 22^nd season that CUSA honored Male and Female Athletes of the Year, and the eighth that the awards have been named in remembrance of CUSA’s founding commissioner Mike Slive following his passing. The winners are determined by a vote of the conference’s athletics directors.
 
Conference USA Michael L. Slive Athletes of the Year
2024-25          Jaron Pierre Jr., Jax State men’s basketball/Rachel Roupe, Liberty softball
2023-24          Kaidon Salter, Liberty football/Savannah Wheeler, MTSU women’s basketball
2022-23          Victor Kibiego, UTEP track & field/Lauren Matthews, WKU volleyball
2021-22          Bailey Zappe, WKU football/Grace Forbes, Rice cross country and track & field
2020-21          Vitor Dias, Marshall men’s soccer & Kigen Chemadi, MTSU track & field/
                          Anastasia Hayes, MTSU women’s basketball
2019-20          Javion Hamlet, North Texas men’s basketball/
                       Erica Ogwumike, Rice women’s basketball
2018-19          Jake Sanford, WKU baseball/ Erica Ogwumike, Rice women’s basketball
2017-18          Nick Sandlin, Southern Miss baseball/Alyssa Cavanaugh, WKU volleyball
2016-17          Emmanuel Korir, UTEP track & field/Morgan Zerkle, Marshall softball
2015-16          Brandon Doughty, WKU football/Kylee Hanson, Florida Atlantic softball
2014-15          Anthony Rotich, UTEP track & cross country/Miranda Kramer, WKU softball
2013-14          Anthony Rotich, UTEP track & cross country/Ebony Rowe, MTSU basketball
2012-13          Anthony Rotich, UTEP track & cross country/Aurieyall Scott, UCF track & field
2011-12          Case Keenum, Houston football/Camilla Carrera, UTEP softball
2010-11          Chad Zurcher, Memphis baseball/Tori Bowie, Southern Miss track & field
2009-10          Anthony Rendon, Rice baseball/Blessing Okagbare, UTEP track & field
2008-09          Jason Colwick, Rice track & field/
                           Toni Paisley, ECU softball & Sara Radosevic, Tulane volleyball
2007-08          Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis basketball/Angel Shamblin, Houston softball
2006-07          Joe Savery, Rice baseball/Ebonie Floyd, Houston track & field
2005-06          Brad Lincoln, Houston baseball & DeAngelo Williams, Memphis football/
                           Jillian Robbins, Tulsa basketball
2004-05          Lance Broadway, TCU baseball/Sandora Irvin, TCU basketball
2003-04          Michael Kogan, Tulane tennis/Chandi Jones, Houston basketball