DALLAS – Conference USA unveiled its 2025-26 Michael L. Slive Male and Female Athletes of the Year on Wednesday in Jax State’s Cam Cook, who was the league’s Most Valuable Player in football, and WKU’s Callie Bauer, who was tabbed the Alyssa Cavanaugh Player of the Year in volleyball.
 
The FBS leader in rushing (127.6), Cook rushed for 1,659 yards and 16 touchdowns on 295 carries, while hauling in 30 passes for 286 yards. He rushed for at least 100 yards and a touchdown and had a reception in every Conference USA game this season.
 
Cook rushed for a season-best 218 yards and two touchdowns at Sam Houston and had 195 yards and two touchdowns in his CUSA debut against Liberty. Cook finished the regular season as the only player in FBS with 1,500 rushing yards and 20 receptions this season. His 54 rushes of at least 10 yards are most among all FBS players.
 
Cook becomes the second consecutive Jax State student-athlete to earn Male Athlete of the Year honors, following in the footsteps of Jaron Pierre Jr. in 2024-25, and is the sixth football player to garner the award all-time.
 
Bauer became the first player in CUSA history to win both Player of the Year and Setter of the Year in the same season. She won Conference USA Setter of the Week seven times, including a stretch of three-straight awards for the Hudson, Mich., native. For the second-straight season, Bauer led WKU to a top five hitting percentage in the country as the Hilltoppers finished fifth at .312.
 
She led CUSA and ranked 22^nd nationally in assists per set (10.46). In addition, her abilities as a setter have guided WKU to a sixth-best kills per set percentage nationally at 14.56. One of two six rotation players for the Tops, she's also racked up 88 kills, 25 service aces, 225 digs and 32 blocks. Bauer also helped lead the Hilltoppers’ to 100 consecutive conference match wins, which is the most in CUSA history.
 
Bauer becomes the third WKU volleyball student-athlete to earn Female Athlete of the Year honors, joining Lauren Matthews and Alyssa Cavanaugh. Overall, she is the seventh Hilltopper to achieve the feat, moving WKU into a tie with UTEP for the most honorees all-time.
 
The 2025-26 marked the 23rd season that CUSA honored Male and Female Athletes of the Year, and the ninth 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
2025-26         Cam Cook, Jax State football/Callie Bauer, WKU volleyball
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