Jay Bilas, Emmy-nominated college basketball analyst for ESPN, leadership expert and author of the New York Times bestseller Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court, will speak at Bellarmine University on Friday, Sept. 6, in Bellarmine’s Frazier Hall. The event is presented by the Knights Athletics Association and the Wyatt Lecture Series.   The lecture, which is free and open to the public, celebrates Bellarmine’s full membership in NCAA Division I and will kick off the university’s Alumni Weekend.   Bilas will speak about the status of Division I athletics, the process of transitioning to D-I, the transfer portal and the evolving NCAA policy on student-athletes’ NIL (name, image, likeness) activities. Bilas’ background spans sports, media and the law.  He played basketball at Duke University under legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, helping the team reach the 1986 NCAA Championship game. After being drafted by the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and playing professionally for three years in Italy and Spain, he returned as an assistant coach at Duke, which won national championships in 1991 and—in a game that Kentucky fans will never forget—in 1992.  Bilas has since become known for his college basketball analysis and commentary on ESPN, where he hosts the network’s popular road show, College Game Day. His book, Toughness, published in 2013, reveals the secrets of mental and physical toughness through interviews with top coaches and players including Coach K, Bob Knight, Grant Hill, Mia Hamm, Tom Izzo and others. Bilas, who graduated from Duke University School of Law, is also a practicing attorney at Moore & Van Allen. He serves on the Board of Advisors of the John R. Wooden Award, the National Board of Coaches, and Duke University Children’s Hospital. He lives in Charlotte, N.C. The 2024 Wyatt Lecture will begin at 4 p.m. Sept. 6 in Bellarmine University’s Frazier Hall and will be followed by a question-and-answer session. While admission is free, those who plan to attend are asked to register by Sept. 2 at the Wyatt Lecture Series website. The Wyatt Lecture Series: The Wyatt Lecture Series at Bellarmine University was created and endowed in 1990 by former Louisville Mayor and Lt. Gov. Wilson W. Wyatt and his wife, Anne D. Wyatt. Wilson Wyatt founded the prominent Louisville law firm of Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs and served a term as chair of the Bellarmine Board of Trustees. Anne Wyatt was active in public affairs at the local, state, and national levels.   The Wyatt Lecture Series is intended to bring to campus individuals of national or international prominence who have distinguished themselves in government or public service or who have been important observers and analysts of public affairs and government. During their visit to Bellarmine, Wyatt Lecturers deliver a public address and preside over smaller gatherings for faculty and students. Previous Wyatt Lecturers include author and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists James B. Reston, David Broder and Bob Woodward; Sir Edward Heath, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; television news journalist Andrea Mitchell; PBS NewsHour’s Ray Suárez and Jim Lehrer; and Rebecca Skloot, author of the New York Times bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.