Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters has been concerned for years about what he calls the “deterioration of civility” in college athletics, both between competitors and coaches and in the stands.

This year, he decided that his conference would do something about it, beyond the traditional public service announcements and posters in the locker rooms. The result is an interesting new program called “RealSportsmanship.”

“I don’t know how to legislate (what’s happening in) the stands, but I do know how to legislate the coaches and players,” he said. “If PA announcements and posters were the answer, we wouldn’t have the problem, because we’ve been doing those for years.”

The “RealSportsmanship” initiative will help prepare student-athletes and coaches to handle high-pressure scenarios by asking them to examine their own value system and educating them on how to appropriately handle negative situations before they happen.

Before participation in any Sun Belt championship event, student-athletes and coaches will be required to log in to a Web-based sportsmanship platform that presents real-world scenarios drawn directly from the experiences of college student-athletes and coaches. They will respond to questions about taunting, fighting, cheating and other real-life issues such as social networking, substance abuse and gambling. The survey is designed to prompt student-athletes and coaches to think about how they would react before they are in the heat of the moment.

“We hope it creates a level of awareness on each campus, a greater understanding of how the decisions we make on a daily basis have an impact on other people and ourselves,” said Associate Commissioner Kathy Keene. “We’re hoping their level of sportsmanship awareness increases. We’re also hoping the data we get can be a catalyst to implementing programs that make sense.”

For example, if the survey reveals weaknesses in a specific sport, by gender or by class (for example, freshmen or sophomores) or with a specific issue (taunting or trash-talking), specific programs can be implemented.

Tying the completion of the survey to championships participation shows that the conference is serious about the initiative and raises the level of accountability for institutions, Keene said.

Sportsmanship has been top-of-mind recently, with the NCAA- and AFCA-sponsored “Respect Weekend,” during which football teams across the country exchanged a handshake before competition. The event was marred by a fracas after the Oregon-Boise State game. An Oregon player was suspended for the remainder of the season.

Incidents like the one in Boise cause some to be cynical about sportsmanship efforts. Waters said he’s less concerned with outside reaction than he is with  the intent is with bringing athletics more in line with higher education.

“You do the right thing, for the right reason,” he said. “If it works out, good. If it doesn’t, you adjust. I think we have an obligation to take this issue on. To not (take it on) is probably neglect. … The language and activities we see (on the field) we wouldn’t tolerate in the classroom, so why are we tolerating them on the field?”

The Sun Belt program was created with Learning Through Sports, Inc., a Birmingham, Alabama-based company that developed a similar self-assessment tool for Alabama high schools. Waters said the company hesitated to adapt their program for the collegiate ranks, but after extensive research, they built on their experience with the high schools.

Waters said the conference didn’t create the program for any “protection.”

“We did it to help young people understand we have this wonderful, beautiful thing in intercollegiate athletics, and if we abuse it, one day we won’t have it,” he said. “We all have a certain responsibility not only to ourselves, but also to the game that’s made all of this possible.”