TUCKER, Ga. --- The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has fired its commissioner, William E. Lide, after an audit cited him with financial mismanagement, the league announced Monday.

The conference has 13 member schools competing in Division II, including Augusta's Paine College.

Tuskegee University President Benjamin E. Payton, the chairman of the SIAC's Council of Presidents, said in a statement that the council voted to fire Lide after suspending him with pay in April.

Payton said Lide's termination was effective May 31 and that a recent internal audit found numerous irregularities, including alleged mishandling of conference finances and failure to inform conference leaders of the league's "real financial challenges."

An attempt to reach Lide wasn't immediately successful.

Payton said the council named George Mategakis, a current member of the SIAC staff, as interim commissioner while it seeks a permanent successor to Lide.

Lide, who became commissioner of the SIAC in 2003, previously served as athletic director of the University of Central Arkansas.

He holds a doctorate from Ohio State University, where he was a graduate assistant under football coach Woody Hayes.