When are the deadlines for nominating and voting for Academic All-America?
To keep on top of all of the deadlines of the Academic All-America
process, you can download the 2005-06 schedule from the CoSIDA Academic All-America
Web site at
http://www.cosida.com/aa.
Many of the deadlines in the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
programs, as well as the Academic All-District
teams themselves, are communicated to members via the CoSIDA blast e-mail system. If you do not receive these e-mails, it may help to check the spam filters in both your e-mail program and your campus server(s). The blast e-mails come from <cosida_updates@internetconsult.com>, while the confirmation e-mails for Academic All-America
nominations and voting come from <automated@cosida.com>. If you can "whitelist" these addresses in your e-mail program or campus server, that's even better. In anticipation of future development, please "whitelist" the address <aaa@cosida.com> as well.
My district coordinator used to cut me some slack...just how firm are these deadlines?
With the advent of online nominating and voting, the Academic All-America
committee moved most of the nomination deadlines a week later to allow student-athletes more opportunity for competition and recognition. The trade-off for that is that the timeline for the Academic All-America
process is extremely tight and must be followed.
Who is my district coordinator?
A list of the Academic All-America
committee can be downloaded from the CoSIDA Academic All-America
Web site.
How do I know whether my school is University Division or College Division?
If your school competes in NCAA Division I, I-AA or I-AAA, you are in the University Division. If your school is in transition to Division I and is beyond the first year of transition, you're still in the University Division. Schools in their first year of transition to Division I as well as schools that compete in Division II, Division III, NAIA are in the College Division.
When you nominate, make sure that your division is correct on the nomination form. The online system automatically pulls in your institution, district (I-VIII) and division (University or College) from the CoSIDA database. Members nominating from multi-divisional institutions (those whose teams are Division I in some sports and not others) must manually override the division selection when applicable. (for example, Faber College's teams compete in Division III, except for two teams that compete in Division I. The online system will pull in College Division for all of Faber College's nominations, but the Faber College SID must manually change the division to University Division for nominations from those sports which compete in Division I).
Who can nominate for Academic All-America?
Nominations will be accepted only from current members. For the record, membership in CoSIDA has been a requirement for participation in the Academic All-America
program for years -- the difference now is that, for the first time, there is a means to enforce that requirement.
CoSIDA members may nominate student-athletes from their own institution only.
All nominations for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
program must be done online through the CoSIDA Academic All-America
Web site. Nominations submitted via fax cannot be accepted.
How many student-athletes can I nominate?
There is no limit on the number of student-athletes you can nominate EXCEPT in the at-large program. In the at-large program, nominations are limited to three per gender per school. Thus, each institution may nominate a total of three mens at-large candidates and three womens at-large candidates. If an institution participates in both the college and the university divisions, it may nominate
a total of three men and three women between the two divisions. There is no limit to the number of candidates that may be nominated for a particular sport within the at-large program, so, for example, all three of a school's at-large nominations could be lacrosse players.
How do I know whether a student-athlete is eligible for the Academic All-America program?
The eligibility rule is very simple: a student-athlete must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at your institution (true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at your institution. Thus, transfers, redshirts, JUCO matriculations, etc. must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to be eligible.
The nominee must be a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletic credentials.
Is a student-athlete who missed some games still eligible?
Nominated athletes must have participated in at least 50 percent of the teams games in the position listed on the nomination form (when applicable). In baseball and softball, position players must have participated in at least 50 percent of the teams games in the position listed on the nomination form, while pitchers must have at least 10.0 innings pitched.
What is the minimum grade point average for the Academic All-America program?
The minimum grade point average for consideration for the Academic All-America
teams is 3.20. Your district coordinator may call the compliance contact listed on your nomination to confirm a GPA. If the district coordinator does not receive a reply, he or she may call you to enlist your help in getting a response. If that happens, please assist your district coordinator in any way possible.
Nominees in graduate school must have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better both as an undergrad AND in graduate school. For example, a student-athlete with GPAs of 3.0 in undergraduate work and 3.9 in graduate school would not be eligible, even if the average of the two combined was above 3.20.
There's nowhere to put a position on the nomination form. What do I do?
The Academic All-America
teams in volleyball, basketball and at-large are not selected by position. When nominating student-athletes in these programs, it is helpful to voters if you include the student-athlete's position (when applicable) in the field for other accomplishments. A shooting guard averaging 3 assists a game may not open the eyes of a lot of voters, but a post player with the same average might. The point is that the voters won't know unless you tell them.
Is there a style I should follow when nominating?
Not per se, but there are things you can do to make the list of nominees easier for voters to read.
Make sure to leave blank any field that is not appropriate for your student-athlete. For example, if you are nominating an offensive lineman, leave the fields for passing stats blank instead of putting zeroes in them.
When filling in the field for other accomplishments, use ellipses (...) between sentences. It's difficult for voters to read a bunch of run-on sentences, and you don't want to send potential voters away from your student-athlete.
The proper name for the Academic All-District
teams is just that -- Academic All-District
. Saying that someone is a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
team for District 7 isn't just confusing and inaccurate, it takes up valuable space in the accomplishments field, which is limited to 500 characters. Once you get to the national ballot, it's not necessary to say that the student-athlete is an Academic All-District
selection for the current year, because
everyone on the ballot is an Academic All-District
selection for that year.
Use AP style for state abbreviations in the student-athlete's hometown (e.g., Fla., N.H., Colo.) rather than post office abbreviations (FL, NH, CO).
I made a mistake filling out a nomination form. What do I do?
If you find that you have made a mistake on a nomination form that you have already submitted, contact your district coordinator as soon as possible and let him/her know about the mistake and how to correct it. Do not submit a new nomination, as doing so will create much more work for the district coordinator.
How do I find out if my student-athlete made the Academic All-District teams?
The Academic All-District
teams are sent via e-mail to all SIDs who nominated a student-athlete. The teams also will be posted on the CoSIDA Web site.
How do I find out if my student-athlete made the Academic All-District teams?
The Academic All-District
teams are sent via e-mail to all SIDs who nominated a student-athlete. The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
teams will be sent via e-mail to all SIDs whose student-athletes made the teams, and also will be posted on the CoSIDA Web site.
One of my student-athletes was voted first-team Academic All-District. What do I do now?
If your student-athlete is a first-team Academic All-District
selection, you have until the following Monday to go back to the CoSIDA Academic All-America
Web site to update the student-athlete's statistics and honors before the national ballot is released. This gives you a chance to further bolster your student-athlete's credentials for the voters. Bear in mind, though, that the 500-character limit in the field for additional accomplishments is still in effect.
How do I find out if my student-athlete made the Academic All-America teams?
The Academic All-America
teams will be sent via e-mail to all SIDs whose student-athletes made the teams, and also will be posted on the CoSIDA Web site.
What's the most important thing to remember?
VOTE! Remember, participation in the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
doesn't end with nominating student-athletes. It's important to vote, too!