Jim Wright, who has been involved with the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for nearly 40 years, will be inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at the organization’s annual workshop to be held in Tampa, Fla. It is his second major CoSIDA award as he received the Arch Ward Award in 2003.
Wright’s relationship with CoSIDA began when he joined the sports information staff at the Air Force Academy as an assistant SID in 1970. He left the Academy in 1974 to serve as the Sports Information Director at the University of Southern Colorado. The following year he was named to the NCAA statistics staff where he embarked on a career with the national intercollegiate governing body that lasts to this day.
In 1993 Wright was named the NCAA’s Director of Statistics and, in this role, has interacted with SIDs from all divisions. Wright now works with a staff of seven other full-time statisticians at the NCAA to produce weekly national rankings and annual records books for 13 sports in all divisions, as well as five statisticians’ manuals. The staff also is responsible for providing a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for 10 Division I championships.
He has served as media coordinator for 34 national championships in his NCAA career. The veteran administrator has worked the Division I Wrestling championship, the Women’s Final Four and, for 26 years, was media coordinator for the College World Series.
Wright has been acknowledged by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) with its Meritorious Service Award and also was presented the Wilbur Snypp Award by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) in 1989.
A native of Connersville, Indiana, he was awarded both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in journalism from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana (where he was a classmate of David Letterman).
Wright will be one of three sports information professionals to be inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame at the Tampa Workshop. Baldwin-Wallace’s Kevin Ruple will join Wright in the Class of 2008 with the remaining inductee to be announced at a later date.
View entire list of CoSIDA Hall of Fame Inductees