Members of CoSIDA:
With a new academic year well underway, and the deadline for the first Academic All-America® program of the year fast approaching, we wanted to alert you to a few changes this year.
First, the minimum grade point average for Academic All-America eligibility has been elevated from 3.20 to 3.30. Ballots have grown in size considerably in recent years, and with this growth, athletes with GPAs under 3.30 have less and less chance of earning AAA honors. In fact, over the last two years, about 2,700 athletes in this category have been nominated, and only 11 of those have earned selection to one of the AAA teams.
Secondly, by recommendation of the Academic All-America Committee and approved by the CoSIDA Board, athletes participating at two-year institutions who meet all of the other criteria for Academic All-America, may now be nominated. These athletes will appear on the College Division ballot.
Finally, we are working on online nominating for the Academic All-America Hall of Fame, and expect to have this process ready to go in about a month. We’ll have more on the nominating process in the coming weeks, but urge you to start preparing your nominations now, using the PDF that is currently posted at:
http://www.cosida.com/documents/2008/8/5/2009AAAHOFNominationForm.pdf as a guideline.
Keep in mind that former Academic All-America honorees who have been out at least 10 years are eligible for the Academic All-America Hall of Fame. Also eligible, in the honorary category, are those athletes who competed before the AAA program existed in their sport, but fit all the other criteria.
If I or any member of the Academic All-America Committee can be of assistance, please feel free to contact any of us.
Sincerely,
Dick Lipe
Chair, CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee