For the third consecutive academic year, CoSIDA has guest columns running in each issue of NACDA's Athletics Administration Magazine. Beginning with the 2009-10 academic year and with its new partnership with NACDA at that time, the CoSIDA leadership was invited to contribute to each issue.
Each Athletics Administration issue is sent to over 10,000 university and athletics administrators, with CoSIDA's voice, thoughts and expertise shared with these key constituents. The magazine is published each October, November, December, February, March, April, June and August.
The December 2011 column (below) was written by
Rich Herman, Sports Information Director at Clarion University who recently completed a two-year term as President of CoSIDA’s DII-SIDA
management group. He currently oversees Capital One Academic All-America® concerns for DII-SIDA.
See the CoSIDA Corner archives
HERE.
The newly approved NCAA Division II “Model Strategic Communications Document,” which in layman’s terms is a model plan for organizing and running a collegiate athletics communications/sports information depart ment, may be the single most important document for athletics communications directors (SID’s) in the history of our profession. It is the first of its kind at any NCAA or NAIA level, but certainly not the last. You can access more information on the document
here.
You might ask … Why is this document so important?
For as long as the SID profession has been part of the collegiate landscape, there has been a need to have everyone operating from the same “playbook” so to speak. This model document provides that context. The document is structured after documents that describe model athletics programs and model conference offices.
The Model Communications Document was a vision of NCAA Division II Vice President Mike Racy, while the product itself grew from a collaborative effort based on valued partnerships that had been formed during the past two years with the NCAA DII leadership group and CoSIDA’s D-II SIDA leaders.
Racy, D-II SIDA President Rich Herman, Division II Athletics Directors Association (DII ADA) Third VP Fran Reidy (Saint Leo), Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) VP Steve Murray and CoSIDA Executive Director John Humenik, along with NCAA D-II Communications Intern Kayla
McCulley, worked diligently for a year on the plan that included seven re-writes.
The final product was approved this summer by the Division II ADA, CCA, D-II SIDA Boards. Then, after getting refused and sent back for re-writes on its first review by the NCAA Division II Presidents Council, was passed by that group in August.
For Division II athletics communications/sports information directors across the country, the
well-detailed document itself sets up seven guiding principles for athletics communicators (SIDs) to use in operating a “typical” athletic media relations office. They are:
- Commitment to the Division II Strategic-Positioning Platform
- Collaboration with Campus Units
- Development and Maintenance of an Effective Website
- Unique Branding Message
- Execution of Effective Statistical, Photographic and Video Services
- Information Sharing with other Institutions/Conference Offices
- Celebration of Successes
The plan features sections that address staffing, responsibilities, resources, professional development and includes several organizational models to peruse.
Racy stated, in reflecting on the document, “The idea is that any school that implements a plan addressing the seven guiding principles will communicate effectively. We are at a time when the needs of Division II are perfectly in sync with the needs of athletics communicators. We need communicators who are dedicated to telling the full story of what it means to be a Division II student-athlete. At the same time communications directors have a need to be redefined as fully integrated members of athletics staffs.”
The sections of the document that relates to staffing, responsibilities, resources, professional development and sample organizational models are intended to offer samples of successful office structures, as well as outline successful methods that universities can implement in the future to be even more successful.
Suggestions on staffing, utilizations of resources, ways to stay current and the like are all ideas meant to help schools gain a better understanding of what is needed to get the job done at the highest — and most productive levels.
Many departments across Division II are short staffed and do not have many of the resources needed to fulfill their job expectations. One of the ways suggested in the document to eventually achieve those results could be a strong look at the potential for reallocation of resources where possible.
“We all know the role of the sports information director and staff has changed dramatically during the years,” Saint Leo AD Fran Reidy said. “This document helps clarify the roles of importance of the athletics communicator’s office on each campus while allowing each institution flexibility in its organizational structure to achieve its overall communications strategies.”
CoSIDA Executive Director John Humenik, a driving force in developing partnerships at all levels, especially within the Division II professional groups, feels strongly that, “The D-II model should play an important role in creating a culture of collaborative communication, as opposed to the previous model of information sharing that relied heavily on management of statistics and media guides. There is this drum beating within Division II that collaborative communication is where things are going.”
In my two years serving as President of D-II SIDA (my terms expired this summer), I could not have been prouder of the partnerships that were created to advance our profession. Forming a strong partnership with Racy was the most valued accomplishment, because we gained a strong partner for
development and success. Add the partnership with the DII ADA and the CCA, and you have a tremendous formula for success.
CoSIDA Executive Director John Humenik, CDMAC Chair Eric McDowell (Assistant AD/Sports Information at Union College, N.Y.) along with former CoSIDA Presidents Larry Dougherty (Temple University Senior Associate AD for Communications) and Justin Doherty (University of Wisconsin Associate AD of External Relations) deserve a lot of credit for the most recent significant CoSIDA accomplishments like the “Communications Toolkit,” the expansion of CoSIDA’s signature program - the Capital One Academic All-America® program - and now the D-II Model Communications document.
As we continue our development as communications professionals, let us pledge to continue the development of these partnerships to advance our universities, student-athletes and profession, tell our stories, and promote our athletics programs and universities. The future of athletics depends on it.