February 2012 Issue
LInk to the full E-Newsletter version
Please link to the subheaders below which will take you to the different sections of the February 2012 e-newsletter where you can read more on each subject.
• SAVE THE DATE: On Thursday, February 9, the second CoSIDA-sponsored continuing education session of the new year will take place, entitled: "SAAC Leaders, The Student-Athlete and You." Current student-athletes representing NCAA Division I, II and III who are active in their Student-Athlete Advisory Committees will hold a discuss and Q&A session with CoSIDA members, and the session will be held via live audio stream, a CoverItLive blog and phone. Participants and more details are TBA and the call/webcast will take place at 3 pm Eastern/2 pm Central/1 pm Mountain/Noon Pacific. Moderator will be Eric McDowell (Union- N.Y.), CoSIDA's 3rd VP who oversees continuing education programming this year.
• Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal worked with NCAA Managing Director of Digital Communications Ronnie Ramos to provide information to CoSIDA’s membership on two live-streamed educational sessions from the NCAA Convention on Jan. 12 that were of interest to communications and information directors. Those sessions – “Social Media: Building and Engaging an Online Community” and “Using Technology to Work Smarter on NCAA DIII Campuses” are both archived and can be accessed HERE. Hundreds watched the livestream and participated in the CoverItLive blog from the social media session.
• On January 26, the CoSIDA continuing ed call “New Media Tips and Answers from the Collegiate Athletics Internet/ Digital Association” was presented to the membership. A Division I-specific session took place followed by a DII, DIII, NAIA, Canadian, two-year level session. CoSIDA 3rd VP Eric McDowell (Union- N.Y.) moderated the session which featured Dave Smoller- Director of Internet Services at Kansas State University, Jason Matheson- Director of Digital Media at the University of Oklahoma, Mark Hodgkin- Director of Internet Services for the Big East Conference, and Jason Sullivan, Associate AD at Bryant University.
A CoverItLive blog was offered along with ASAP Sports' real-time Webscripts during the call and following the call, an ASAP Sports Fastscripts (full transcript) was finalized and posted online at CoSIDA.com. ASAP Sports is CoSIDA's official instant transcript provider.TRZ Sports, CoSIDA’s official conference call provider, provided the audio feed and archive. The audio, transcripts and CoverItLive blog are all archived and available for on-demand use HERE.
• As mentioned above, CoSIDA 3rd VP Eric McDowell (Union- N.Y.) coordinates our continuing education initiatives this year. If you have ideas in this regard or want to coordinate/moderate a specific session, please contact him at mcdowele@union.edu .
• The next continuing education session is scheduled for Thursday, February 9 entitled “The SAAC, Your Student-Athletes and You.” (The time for this session and the presenters, which will include current student-athletes from all Divisions of competition, is TBA)
• NewTek, CoSIDA’s official continuing education video archive provider, is making available several taped sessions from the Marco Island CoSIDA Convention held this past June. The CoSIDA Board would like to thank NewTek for its support of this continuing education initiative.
CoSIDA is proud to announce that TextCaster of Kansas City, MO has joined our corporate partner family. Under the partnership agreemen
t that was signed on Jan. 12, TextCaster (Rob Sweeney- CEO and Mike Sadler- VP for Sports Marketing) becomes “CoSIDA’s official and exclusive text messaging services provider and partner “ from January 2012- June 1, 2013.
The agreement has an immediate benefit for every CoSIDA member via the CoSIDA Connections text-messaging service sign-up process. This agreement enables CoSIDA to now text message its membership with important deadlines dates and information. If you would like to receive notification from CoSIDA via this method please go HERE to register for the services.
Read more about TextCaster and this partnership HERE.
CoSIDA’s leadershp attended the following meetings/events in January:
• January 5-9: BCS National Championship Game meetings/events (John Humenik, Charles Bloom [SEC], Chair of University Division Management Advisory Committee, John Paquette [Big East Conference], CoSIDA Board)
• Jan 6-7: FCS Summit, Frisco, Texas (Scottie Rodgers [Ivy League], Chair of CoSIDA’s FCS Management Advisory Committee)
• Jan 10-13: NCAA Convention, Indianapolis (Tom DiCamillo, 1st VP Joe Hornstein [UCF], 2nd VP Shelly Poe [Ohio State], 3rd VP Eric McDowell [Union- N.Y.], Blake Timm [Pacific-Ore.], John Humenik, Barb Kowal, Will Roleson)
• Jan. 28-30: NACDA Mid-Year Affiliates Meeting, Marco Island, FL (John Humenik)
CoSIDA’s leadership is currently scheduled to be represented at the following events/meetings during the next few months:
• Feb 9-11 - National Sports Industry Network Conference, Washington D.C. (John Humenik)
• Feb. 17- Wuerffel Trophy Banquet, Ft. Walton, FL (John Humenik)
• March 30-April 1- Men’s Final Four , New Orleans (John Humenik)
• March 31- April 3- Women’s Final Four, Denver (Barb Kowal)
• April 13-15- NAIA National Convention, Newport Beach, CA (John Humenik)
NACDA
• John Humenik represented CoSIDA at the annual NACDA Mid-Year Affiliates Meeting held in Marco Island from Jan. 28-30. This invitation-based meeting marked the fourth consecutive year that CoSIDA was invited. Prior to CoSIDA and NACDA developing a partnership agreement in Dec. of 2008, CoSIDA was the only management association/organization in collegiate sports that was not part of this annual meeting which brings together - for the only time all year - all of the Executive Directors and/or Presidents of management groups in intercollegiate athletics to discuss initiatives they are or will be undertaking and discuss how working together on certain projects.
On Jan. 29th Humenik was one of several association management Executive Directors/ Presidents who was invited to a one hour meeting with NCAA President Mark Emmert to discuss their specific association and its leadership's primary initiatives and how it is currently working with the NCAA staff. Humenik has indicated to the CoSIDA Board and its divisional leadership groups that he finds this particular meeting the most beneficial to CoSIDA during the course of the year.
Humenik, on behalf of CoSIDA, made a presentation in front of representatives from these 14 groups: Minority Opportunities Athletics Association (MOAA), Division 1-A Athletic Directors Association (DI-A ADA), Football Championship Subdivision Athletic Directors Association (FCS ADA), Division 1-AAA Athletic Directors Association (D1-AAA ADA), Division II Athletic Directors Association (DII ADA), Division III Athletic Directors Association (DIII ADA), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA, National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NC4S), College Athletic Business Management Association (CABMA), National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA), National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD), National Association of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA), Collegiate Event and Facility Management Association (CEFMA), Intercollegiate Licensing Association (ICLA), National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC). Humenik also met individually with the President/Executive Director of each organization in attendance.
• For the third year, CoSIDA’s leadership discusses our organization and profession via a “CoSIDA Corner” column that is published in NACDA’s Athletics Administration Magazine. The most recent column, appearing the February 2012 written was written by Sam Atkinson (Gallaudet), Chair of the CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee. Atkinson writes about CoSIDA’s annual community volunteer program/outreach efforts during our Conventions and talks about the committee’s new initiatives – encouraging a work-life balance and healthier lifestyles for CoSIDA members.
The NACDA magazine, which is published in October, November, December, February, March, April, June and August, is sent to more than 10,000 university and athletics administrators. That, combined with the exposure that CoSIDA receives via NACDA’s daily email blast, provides CoSIDA incredible exposure, something that was not the case prior to CoSIDA’s partnership agreement with NACDA that was agreed to in Dec. of 2008.
• A “transition team” is being put into place by CoSIDA’s leadership to start to deal with various management and organizational matters associated with the joint June 2013 CoSIDA/NACDA convention in Orlando. At this time our organizational team includes Joe Hornstein (Central Florida- CoSIDA 1st VP), Shelley Poe (Ohio State- CoSIDA 2nd VP), Eric McDowell (Union College- N.Y., CoSIDA 3rd VP), Nick Joos (Baylor- CoSIDA Past President), Julie Work (NACDA Associate Director), Kevin Keys (Liberty), and CoSIDA staff members Barb Kowal, Will Roleson and John Humenik.
NCAA
• Executive Director John Humenik, CoSIDA President Tom Di Camillo (Pac West Conference), CoSIDA 1st VP Joe Hornstein (Central Florida), 2nd VP Shelley Poe (Ohio State), CoSIDA 3rd VP Eric McDowell (Union- N.Y.), Blake Timm (Pacific- Ore., Chair of CoSIDA’s College Division Management Advisory Committee), Barb Kowal (Director of External Affairs) and Will Roleson (Director of Internal Operations/Treasurer–in-Training) represented the organization at the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis from Jan. 10-13.
Here is a day-by-day review of CoSIDA activities.
Tuesday- Jan. 10
• 3rd VP Eric McDowell met with the National Student Athlete Advisory Committees for Division I, II and III at a working dinner. He presented proposals for developing a relationship with the SID, providing feature ideas, special event assistance and fun fund raising ideas, and how the SID can help SAAC as well as vice versa. To each of the three NCAA staff members in charge of each divisional leadership, Eric asked these individuals to provide one name from each division to come to the 2012 CoSIDA Convention for the student-athlete panel that is planned. (SAAC funds will provide travel for the invited attendees). In addition, Eric is working with the SAAC group to have six individuals, two from each division, for a Continuing Education conference call in February with the CoSIDA membership.
• Barb, Will and John held a working dinner to plan/discuss various aspects of the convention as well as review other CoSIDA business.
Wednesday- Jan. 11
• Eric and Blake had a breakfast meeting with NCAA Div. III Vice President Dan Dutcher. Dan provided an update on a replacement hire for Leah Kareti, (later announced during the week that this is Louise McCleary, A.D. at Elms College who has SID background). Eric provided Dan the numbers of the increased awards and benefits for Division III student-athletes in the expanded Capital One Academic All-America Program. All discussed the Model Communications Document concept that DII developed and approved last year and agreed that this will be one of the first projects that Louise will work on with the CoSIDA Div. III leadership group. Dan also discussed his intention to pursue a grant program for Div. III sports information departments and a committee will be formed to assist in this venture. Dan updated them on plans for the first Division III Week, which is scheduled for Apr. 4-15. The time span is over two weekends to allow maximum participation by member schools and to allow for schools that do not compete on Easter, which is within the first weekend, to participate. An activation kit for the week, including key messages and ideas for institutional involvement is being developed.
• Joe and John met to start to discuss some priority issues for his upcoming Presidential year (NACDA Convention, improved DI engagement).
• Barb met with the following members of the NCAA communications /digital communications team to discuss the Jan. 12 live streamed social media panel, CoSIDA continuing education sessions and the NCAA communications staffs presence as panelists/moderators at the CoSIDA St. Louis Convention: Ronnie Ramos, Managing Director of Digital Communications; Kristen Porter, associate director of digital communications; and Dana Thomas, social media strategist; along with other staff members.
• Barb met with Gary Brown, NCAA public relations staff member who writes for NCAA.org, NCAA News and NCAA Champion Magazine, on upcoming CoSIDA stories and ideas to reach the CoSIDA membership for contributions to these publications/websites.
• Barb met with former award-winning sports reporter Malcolm Moran (who is a professor at Penn State and serves as the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society in the University’s John Curley Center for Sports Journalism). They discussed the crisis communications panel he is coordinating for the St. Louis Convention.
• Joe met with Ronnie Ramos of the NCAA to discuss Twitter campaigns and what is the next cycle of events to occur in social media. Joe will use this input to discuss programming ideas for an upcoming convention or CoSIDA’s monthly continuing education sessions.
• Joe, Eric, Blake, Will, Barb and John met with reps from the NCAA Championships/Alliances Department) Greg Shaheen, Mark Bedics, Greg Weitekamp, and Jim Wright) to discuss the CoSIDA Advisory Board concept as it relates to that NCAA division. We discussed the issues this group would concentrate on (things that directly or indirectly impact communications and information directors on campus as it relates to all aspects of NCAA championship matters, and the NCAA holding a CoSIDA St. Louis Convention panel on the changes in their department/the joint advisory board concept.
• Tom, Joe, Shelley, Eric, Blake, Barb, Will and John held a meeting with Dennis Cryder and Jo Jo Rinebold of Cryder/Rinebold to further discuss and review their proposal and discussion they held with the CoSIDA Board of Directors on Dec. 19th. Erik Christianson, NCAA Director of Media and Public Relations hosted the full CoSIDA contingent for a dinner meeting.
Thursday- Jan. 12
• Tom held a working breakfast with Gregg Waggoner, President of the Division II Athletic Directors Association, and Fran Reidy, a former SID and current AD at St. Leo's. Reidy is the DII ADA contact with CoSIDA. They discussed how Division II SIDs and ADs can benefit from each other.
• John had a working breakfast with Erik Christianson and they jointly reviewed several aspects of our contingent’s visit to the NCAA Convention, discussed our convention in June, reviewed their sponsorship agreement and discussed trying to get a date in February for President Emmert to hold a conference call with the CoSIDA membership.
• Eric addressed the NCAA Division III Conference Commissioners. He was joined by Blake. Eric discussed CoSIDA’s relationship development with the NCAA DIII including the branding initiative, the expansion and factual numbers from Fall ’11 Capital One Academic All-America DIII Program, the developing work with SAAC, the developing work with the North American Society for Sport Management, and thanked Dan Dutcher and all attendees for their efforts in serving the student-athletes of NCAA Division III.
• John attended a meeting with Tom, Joe, Shelley and Eric to review/discuss CoSIDA matters at the mid-year mark. Barb and Will followed with a separate meeting with that group regarding CoSIDA matters.
• Barb, Shelley, Blake and Joe attended a social media presentation hosted by the NCAA social media strategist Dana Thomas with experts from HootSuite (account executive Marcus Jung) and Twitter (content and programming manager Omid Ashtari). The panel was live streamed and a CoverItLive blog also was provided, with 776 participating in the CIL blog and another 300+ watching the live stream. The live stream and CIL blog were publicized to CoSIDA members and CoSIDA had a large presence among the online participants.
• Will, Joe, Eric and John met with the senior management team of Borshoff- a strategic and creative strategic communications firm in Indianapolis to discuss CoSIDA and our possible interest in working with a strategic communications firm to assist us with branding-based matters.
• Tom, Joe, Blake, Barb, Will and John held a working dinner with TextCaster representatives- our newest corporate partner who will become our “official and exclusive text messaging services provider and partner.” We discussed various aspects of their services, how CoSIDA might use those services and completed the evening with the actual contract signing which has them as our partner from Jan. of 2012- early June 2013.
Friday- Jan. 13
• Blake participated in the Division III issues forum. The majority of the meeting was focused on the presentation of findings from the pilot study of the Academic Success Rate (ASR). As part of the presentation, attendees were asked to participate in roundtable discussions around the value of the data presented and the viability of collecting the data from member schools. The discussion included questions specific to how the data might be told to further tell the story of Division III and its student-athletes.
• Tom and John put on a joint presentation for the DII membership regarding the evolution of CoSIDA the past few years and the initiatives of CoSIDA’s leadership in general and DII-SIDA specifically as it relates to the Academic All-America program. Also discussed was the value of sports.information/ communications directors to DII institutions and the CoSIDA’s partnership with NACDA and the CoSIDA Convention being moved in June of 2013 as part of the overall NACDA Convention.
• John met individually with Mike Racy- VP for NCAA DII- and Steve Murray of the DII Conference Commissioners. In both cases he emphasized our desire to continue to build relationships and jointly deal with appropriate issues, challenges and opportunities.
• CoSIDA/NCAA Divisional-Wide Advisory Board for NCAA Championships/Alliances Department: A conference call took place in December in which Mark Bedics of NCAA Championships/ Alliances discussed with the Presidents/Chairs of CoSIDA’s divisional leadership groups a plan to put together a advisory group, similar to what already exists in this regard with CoSIDA reps and the NCAA Statistics Department, so that NCAA Championships/Alliances can use it to discuss appropriate matters and concerns in a more timely and productive manner than has been the case.
Participating on that call from CoSIDA were Blake Timm (Chair of the College Division Management Advisory Committee), Charles Bloom (Chair of the University Division Management Advisory Committee), Greg Goings (President of DII-SIDA), Larry Happel (President of DIII-SIDA), Tom Eiser (Chair of DI AAA MAC), Scottie Rodgers (Chair of FCS MAC), Justin Doherty (Chair of FBS MAC), John Humenik, Barb Kowal and Will Roleson. The group discussed this concept and each divisional leadership President/Chair was to go about finalizing respective divisional representatives to serve on this advisory board.
In early January the makeup of this divisional advisory board was finalized. Representing DIII will be Mark Atkins (Norwich), Ann King (Sage Colleges) and Kennan Timm (Wisconsin- Oshkosh). Representing DII are Chad Jackson (Armstrong Atlantic), Dennis Jezek (Barry) and Tom McGurie (Bloomsburg). Representing Division I are Mary Howard (FBS- Florida), Todd Lamb (FCS- Southland Conference) and Jim McGrath (1-AAA, Butler). Will Roleson, CoSIDA’s Director of Internal Operations, will help Mark Bedics of the NCAA coordinate this groups conference calls and meetings. On Jan. 11, a CoSIDA leadership contingent met with several NCAA reps in Indianapolis at the NCAA convention to further discuss and refine this concept.
• The NCAA/CoSIDA Media Coordination Advisory Board conducted its first teleconference on Jan. 20th. All 10 CoSIDA members of the group participated along with a number of NCAA staff, including Greg Weitekamp, Mark Bedics, Dave Worlock, Rick Nixon and J.D. Hamilton. There was healthy discussion throughout on a variety of subjects, including printed-vs-digital championship programs, how to communicate effectively with SIDs regarding championships updates, the possibility of a comprehensive website for SID championship information, and others. Will Roleson, CoSIDA's Director of Internal Operations, will serve as the Board's chair. It also was decided that the divisional reps would rotate off the group at two, three and four years from now, with new appointees then serving three-year terms. The Board plans to conduct teleconferences 3-4 times per year and as-needed for any special circumstances, as well as in-person at the CoSIDA Convention.
Division III
• Larry Happel (Central College), President of DIII-SIDA,reports that Mark Atkins (Norwich), Ann King (Sage Colleges) and Kennan Timm (Wisconsin- Oshkosh) have been appointed by that divisional Board to represent DIII on a newly established CoSIDA Advisory Board that will be working closely with NCAA Championships/Alliances.
Division II
• Executive Director John Humenik and CoSIDA President Tom DiCamillo made a presentation on Jan. 13 at the annual NCAA Convention in Indianapolis to the NCAA DII membership in attendance. The presentation dealt with CoSIDA’s/DII-SIDA’s growing visibility and resource role with the intercollegiate community. The NCAA DII Management Council specifically requested that CoSIDA/DII-SIDA do this presentation so that the DII membership would have a better understanding of the positive and pro-active strategic transformation taking place within CoSIDA and the key resource role that DII-SIDA has played with the NCAA on various DII projects during the past 2-3 years, specifically regarding its assistance with the DII branding campaign and the DII Model Strategic Communications document.
• DII SIDA President Greg Goings (Bowie State) reports that Dennis Jezek (Barry), Chad Jackson (Armstrong Atlantic) and Tom McGuire (Bloomsburg) have been appointed by that divisional Board to represent DII on a newly established CoSIDA Advisory Board that will be working closely with NCAA Championships/Alliances.
Division I
• Scottie Rodgers (Ivy League), Chair of CoSIDA’s Football Championship Subdivision Management Advisory Committee, represented that leadership group at the FCS Summit held in Frisco, Texas on January 6-7 around the FCS Football Championship Game.
• John Humenik, Charles Bloom (SEC) - Chair of the University Division Management Advisory Committee - and CoSIDA Board member John Paquette (Big East Conference) represented CoSIDA’s Division I leadership at meetings held in conjunction with the BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans.The three met with the PR Directors for all of the FBS conference offices and Bloom/Paquette participated in a roundtable discussion put on by the Football Writers Association of America.
• On January 18th John Humenik and Barb Kowal provided the January version of “Communications Watch for Today’s AD” to Dutch Baughman, Executive Director of D1A AD Association. This monthly newsletter goes to all members of the D1A Athletics Directors Association directly from Baughman.
• Charles Bloom (SEC), chair of the University Division Management Advisory Committee, announced that Mary Howard (FBS- Florida), Todd Lamb (FCS- Southland Conference) and Jim McGrath (D1-AAA- Butler) have been appointed by UDMAC leadership to represent Division I on a newly established CoSIDA Advisory Board that will be working closely with NCAA Championships/Alliances.
• Conference call line available for CoSIDA groups: CoSIDA Board members, divisional leaders and committee chairs are reminded that CoSIDA has a conference call line provided by TRZ/Teamline to assist with your group's calls. To reserve the line, please provide your preferred dates and times to Director of Internal Operations Will Roleson at willroleson@cosida.com.
• Special Awards Chair Tam Flarup (Wisconsin) is coordinating the selection of the 2012 CoSIDA Hall of Fame class. Current CoSIDA Hall of Famers will vote from Feb. 2-19 on the nominees and the selections will be presented to the CoSIDA Board a few days later. The new inductees will be announced shortly thereafter and honored at the CoSIDA St. Louis Convention Hall of Fame Luncheon on June 25. Questions can be directed to Flarup at tjf@athletics.wisc.edu.
• A conference call was held on Jan. 19 by the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame selection committee. The new inductees were selected and Dick Enberg, a long-time member of this committee, is now in the process of personally contacting each of the selectees to see if they can commit to come to St. Louis for the Capital One Special Awards Gala on June 25. If someone cannot attend due to a conflict then the committee will move to its list of alternates selected until the full class has committed to attend the St. Louis induction ceremony.
• Lawrence Fan (San Jose State), Chair of the Job Seekers Committee, held a conference call with that committee group on Jan. 23. On Jan. 25, Debbie Copp (Oklahoma), Chair of the Committee on Committees and Blake Timm (Pacific- Ore.), Chair of the Membership Services Committee, held conferences calls with their respective committees. On Jan. 26, Publications Committee Chair Chad Grubbs (Hardin-Simmons) had a conference call with his committee.
• The Publications Contest information and upcoming deadlines can be found HERE; deadlines vary throughout the year. Questions can be sent to Publications Chair Chad Grubbs (Hardin-Simmons) at cgrubbs@hsutx.edu.
• Nomination forms and details for the CoSIDA Scholarship & Grant Program are available for CoSIDA scholarship/grants to be awarded for the 2012-13 academic year. Carol Hudson, Jr. (Old Dominion) is Chair of the Scholarship Committee and questions can be directed to him at chudson@odu.edu. CoSIDA members are encouraged to nominate worthy candidates for undergraduate scholarship and post-graduate scholarship monies available via the Fred Nuesch-Dave Wohlhueter Undergraduate Scholarships, Langston Rogers Postgraduate Scholarship and Wylie Smith Postgraduate Scholarship. Additionally, any institution in need of boosting its media relations/sports information office and in search of funding for a graduate internship position also is encouraged to apply for the Phil Langan Graduate Internship Grant. There are April/May deadlines for these awards.
• The annual 2011-12 Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest is now open. Wade Steinlage (William Penn College), CoSIDA Stabley Writing Contest Chair, has announced the submission criteria, categories and entry form information. Deadline for submissions is February 24, 2012. There are new categories this year. Questions can be directed to Steinlage (steinlagew@wmpenn.edu).
• Access the Academic All-America master schedule for nomination deadlines/team announcements, the AAA Committee list of chairs, vice-chairs and district representatives and the district nominating/voting maps for all four divisions.
• Check CoSIDA.com for the lists of Capital One Academic All-District and Academic All-America® 
men's/ women's soccer teams, football teams and volleyball teams. Basketball Academic All-District teams will be announced on Feb. 2 and the basketball Academic All-America® Teams will be announced Feb. 20-23.
NOTE: Deadlines for nominations and voting and updating First Team Academic All-District honorees' bio information (they advance to the national AAA ballot) will be strictly adhered to. There will be no extensions and no exceptions if the deadlines are missed. Please plan appropriately to make sure your information in place to meet the respective deadlines and that the people at your school who will be nominating student-athletes are paid members of CoSIDA for the 2011-12 year.
If you have questions regarding the nomination criteria for the AAA program, or other questions relating to the awards program, please click HERE and closely review the information page and FAQ document on the CoSIDA website which we believe will address your question.
• The Board and Academic All-America® Committee leadership remind CoSIDA members that CoSIDA's "Academic All-America®"mark is federally registered. As such, CoSIDA members must help the Board and AAA Committee monitor the wrongful use of this registered trademark. If you see any other organizations, including coaching associations, using this registered trademark, immediately contact CoSIDA Executive Director John Humenik (jhumenik@bellsouth.net) or Academic All-America Committee member Dick Lipe (rlipe@bentley.edu). We will have our legal counsel, Collegiate Images, follow up with a letter regarding infringement of our federally registered mark and they will be asked to "cease and desist" from future use of that mark.
Many times during the year we find that our own membership is using "Academic All-America®" in releases that they prepare for student-athletes receiving academic achievement awards from other organizations - when in fact those organizations refer to their awards as "All-Academic," "Scholar-Athlete," "Academic All-Star," etc. We remind CoSIDA members to be cognizant of only using "Academic All-America®" in relation to CoSIDA's Capital One partnership program. There are NO exceptions and you should make sure your administrative staff and coaches understand that they do not have the right to take another award that is being presented for combined academic/athletic excellence by coach’s associations or other organizations and change it to “Academic All-America®” instead of its appropriate title given by that awarding organization.
• On February 1, the online registration and hotel reservation systems for the St. Louis Convention goes live on CoSIDA.com at this Convention page: http://cosida.com/workshops/convention12.aspx
The Convention takes place at the Renaissance Grand Hotel (800 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, 
Missouri 63101).
PREREGISTRATION FEES: $280 for non-CoSIDA members, $195 for CoSIDA members and $195 for spouses, friends and children. Deadline for the pre-registration is June 1, 2012. Everyone who wishes to attend any of the events must be registered. These registration fees have held steady at same price point for the last three years. Go directly to the Convention registration site, coordinated by Sports Systems, HERE.
HOTEL ROOM RATES: Per night, the hotel room rate is $162.50 for single/double. If you require reservations for a triple (3 per room) or quad room (4 per room) they are at the following rates: triple $182.50; quads $202.50. As part of the CoSIDA Convention package, Convention attendees will receive wireless in-room discounts and will enjoy a reduced daily parking fee. Direct link to Convention room reservations.
PAY ANNUAL DUES FOR 2012-13: Additionally beginning on Feb. 1, CoSIDA members can pay for 2012-13 annual dues, and those dues will cover the period from purchase through September 15 of 2013. PLEASE NOTE: PAYING COSIDA CONVENTION REGISTRATION does NOT cover your dues payment – that is a separate payment/transaction. Link to the CoSIDA membership/dues page HERE.
• CoSIDA 2nd VP Shelley Poe (Ohio State) is coordinating the overall program for the St. Louis Convention. She is in the process of finalizing the first full draft of the potential program for review by members of the Program Committee and reps from the CoSIDA Board. Contact Poe at poe.45@osu.edu.
• Blake Timm (Pacific- Oregon), chair of the College Division Management Advisory Committee, and Charles Bloom (Southeastern Conference), chair of the University Division Management Advisory Committee, are coordinating specific “college division” programming concepts (joint NCAA DII and DIII and NAIA) and ”university division” (NCAA Division I based) for the St. Louis Convention. If you have specific programming concepts for those sessions please contact them soon at timmbr@pacificu.edu or cbloom@sec.org.
• The CoSIDA Kickoff Reception is scheduled for Saturday, June 23 at 6 p.m. while the Kickoff Luncheon is set for Sunday, June 24 and the CoSIDA Hall of Fame Luncheon will be held Monday, June 25. The Capital One Special Awards Gala, featuring the Academic All-America Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, will take place on the evening of Monday, June 25. ESPN's annual reception takes place on Sunday, June 24 (6 p.m.) and the Farewell Party will be held late afternoon/early evening on June 26.
• CoSIDA’s fund raising organizational team for the 2012 convention is now in place.That team of Joe Hornstein (Central Florida), Shelley Poe (Ohio State), Larry Dougherty Temple), Justin Doherty (Wisconsin), Nick Joos (Baylor), John Paquette (Big East), Joe Browning (UNC- Wilmington), Kent Brown (Illinois), Dave Wohlhueter, Jeff Hodges, Will Roleson, Barb Kowal and John Humenik has started to personally contact more than 120 firms/organizations with regard to their support for the CoSIDA Convention in St . Louis.
• The CoSIDA contingent that went to the NCAA Convention met with Dennis Cryder and JoJo Rinebold if Cryder/Reinbold on Jan. 11 to further discuss and review their proposal to assist CoSIDA's Board of Directors on organizational strategic branding matters. A conference call originally was held in December where Cryder/Rinebold discussed with the CoSIDA Board of Directors their perspective on CoSIDA’s progress with regard to its strategic branding initiatives over the past two years and their viewpoint for possible additional initiatives. Cryder and Rinebold both worked for the NCAA in the marketing/branding division area for a number of years and were a part of meetings in Indianapolis in April of 2010 that the CoSIDA leadership held with the NCAA about our organizational strategic branding matters and issues.
Several members of the CoSIDA contingent that was in Indianapolis (Joe Hornstein, Eric McDowell, John Humenik, Will Roleson) met on Jan, 12 with Borshoff, a strategic communications/PR/Branding firm in Indianapolis, regarding their interest in assisting CoSIDA with its strategic branding interests. On Jan. 27, the Borshoff management team made a presentation to the full CoSIDA Board of Directors on this matter.
• During the month of January, 19 CoSIDA-based stories appeared on NACDA’s Daily Review email blast. There were 21 Daily Review emails during the month. Through the Daily Review email, thousands of university and athletics administrators are exposed to professional and organizational news. This outreach primarily came about due to CoSIDA’s decision in December 2008 to become an affiliated partner within the NACDA organizational umbrella.
• Also in January, two CoSIDA-based features/stories were circulated a total of six times on the NCAA Daily News Direct email blast.
• In January, 29 articles were posted on CoSIDA.com. The CoSIDA Twitter page had 277 tweets/postings, all of them informative nature with breaking news and timely topics for athletic communication professionals.
• CoSIDA Board representative Joe Browning (UNC-Wilmington) continues to work with CoSIDA's divisional leadership to refine the proposal for the possible establishment of a “Communications Department of the Year” awards program that is modeled along the lines of NACDA’s “Athletic Directors of the Year” program. The concept, which was first discussed at the San Francisco convention in 2010 with Browning named the chair, is to have CoSIDA’s divisional leadership groups determine four regional “Communications Department of the Year” awards for each of six specific divisions (Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, NCAA Division I AAA, NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, and NAIA).
Each of those six divisional leadership groups would accept one nomination from each respective conference in those divisions, as determined by those respective conference schools. The conference would choose its nominee based on its determination of which school it believes is doing the best comprehensive job of overall excellence. The divisional boards would then choose “Communications Department of the Year” awards for each of the four regions that are established for that respective division. The divisional boards would take those respective conference nominees and then choose “Communications Department of the Year” awards for each of the four regions that are established for that respective division.This concept was discussed by Charles Bloom (SEC- Univ. Division Management Advisory Chair), John Paquette (Big East- CoSIDA Board rep) and John Humenik with all of the FBS conference PR Directors during a meeting on January 7th at the BCS National Championship Game.
• Clay Stoldt, Chair of the Sports Management Program at Wichita State and a former SID at that school, worked with Barb Kowal and John Humenik to complete his survey/study with our CoSIDA membership on the growing use of social media in college athletics. That survey was circulated four times via email, was posted on CoSIDA.com and circulated four times via the weekly Communications Watch email. Thanks to the hundreds of CoSIDA members who participated in the survey. Stoldt is gathering and analyzing the information and plans to present his findings at the St. Louis convention and also will provide a summary of his research to CoSIDA’s membership.
• Joe Moore, a former SID at Central Missouri who now teaches in that school’s Department of Communications, recently completed his dissertation on “Influence in the Collegiate Sports PR Community.” CoSIDA’s Board of Directors and its various leadership groups agreed to work with Moore on this project at the 2010 San Francisco Convention.
The completed project, which included interviews with CoSIDA’s Board, divisional leadership groups and participation by nearly 300 CoSIDA members, was provided by John Humenik to the CoSIDA Board of Directors and the various divisional leadership presidents/chairs on Dec. 14. Moore is preparing a survey on this topic which he will provide to athletic directors. An executive summary of the report will be produced by Moore/Humenik and provided to the CoSIDA membership in the future. Moore also plans to attend the St. Louis Convention and present his findings to the Board and to the membership at-large.
• CoSIDA’s new Stat Crew task force advisory board worked with CBS Sports Interactive/ Stat Crew in late December to send a letter to the CoSIDA membership updating them on matters relating to the new generation Stat Crew software. If you missed that letter then you can read it by clicking HERE. The advisory board included: Brian Harris (Wabash), Brett Crossley (10 Foot Wave), Brian Lucas (Wisconsin), Damian Salas (Virginia Tech), Greg Weitekamp (NCAA), Jeff Williams (NCAA), J.D. Hamilton (NCAA), Jeff Ligney (Great Lakes Conference), Jeremy Michiaels (NCAA), Louis Gates (10 Foot Wave), Monica Pellman (Stat Crew), Kelby Siler (Stat Crew), Rob Anderson (Creighton), Rob Corolla (Big 12 Conference), Scott Goode (Harding), Steve Flegel (Whitworth), Chad Moller (Missouri), Tom McClellan (East Carolina) and Steve Shutt (Wake Forest).
• CoSIDA’s new Stat Crew task force advisory board held a conference call on Dec. 19 to discuss updates and new information on Stat Crew Next Generation software. A letter written by the task force and CBS Sports Interactive/Stat Crew was sent to the CoSIDA membership on Dec. 21 to update members on Stat Crew software. Please refer to that letter HERE.
The advisory board includes: Brent Harris (Wabash), Brett Crossley (10 Foot Wave), Brian Lucas (Wisconsin), Damian Salas (Virginia Tech), Greg Weitekamp (NCAA), Jeff Williams (NCAA), J.D. Hamilton (NCAA), Jeff Ligney (Great Lakes Conference), Jeremy Michiaels (NCAA), Louis Gates (10 Foot Wave), Monica Pellman (Stat Crew), Kelby Siler (Stat Crew), Rob Anderson (Creighton), Rob Corolla (Big 12 Conference), Scott Goode (Harding), Steve Flegel (Whitworth), Chad Moller (Missouri), Tom McClellan (East Carolina) and Steve Shutt (Wake Forest).
• Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal and Director of Internal Operations Will Roleson worked with Membership Services Committee members – chaired by Blake Timm (Pacific-Ore.) on the CoSIDA.com Online Reference and Resource Library. Timm and Kowal have developed the online structure and sub-categories are being finalized and once the links to features, how to’s, videos and PDFs are built, the Library will be tested. The launch of the Resource Library is scheduled for March. This concept is also being reviewed with groups outside of CoSIDA, especially the AD groups, so that it can be helpful to them as it relates to such library concepts as crisis planning and crisis management. Kowal and John Humenik have worked with Dutch Baughman- Executive Director of the D1-A AD Association - after he had indicated there was a strong desire for AD’s to use CoSIDA in this type of a resource manner.
• Barb Kowal and John Humenik will be presenting some specifics about the Online Library strategic/crisis management planning resource information to AD leadership groups at the NCAA Convention in Indianapolis in mid-January to gather their input and feedback relative to their use of this online resource.
• Please review the most up-to-date CoSIDA’s Membership Master Schedule Calendar of Events and Deadlines, which extends from January 1-March 31. We encourage all membership to review this closely so that you are aware of important dates and deadlines.
The following companies have CoSIDA "official provider" recognition for 2011-12
Capital One - Entitlement rights holder for CoSIDA's Academic All-America® program
SIDEARM Sports - Official provider of CoSIDA's website (including Academic All-America online nomination and selection system, Career Center, Online Directory, awards and online membership systems)
ASAP Sports - CoSIDA's official instant transcripts provider
TextCaster - CoSIDA's official and exclusive text messaging services provider and partner
Expion - CoSIDA's official social media advisor
NewTek - CoSIDA's official continuing education video archive provider
TRZ Sports/Teamline - CoSIDA's official teleconference call provider
Eclaro Sports - CoSIDA's official career development partner
Sports Systems - CoSIDA's official online convention registration provider
Populous - CoSIDA's official convention registration badge printer and provider
XOS Digital/Collegiate Images - CoSIDA's official legal services provider for the Academic All-America® program
• Sixty (60) organizations/firms have committed to support CoSIDA at some fiscal level for the 2011 convention specifically or for the combined convention and 2011-12 academic year. The 2011 sponsorship directory can be accessed HERE. We ask that you be aware of all of CoSIDA's sponsorship partners.
• Beginning February 1, the new membership period for 2012-13 begins. For those who want to renew or for those who want to join CoSIDA, if you renew Feb. 1 and beyond, your membership period after Feb. 1, 2012 covers you through September 15, 2013.
If you have already purchased a 2011-12 CoSIDA membership, that membership is active for the next seven months - though September 15, 2012.
As voted on by the CoSIDA Board, the 2012-13 dues are as follows:
Active: $115 – increase of $20 from last year
Associate: $125 – increase of $20
Student: $35 – increase of $10
Directly access the CoSIDA membership/dues page HERE at our CoSIDA Membership Benefits/Purchase a Membership webpage
Remember, you MUST be a current CoSIDA member to nominate for - and vote on - Capital One Academic All-America® All-District Team honors
If you have any questions in this regard, please contact Will Roleson (willroleson@cosida.com), CoSIDA’s Director of Internal Operations.
Secretary Jeff Hodges (North Alabama) and Director of Internal Operations Will Roleson completed our annual directory update process and the PDF version is now available on the CoSIDA web site . We encourage each school to alert their respective media representatives of the 2011-12 online E-Directory as well as distribute the PDF version it to their respective media representatives.
The PDF version of the CoSIDA Directory is based on information provided to CoSIDA by individual institutions/organizations/membership as of October 1, 2011. If there are inaccuracies in that edition, it is due to those schools/organizations not following up with repeated requests by CoSIDA’s staff to update their directory information prior to the release of this document this fall. If you find inaccurate information for yourself and/or your school/organization we ask you log onto CoSIDA.com HERE and access your information and update it and/or request custodial status of your organization’s account. If you have any questions in this regard, please contact Will Roleson (willroleson@cosida.com).
The most up-to-date CoSIDA’s Membership Master Schedule Calendar of Events and Deadlines, which extends from February 1 through April 30. It can be accessed HERE.
We encourage all membership to review this closely so that you are aware of important dates and deadlines for a variety of things.