The CoSIDA Column below was written by Shelly Poe, Auburn University Assistant Athletics Director for Communications and the 2013-14 CoSIDA President. Poe's column, on the current status of CoSIDA, appears in the October 2013 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 of the
Athletics Administration Magazine. In October of 2009, CoSIDA President Justin Doherty penned the first "CoSIDA Column."
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.
See the CoSIDA Corner archives HERE.
Those of you who mingled with the nearly 900 CoSIDA Convention attendees at this summer’s NACDA & Affiliates Convention Week in Orlando experienced first-hand the enthusiasm and the energy that the athletics communications directors bring to their profession. No group has more pride in college athletics or passion for telling the story of the student-athlete. The Orlando experience was another opportunity for our members to build their professional strengths and add to their skills while being updated on the newest communication trends and technologies.
The success of CoSIDA’s inaugural Convention experience in cooperation with its NACDA partners was obvious on-site and in the remarks of the approximate 500 who completed our post-Convention
evaluation surveys. We are planning on making things even bigger and better next year as we find new ways to take best advantage of our collaborative relationship with the other athletics administration
organizations. One of the possible concepts we are exploring is a “divisional day” within the Convention, allowing communications professionals from Division I to two-year colleges to target topics and training that will best assist their professional growth. It’s an exciting concept that leaders from NCAA Division III and the NAIA have brought forward, and we are eager to see how we might incorporate it into our already robust educational programming.
The Convention was just the start of a busy summer. In July, a delegation including CoSIDA officers and staff made a round of visits to the NCAA offices in Indianapolis. We plan to make similar visits to the NAIA and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) headquarters in the future.
While in Indy, we met with the directors of the Division II and Division III administrative staffs, teams from the newly restructured communications department which included the staffs of Web Communications, Membership Communications and the Communications (Public
Relations & Media Relations) Management Team, and the staff of the Media Coordination and Statistics division. We greatly value our partnership with each of these groups and appreciate their very visible commitment to telling the story of the student-athlete.
While at the NCAA headquarters, CoSIDA also met with the administrators of the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Program. We are committed to having SAAC national leadership delegates at our Convention again next summer. Our past opportunities to feature student-athletes on our Convention program have been highlights with our members and our convention guests, and it is a tremendous way to hear first-hand from the individuals we most serve.
The SAAC alliance is just one of the ways CoSIDA is blending its mission with those of students. In Orlando, students and staff from Full Sail University partnered with CoSIDA corporate partner NewTek to provide outstanding technical assistance in recording and streaming our panels. The videos they have capably edited of those sessions will be presented as part of CoSIDA’s continuing education agenda during the next few months.
CoSIDA leaders also are talking with the faculty of the National Sports Journalism Center at IUPUI, looking at partnering on possible internships and field-experience opportunities for their student sports
journalists. And this past June, CoSIDA was invited to present at the North American Society for Sport Management’s annual convention, a valuable step as we strengthen our connection with that organization of sports management degree-granting programs and academic faculty.
Education is also at the forefront of what CoSIDA hopes to provide to its 3,000-plus members year-round.
During the past 14 months, Cryder Rinebold conducted an extensive
strategic branding study for CoSIDA; after presenting an overview of the findings in a webinar and at the 2013 Convention, we will begin a series of presentations this fall to bring the recommendations to our individual members. Webinars, conference calls and online training will help each member of CoSIDA develop specific traits and skills to improve their contribution and value on campus.
Of course, we are searching for a new Executive Director for our
organization after the departure of John Humenik for health reasons.
The search committee received a tremendous number of outstanding
applications from throughout the athletics and business communities,
and we look forward to introducing all of our NACDA colleagues to our
next Executive Director later this fall.
Until then, all the best on the start of the academic year at your
institutions. May the beginning of the sports calendar give you many
positive stories to share and communicate about intercollegiate athletics!