The members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) have chosen a new set of officers and Board of Director members to serve the professional athletic communications asssociation for the 2014-15 academic year and beyond.
Eric McDowell, Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Information at Union College (N.Y.), will serve as the 59th President of CoSIDA for a one-year term in 2014-15.
McDowell replaces
Shelly Poe, Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations at Auburn University, who served as President in 2013-14. McDowell was CoSIDA's first vice president during 2013-14.
The passing of the gavel and the announcement of the new officers and Board members took place during the annual CoSIDA Convention. This year, the convention took place June 8-11 in Orlando, Fla., in conjunction with the NACDA & Affiliates Convention Week at the Marriott World Center.
Also elected to serve the 3,100-member CoSIDA organization for the 2014154 term and in the presidential rotation are First Vice President
Judy Willson, Mountain West Conference Associate Director of Communications; Second Vice President
Andy Seeley, As
sistant Athletics Director for Communications at Central Florida (UCF); and Third Vice President
Rob Carolla, Director of Communications at the Big 12 Conference. Carolla was newly elected on the 2014-15 slate and served the last two years in an at-large university division board position.
McDowell joined the Union College staff in March of 2005 and became the Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information in 2008. A veteran
of nearly 30 years in collegiate and professional sports communications and media relations, McDowell was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2009 during ceremonies in San Antonio, Texas. He also received the 2005 ECAC-SIDA (Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors' Association) Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award.
"I am honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of the tremendous and dedicated individuals who have served as CoSIDA's president," noted McDowell. "I thank those who supported me and selected me into the officer's rotation, which led to this opportunity. I love this profession and organization, and I look forward to working with our staff and the 2014-15 board for the upcoming year."
McDowell's prior collegiate athletic communications experience includes serving at SID at SUNY Brockport, Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, University of New Hampshire (where he served as Director of Sports Communications and Internal Marketing) and the University of New Haven in Connecticut. In the late 1990's, he also served as the Director of Media Relations for the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
In addition to Carolla’s election as new vice president, two others were elected to terms of three years on the CoSIDA Board of Directors and
one was elected to fill out Carolla's unexpired term on the board. Elected as at-large representatives to fill Carolla's term is
Bill Dyer, Virgina Tech Associate Director of Athletics Communications. Joining the Board from the college division are
Aaron Sagraves, Davenport University Director of Sports Information who will represent the Central Region; and
Ira Thor, New Jersey City University Director of Sports Information from the East Region.
Those currently serving on the Board
are at-large representatives
Dan Drutz, Rowan College Assistant Director of Athletic Communications; Chris Masters, Notre Dame Associate Media Relations Director; and
Chevonne Mansfield, American Athletic Conference Director of Communications. They are joined by College Division at-large representatives
Mark Adkins (Manchester College Sports Information Director) and
Greg Goings (Bowie State Sports Information Director);
Dave Walters (Guilford College Assistant AD/Sports Information), Southeast Region representative;
Steve Fleigel (Whitworth College Assistant AD/Sports Information), West Region. All these terms run through 2016. Dyer, Drutz, Atkins and Goings' terms expire in 2015, while the terms of Flegel, Mansfield, Masters and Walters end in 2016.
The slate of 2013-14 candidates were nominated by the membership during the spring semester and were selected by the CoSIDA Nominating Committee, comprised of the organization's past presidents and out-going Board of Director members. That Committee was chaired by
Larry Dougherty, Temple University Senior Associate AD for Communications and a CoSIDA past president.
Concluding their three-year Board terms at the 2014 Convention were college division reps
Mark Fleming (Moravian College Sports Information Director), Northeast Region; and
Cindy Potter (Columbia College [Mo.] Associate AD for Media Relations and Compliance), Central Region.
Jeff Hodges (North Alabama Sports Information Director) continues as Secretary/Digest Editor. Ex-Officio members are CoSIDA
Executive Director Doug Vance, Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal and
Director of Internal Operations/Treasurer Will Roleson.