• 2015 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
by Debbie White, Old Dominion University Senior Associate AD for External Operations/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
The world of college athletics looks very different from the version that most veteran athletic administrators knew when they entered the field. But for Doug Dull, Associate Athletic Director for Communications at American University, it’s still interesting and fun.
“There's no place like college athletics to surround yourself with sports fans who also double as the most highly motivated people imaginable with a passion to pursue excellence,” says Dull, who will be recognized this summer by CoSIDA for a quarter century of service.
“I love learning new things every day from my student-athletes, coaches, colleagues and staff,” Dull remarks. “A long time ago, an old professor suggested figuring out what you love and finding someone to pay you for it. In those terms, I've been very blessed throughout my career.”
A graduate of the University of Maryland in 1981 with a specialized degree in athletic administration. Dull started his career at the Hagerstown (Md.)
Herald Mail as a sportswriter, working his way up to sports editor in 1988. It was there he became exposed to sports information directors and saw their passion for their work.
“I applied for the SID position at California State University at Chico in 1989 and got the position,” says Dull. “I packed up the cat, the television and my stereo and started a five-day drive across the U.S.”
After a two-year stint at Cal-State Chico, Dull became the assistant athletic director for media relations at the University of California, Davis, a position he held from 1991-2000. He then served three years as the SID at Kansas State before returning home to College Park, Maryland, and his alma mater in 2003, where he remained until 2012. It was also at the University of Maryland where he met and married his wife, Dr. Patty Bricmont, and says, “I now understand better the ‘why’ behind having some work-life balance and loving life.”
The past 15 years have seen a lot of change in the industry and how the news is delivered. SIDs have had to adapt and attempt to keep up with the constant changes in technology,
“As much as technology has changed the way we do business and the tools we use to do our business, I think the most interesting difference has been the importance of integrating public relations techniques into the specialized world of sports information,” Dull says. “That's still a work in progress, but sports info without sound PR and communications fundamentals is just stats.”
Dull served as president of CoSIDA from 2006-07 and as a CoSIDA board member from 1998-2000, and again from 2003-2010. He was honored 39 times by the organization for district and national publication awards at the University of Maryland, six times at Kansas State, and 12 times at UC Davis.
“Having exposure to CoSIDA and to the Public Relations Society of America has posed a great learning opportunity for me,” Dull says. “Networking with great communications professionals from throughout PR, not necessarily only in college athletics, has taught this old dog a number of new tricks. The tough part now is translating great PR in an ever-changing communications landscape into being a great SID. That's been very rewarding, very helpful and very fun.”