College Sports Information Directors of America

by Rob Carolla, CoSIDA President
robcarolla@cosida.com

As any long-time member of CoSIDA knows, the Academic All-America® program is the signature one of our organization. Having a student-athlete win this prestigious honor is one of the best that can be earned by your student-athletes.

I am always amazed by the quality of the nominations each year for the All-District and All-America ballots. In the past, every member would vote on the all-district teams for their respective regions. The All-America ballots, however, were limited to the Academic All-America® committee and the Board of Directors.

Prior to this season, the Board discussed the idea of opening up the national voting to the entire membership. After talking it through with the Board and members of the Academic All-America® Committee, a change was made for 2017-18. Beginning this season, every member will be able to vote on the national ballot for their respective divisions.

We are very excited to allow access for our membership to vote on the national Academic All-America® ballots. I hope each person takes this great responsibility as seriously as I do and makes sure to vote on the national ballots when they are distributed.

National Academic All-America® voting will begin with the fall sports – football, soccer and volleyball. As mentioned, the membership is asked to vote on each ballot in their division. Members are encouraged to provide feedback on the process to the Board of Directors and CoSIDA staff.