College Sports Information Directors of America

Sports Information Director of the Year: Danny Day, Corban University

The 2018 Sports Information Director of the Year award winner is Danny Day from Corban University (Ore.). This honor is presented to one SID based on the accomplishments during the previous year in the areas of athletics communication, sports information, promotion and service to the NAIA.

Danny has become one of the rising stars in the field and has already garnered accolades for his work. His publicity video was honored at the 2017 NAIA-SIDA Convention as the best in the nation. Overall on his campus, he oversaw 85 total videos produced in the 2017-18 academic year, including game highlights/recaps, features, promos, season-preview interviews and student-athlete interviews.

In 2017-18, Day implemented a new social media strategy where he utilized photoshoots to capture high-quality photos for use during the season. In addition, he shot video to create Corban University branded social media content for use in GIF content, original videos and graphic treatments.

Day’s efforts on the Corban Athletics website (CorbanWarriors.com) not only drew 300,000 more views in 2017-18 than the previous year but helped earn the site second place in the NAIA-SIDA Website contest.

Day’s contributions spread past Corban Athletics, where he has hosted or has been a primary contributor in several Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships. His efforts have not only garnered the respect of his colleagues from around the NAIA, but have made him one of the top young professionals in Athletics Communications. 

Clarence "Ike" Pearson SID Award: Chad Waller, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics  

Given annually to a member of the NAIA Sports Information Directors Association (NAIA-SIDA), the Clarence “Ike” Pearson Award honors outstanding contributions to the profession. The award is named in honor of the former statistical crew chief of the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in Kansas City, Mo.

The 2018 recipient of the Clarence “Ike” Pearson Award is Chad Waller, who spent the last 11 years at the NAIA National Office as the Director of Athletics Communications. In his time at the National Office, Waller was instrumental in placing NAIA National Championships on the ESPN platform, both on streaming and linear networks, and has been the direct contact for many championships such as Division I Men’s Basketball, Softball and Men’s Soccer.

Waller assisted in high-media placements that gained nearly $3 million in publicity value in five NAIA National Championship events in 2017-18.

In addition to his work at the National Office, Waller has been a part of the NAIA-SIDA Board of Directors since the beginning of his time with the association. He helped to lead continuing education program efforts for NAIA-SIDA, in addition to his daily responsibilities of overseeing a $100,000 budget, serving as content editor for NAIA.org and managing a staff of two to strategically and effectively promote 26 NAIA National Championship events.

Waller has been a guiding force for both the communication efforts of the NAIA and the strategic communicators of its member institutions.