College Sports Information Directors of America

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Kara Fisher – Michigan State University, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

CoSIDA Achievement Award (University Division)

by Jamie Baldwin, Michigan State Director of Athletic Communications/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ’Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” - Fred Rogers
 
This was a quote (in a shortened version) that I had always planned to use in the feature story on Kara Fisher, Michigan State assistant director of athletic communications, when I learned that she was going to be the 2020 recipient of the CoSIDA Achievement Award (for the university division). As we fast forward two months, the world looks like a very different place than that February day these awards were announced. We may not even be able to gather to celebrate Kara and the other award winners in Las Vegas because of the challenges the world is facing — the right answer at the moment, because the helping needs to be elsewhere right now. 
 
The one enduring trait that everyone who has worked with or knows Kara (after the inevitable ‘she’s awesome!’) is her willingness to step up and help anyone.
 
Need someone to distribute credentials on her lone Friday night off in October? Her hand goes up. Need a softball or baseball scorer? She volunteers. Want someone to spearhead putting together football quotes after a long day in the stat booth? She’s your girl. Selection Sunday, and everyone needing some direction on what needs to be pulled together for all possible opponents? Well, her women’s basketball selection show isn’t until tomorrow, so sure. Bring it on. 
 
 
More subtly (but yet perhaps the biggest impact), she’s helped countless students and interns find their way. Have a stat crew question? Kara was the good soldier that not only knows the ins and outs of Stat Crew, but also stuck with Next Gen longer than anyone else in trying to help iron out wrinkles for everyone else, and now has mastered NCAA LiveStats. She interprets the rest of our staff for the scared freshman student worker who is maybe too intimidated to ask questions. She knows the names of the parents of the department interns and when they are coming to visit next. 
 
“I can confidently tell you that I wouldn’t be where I’m at today in the industry without Kara’s guidance over the last year and a half,” says Austin Overmann, who was an intern at Michigan State before taking a full-time job at Cornell last summer. “She’s taught me what it takes to get through difficult career moments and how to handle scenarios in which the work you’re doing goes underappreciated. If I was ever going through a tough time on the job, Kara was always there to offer her support. In all, she’s one of the most caring individuals I’ve met in the industry.”
 
“Kara has been an incredible mentor to me since I was an undergrad working in the office. Then she helped me transition to an intern role within the department last year,” echoes Angie Bazzano, who currently works in the MSU Athletics Communications office. “Not only did she provide guidance in a work capacity, but was there as a shoulder to lean on and whenever I needed a laugh. Kara has helped me become the person and professional that I am today, which I am extremely grateful for. I know I will use the skills she has taught me wherever my career takes me.”

Fisher is managing a bundle on her own plate too. She’s survived a weekend where her Spartan men’s soccer team was playing in the College Cup in California while her women’s basketball team was hosting No. 3 Oregon at home. Intern contract expires? She hops on planes, trains and automobiles so that our track student-athletes have someone touting their successes at Big Ten and NCAA championships. 
 
Aside from her professional duties, Fisher is a "true crime" junkie, but has the same amount of deep love for Hallmark movies. She’s as passionate about her Zumba class as she is working with her church’s youth group along with her husband, Zach, who is also a member of our athletic communications staff.
 
Yep, two SIDs, one marriage, nearly opposite “busy seasons” – football and baseball for her husband, soccer and basketball for her. What could possibly be more romantic than a Saturday evening baseball game with a husband-and-wife SID team! Kara sometimes volunteers to score baseball games just to spend time with Zach, because nothing says a “date night” like hours in the pressbox together. She’ll also head over to gymnastics meets after a basketball practice to spend time with her husband and also check out the changes to a gymnast’s floor routine after talking to the assistant coach about it when they run into one another.
 
There’s very few times you can pass Kara’s office without seeing someone with her seeking counsel — an administrator, a co-worker, an intern. She’s a trusted voice who brings her experience from a conference office, small schools, and large schools to help problem-solve. 
 
Above all, Kara’s an outstanding advocate not only for the students and interns she mentors, but for all of her student-athletes as well. All-Americans, WNBA draft picks, academic standouts — she’s in their corner and making sure that their achievements receive the appropriate recognition.

Let’s not forget that she’s also involved in CoSIDA initiatives. A longtime member of the Academic All-America® committee, Fisher also has signed up to be a CoSIDA mentor during the 2020-21 academic year. She pours as much into those responsibilities as any other.
 
Hope Shuler, the Associate Commissioner and SWA at the WAC, was Fisher’s successor at the Conference and has worked with her extensively on the Academic All-America® committee.
 
“Kara is so dedicated and flexible. She found the time for committee work while in the Bahamas with her women’s basketball team and while en route to New York City for her football team’s participation in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl,” noted Shuler. “She adds levity and positivity to a work environment, whether it is in an office setting, a regular-season event or during the long, exhausting hours of a conference tournament.”
 
Taylor Drake signed up for the inaugural year of the CoSIDA mentoring program and fortuitous luck paired her with Fisher. 
 
“If I had to pick a mentor for myself, I could not have picked a better one than Kara. From our first interaction we just clicked,” stated Drake. “We had the same energy, the same love for our jobs. When I was torn between two different job opportunities earlier this year, Kara helped me through it. Sometimes our schedules got a little crazy and difficult, but she knew just when I needed a little extra love and would always come through at the right time normally with a funny gif that always put a smile on my face.”
 
Fisher is a strong representative of what we all aim to be in this profession — a fantastic mix of professionalism, knowledge, expertise, empathy, levity, and humor. Her greatest asset is the feeling she leaves with others — that they matter, that they are in on the joke, that they are a part of what we’re all trying to achieve.
 
When it comes to recipients of the Achievement Award, I’m not sure there’s a more deserving honoree than Kara Fisher.