College Sports Information Directors of America

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• 2021 Special Awards Announcements and Features
• 2020 Special Awards Announcements and Features
• #CoSIDA21 Virtual Convention Home
• CoSIDA Hall of Fame

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John Kean – Missouri S&T, Sports Information Director

CoSIDA Hall of Fame
Presented to CoSIDA members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of sports information in intercollegiate athletics. Minimum 15 years in the profession. Voted on by current CoSIDA Hall of Fame Members and the Special Awards Committee.

There are three categories for Hall of Fame nominations: University Division (NCAA DI), College Division (NCAA DII, DIII, NAIA, Two-year colleges and Canadian/U Sports) and Veterans (retirees/deceased/ former members who have left the sports information profession). All CURRENT professionals shall be nominated in the University and College Divisions, while all other nominees (retirees, deceased and those who have left the profession) shall be part of the Veterans nomination process.

Note: CoSIDA Hall of Fame members of the Class of 2020 and Class of 2021 were celebrated in pre-recorded awards shows during the #CoSIDA21 Virtual Convention. Click here to watch the show. Below is the full interview with John Kean with expanded answers and thank yous. 
 



Division II Leader John Kean Inducted to CoSIDA’s Hall of Fame
by Mary Ann Mitchell – University of Missouri-St. Louis Associate Director of Athletics for Communications/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
 
Missouri University Science & Technology’s (Missouri S&T) John Kean calls himself a historian at heart, which is only fitting for a guy who has served as his University’s Sports Information Director for 31 years.
 
Kean himself will became a small piece of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) history when he’s inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame.
 
“I don’t know if it’s truly sunk in yet,” said Kean about the honor. “When I got into this profession, I didn’t do it to get into the Hall of Fame, but it’s something that is a great honor for what you have accomplished over the course of your career.”
 
Kean has been at Missouri S&T, formerly known as Missouri Rolla, since the summer of 1990 after getting his start in the profession as a graduate assistant for Ron Hines at Southeast Missouri State. He never imagined his stay in Rolla would be this long, but it made sense both personally and professionally.
 
Kean grew up 110 miles northeast in Florissant, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. His mother passed away four years into the job and he wanted to stay close enough to his dad. Kean also got married and started his own family. By the time his father passed away in 2006, he was vested in S&T and his family had planted their roots in Rolla.
 
While he’s devoted his career to Missouri S&T, he has also provided a significant amount of service and leadership to both CoSIDA and to the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) group, serving as an at-large board member with both CoSIDA and the Division II group and as the D2SIDA president (2014-18).
 
Kean has also served in various roles at the conference, regional, and national level, including currently serving as a liaison to the National Basketball Coaches Association Division II men's basketball poll and maintaining the NCAA DII men's basketball website – something he started from scratch.
 
“I noticed there really was not a lot out there about Division II basketball, so I took it upon myself to start that project,” said Kean, who began the site, leading to the eventual development of the Division II home page with Eric Hess (SIU Edwardsville) in the mid-90s after websites were becoming more prevalent in college athletics.
 
 
Kean credits that task to what led him to become more involved, particularly with DII leadership, first by helping in the formation of the D2SIDA board, then by being elected third vice-president. That eventually led to his appointment on the CoSIDA Executive Board. He completed his three-year term in June 2021.
 
“I think being involved and having people notice that played a role in how I was able to rise into some of the leadership roles I’ve had. It all starts with that willingness to get involved in the profession in some way,” Kean noted.
 
Spending 31 years in the sports information profession may be more of a rarity than the norm these days, but Kean really can’t see himself doing anything else.
 
“It’s a challenging profession, especially when you have a family, but I think what has kept me in it is the love of what I do,” he said. “I enjoy being able to tell the stories of our student-athletes and coaches and their accomplishments.”
 
And recently, Kean has had some stories to tell. From the school’s first NCAA Top 10 award recipient to a football player landing a roster spot for the Kansas City Chiefs, thus playing in the Super Bowl earlier this year.
 
“One of the great things about our profession is that we can tell stories and share the history of our programs. We know what’s happened in the past – we’ve kept the records and know who the top performers are. We are that historian for our departments and that’s something I really enjoy doing,” Kean added. “I always like to try and find something nobody else would know. That little nugget of information that is going to get someone’s attention.”
 
Just like other SIDs across the country, Kean has had to adapt to how the profession has changed over the years.


“When I started, we did everything by paper and pencil, but we’ve had to adapt with the times and grow with the technology.”
 
While it may create more work, it does also have its benefits.
 
Kean noted that “It allows us to have more exposure, which has been especially beneficial this year with fans not being allowed to many of our games.”
 
Even through the myriad of changes in the world of sports information, the basis of the profession remains the same, as does the constant inside the Missouri S&T athletic department – John Kean, now a CoSIDA Hall of Famer.