College Sports Information Directors of America

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• 2020 Special Awards Announcements and Features
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• CoSIDA Hall of Fame

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Chris Plonsky – Texas, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director / Chief of Staff

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 Chris Plonsky with expanded answers and thank yous.
 


Multi-honored women's sports pioneer serving as a leader in numerous collegiate national organizations.
by Debbie Harmison-White – Special Awards Committee/CoSIDA Hall of Famer
 
Chris Plonsky has worked in college athletics for over four decades, having served as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA), the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA), Women Leaders in College Sports, as a member of the NCAA Division I Management Council, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Collegiate Advisory Committee, the USA Basketball and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame boards - and too many others to list here.
 
However, as she prepared for induction in the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, she credits her sports information roots as the foundation of her illustrious career.
 
Plonsky is in her  33rd year at The University of Texas, where she currently serves as Chief of Staff and Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director. While she has worn many hats at Texas, her Longhorn days began in 1982 as Women’s Sports Information Director following a two-year stint in the same capacity at Iowa State. But it was a fortuitous visit to Kent State SID Terry Barnard during her sophomore year at KSU that started her journey.
 
“Our basketball coach/women’s AD Judy Devine encouraged me to visit Terry, and he gave an 18-year-old a job that complemented my major (journalism), love of writing, stats collection, publications production and above all -- working with a team of passionate, dedicated people from whom I learned so much,” says Plonsky.
 
The eldest of five daughters of parents who never discouraged her interest in sports, Plonsky is a native of Greensburg (PA) and grew up in northeast Ohio.
 
 
She graduated from Kent State in journalism (1979), having played on the women’s basketball team while earning three years of SID experience. After her Women’s SID stints at Iowa State (1979-1981) and Texas (1982-1986), opportunity knocked at the BIG EAST Conference in 1986 as the Director of Public Relations.
 
“Serving in the original BIG EAST Conference office was a joy, one likely not possible if not for the opportunity to cut my teeth on promoting Texas national championship teams in multi-sports, team laden with Olympians and national team elite student-athletes,” Plonsky remarked.
 
She was promoted to the Associate Commissioner for Administration at the conference after four years. She returned to Austin and UT in 1993, this time in men’s athletics under venerable Men’s AD DeLoss Dodds in a new role as the Associate AD for External Services. In that job, she served both men’s and women’s departments in marketing/communications while reporting to Dodds.
 
At Dodds’ encouragement, she was considered for the Women’s AD role in spring 2001 and maintained that role while continuing to supervise resource-generating areas of sponsorship, marketing, television and licensing until 2018.
 
Under current athletics leader Vice President/AD Chris Del Conte, Texas became one athletics department and Plonsky assumed her current role as chief of staff and supervisor of all student support service leaders in academics, sports medicine, compliance, equipment and related areas.
 
Her career has provided her many exciting on-field moments and long-lasting relationships with the giants in collegiate athletics, of whom she includes former Dodds, former UT Women’s AD Donna Lopiano, former UT women’s basketball coach and Women’s AD Jody Conradt, the late BIG EAST commissioner Dave Gavitt and former BIG EAST commissioner Mike Tranghese. 
 
She has been honored by numerous groups and organizations, including her alma mater in 2015 as the recipient of the Taylor Award for outstanding alumni in media and communications. She was named NACWAA Division I Administrator of the Year in 2004, was co-recipient of the Organizational Leader Award by National Association for Athletics Compliance Directors in 2010, and was recipient of the CoSIDA Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award in 20010. 
 
“A sports information career truly defines learning on the fly,” Plonsky said. “It was convincing conversations with busy media members you hoped would result in coverage for deserving student-athletes and coaches; the euphoria of hosting international swimming meets and major track and field events; the all-hands-on-deck approach to hosting conference  and NCAA championships, and watching technology advance from TRS-80 Radio Shack computers to iPhone apps and 3D capture video.”
 
As one of most respected collegiate administrators in the business, Plonsky is a sought-after speaker at conventions and forums, as well as a popular guest on sports podcasts.  She played significant roles in broadcasting negotiations at Texas, including the launch of  ESPN’s Longhorn Network.  She currently serves on the Big 12 Conference senior woman administrator group and as an emeritus director on the National Football Foundation/College Hall of Fame.
 
Four decades after getting her start in collegiate athletics, Plonsky still points to her SID years as  the foundation for her career.
 
“Sports information to public relations to administration was a dream path,” she notes. “I owe a debt of gratitude to many colleagues who shared the work, fun, hours, mentorship and comradery that make this area of college athletics still most essential, relevant andinfluential.”