College Sports Information Directors of America

From the desk of Jessica Poole — Thank you to two legends

I’m going to be honest friends, the last several weeks have been really tough for our industry and me personally. We’ve lost two legends in Lenny Reich and Eric Moore, two people I have called friends for many decades and two people who have shaped our industry in so many ways.
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The truth is — I still love this game

One night this fall, Keonte' Herrera woke up and jotted down his thoughts on why he continues to love the athletic communications profession, despite all the challenges and stressors and in the wake of the “Great Resignation” movement sweeping our country.
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Young Professionals Spotlight: Three up, three down with Chris Finch, video coordinator at Davidson

Chris Finch has been immersed in college sports and content creation since his freshman year at Virginia Tech. Working with HokieVision throughout his entire undergraduate and graduate career, Finch has transformed the Davidson College athletics department with his ACC experience in just one year.
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Natalie Rigatuso makes the jump from student-athlete to full-time SID at Grand View

This time last year, Natalie Rigatuso was lacing it up for her senior season as a women’s basketball player for Grand View University. This year you’ll find her at the scorer’s table, but she isn’t checking into the game. As a full-time SID, Rigatuso is in charge of athletics communications for the school’s 24 sports. She’s an example of a student-athlete who wanted to remain involved in athletics after her career was over. In Rigatuso’s case, athletics communications was the perfect fit.
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Sports communications troubleshooting and problem-solving, LIVE edition

In late October, the University of New Mexico was faced with a statistics challenge for a conference volleyball game when their Genius-trained volleyball statistician Charley Bickel came down with Covid. Here’s how the UNM external team came up with the technological solution to have him stat the match from home — and a game management crisis was averted.
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Perspective: Jason Fein — Our profession beats the alternatives

Jason Fein, director of athletics at Bates College, shares observations and his opinions about his evolution from being a young professional quick to criticize to a veteran in the profession who now is on the receiving end of criticism, and relates it to the College Sports Communicators name change.
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Lack of diversity in the profession is an issue but success stories fuel desire for change

A member of the 2022-23 CSC DEI Fellowship Class, Eddie Morelos shares how mentoring and providing opportunities for Hispanic and Latino young professionals drives him.
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Academic All-America® nominations for fall sports begins Nov. 1 

Academic All-America nominations for the sports of men's and women's soccer, football and volleyball in all NCAA and NAIA divisions open this month.

It is a privilege of CSC members to nominate and vote. Memberships can purchased at CollegeSportsCommunicators.com/Membership. Weekly communication regarding Academic All-America awards program is sent to all members via email. All deadlines are strictly followed with no exceptions. If you have questions or issues, contact CSC staff in advance of the deadline. 

Upcoming nomination windows —
nominate at CollegeSportsCommunicators.com/Awards:

• M/W Soccer — Nomination period Tuesday, Nov. 1 (Noon ET) through Tuesday, Nov. 8 (11:59 PM ET); Maximum of 6 soccer student-athletes per gender
• Football/Volleyball — Nomination period Tuesday, Nov. 8 (Noon ET) through Tuesday, Nov. 15 (11:59 PM ET); Maximum of 8 football student-athletes / 4 volleyball student-athletes

All-District teams teams will be announced Nov. 15 (noon ET) for men’s and women’s soccer and Nov. 22 (noon ET) for football and volleyball. National voting for Academic All-America will open for those sports the same day and time as the All-District teams are announced.

For a complete calendar of all deadlines and release dates, click here. CSC and the AAA core committee have made significant improvements to strengthen the program in 2022-23, and it's important for members to be up-to-date on these changes, read more here.

Academic All-America® Hall of Fame nominations due Nov. 4 

The on-line nomination portal for the Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will close on Friday, Nov. 4 at Midnight (Eastern). Learn more and nominate here.

CSC Special Awards Nominations open through Jan. 23 

Each year, we solicit nominations for the College Sports Communicators Special Awards program as we honor those in the membership and outside the membership with recognition for distinguished service, work and achievement. Special Awards are presented annually at the association's convention in June. Learn more about the various awards and submit your nominations here.

Improvements to contests recognizing creative work by the membership are in progress — details coming soon

For many years, CSC has sponsored contests for member-created publications, digital design work and creative writing. Every member at every level has the opportunity to submit entries and have their work recognized by their peers. It's no small honor to be recognized.

The Publications and Digital Design Contests Committee is hard at work improving and updating these contests to better serve our expanding membership. Some contests will be combined and other contests will be added to recognize the great work of photographers, videographers, social media managers and graphic designers.

You have not missed any contest deadlines. As soon as plans are finalized, all details will be communicated through CSC channels. If you have an idea or want to get involved in the administration of our creative contests, contact committee chair Gene Cassell (Washburn) at gene.cassell@washburn.edu.

Professional development and education happenings

Thanks to all who have attended our live CSC professional development live webinars this fall or who have watched or listened on-demand. Please CLICK HERE to access our on-demand library where you’ll hear from college athletic leaders on building a collaborative culture and strategies and how-to’s for student staff development. Additionally, watch the on-demand NAIA-SIDA sessions on strategies for doing award nominations and tips for submitting information on SIDHelp.

Upcoming webinars planned: sessions with Adobe product managers, tailored specifically for sports communicators (November); and a series “Conversations and Q&A’s” with athletic directors and conference commissioners, beginning in December.

Programming for the upcoming in-person CSC Convention, taking place June 11-14, 2023 at the Orlando World Center Marriott, is underway with CSC’s Professional Development and Education Committee planning the overall sessions, with our CSC divisional groups are working on Divisional Day schedules and sessions.

Membership Week to be held in January

CSC's annual week to recognize and appreciate our membership will be celebrated January 18-24, 2023. This later date will provide a better opportunity to include all communicators within our All-In membership and also better leverage CSC's new branding and marks, which will be unveiled soon.

The Membership Recognition Committee is always looking for assistance in coordinating the event. If you are interested in helping plan the week, contact committee chair Amy Yakola at ayakola@theacc.org or CSC Associate Executive Director Will Roleson at will@cscommunicators.com.

CSC 30 Under 30 class to be announced Nov. 30

More than 90 nominations came in from across all divisions of the membership for the inaugural 30 Under 30 recognition, developed by the Young Professionals Committee. A selection group comprised of members from the Young Professionals Committee, Membership Recognition Committee, Mentorship Committee, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and New Media Committee are busy selecting the honorees for the Nov. 30 announcement. Stay tuned!

Submit photos to the CSC Instagram account

The @CollSportsComm Instagram account is where we like to share photos of our College Sports Communicators family. DM us photos of yourself or your team in action, a group photo showing off your All-In membership, or pictures working with your colleagues on the road. Keep in mind we like to spread the love. We also welcome members for IG story takeovers. Send us a DM or email beau@cscommunicators.com for more info...and watch for those social handles to be updated in the near future! 

ACTION! Update your profile

As we introduce the All-In membership model for 2022-23, new demographic information has been added to your profile on CollegeSportsCommunicators.com. Please take two minutes to log in and update your personal profile at this link. Completing your profile allows us to better provide you the information relevant to you.

With your current skills, would you rather play in an NFL game or sing during the Macy's day parade? Plus, how we unplug, the most fun parts of our jobs, time travel destinations, personal "warning labels", Thanksgiving this-or-that, and more. Click to read

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