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From the Desk of President Jessica Poole – An NCAA Convention to remember
by Jessica Poole – 2022-23 College Sports Communicators President @JessPooleA2
Chicago State University, Deputy Athletic Director/Chief Operating Officer
Hello friends!
I don’t know about you but it’s hard to believe we are already into February.
January is always a busy month in my house. We have basketball, we have Big Will’s birthday (can’t believe the little man is already TWO, slow down time!) and we have the NCAA Convention. This year, I had the Presidential pleasure of running our Executive Board of Directors meetings in San Antonio and it was truly an honor and privilege.
We had nearly the full Executive Board join us plus Division III Cabinet Chair, Tim Volkmann from RIT for several very full days of meetings talking about our organization and what’s coming down the pike.
I have always loved these meetings because it gives us a chance to reflect on the work we have done and informs us on the work we need to continue to do. It’s also another opportunity to gather together as a group among our peers in college athletics.
We focused on the future in these meetings, held Jan. 10-13. The new CSC logos had just been unveiled just a week prior and with that complete we were ready to turn our attention to “what’s next” for College Sports Communicators.
As you all can imagine, with all of the things we have done to date this year, we really wanted to take our own pulse. We have heard absolutely wonderful things from many of our external friends on our name change, new marks and overall branding but we really wanted to take a look at ourselves.
We discussed the need to work on a new strategic plan. With all of the wonderful changes our organization has embarked on in the last two years, there is a need to make sure that our strategic plan truly reflects our new membership and governance models as well as our vision for inclusiveness among the story tellers in college athletics. We also reviewed our governance structure and what we can do to better engage and foster thought partnership and dialogue with this vital part of our governance. I can’t wait to share some of our ideas with these groups so we can continue to move the CSC brand forward.
Our group also discussed how we continued to advocate for our membership. We acknowledged that this is an area that we have made great strides in but that we still have work to do. The College Sports Communicators Executive Board is focused on helping to equip our members with tools to not only advocate for themselves but for the profession as a whole. We talked extensively about how we can provide resources to help develop each and every one of our members into the leaders that they desire to be.
The NCAA Convention also offered us confirmation and affirmation that what we are doing matters. At each of the major NCAA Convention awards events, student-athletes mentioned the Academic All-America® award as a highlight of careers. The 2023 NCAA Theodore Roosevelt winner — Dr. Carol Lally Shields — is in our Academic All-America Hall of Fame®. We are making a difference.
These meetings were laser focused on YOU — our members. Our executive director, officers, board representatives and staff spent intentional time thinking about ways that we can advocate and support all of our 3,900 members. It will look different for each member but I want you all to know that this Executive Board is working with you in mind because without our members there is no College Sports Communicators!
Until next month,
Jess
Jess Poole joins Andy Katz for a taping of an episode of the NCAA Social Series while in San Antonio.
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