IU East's Wright named RSC Sports Information Director of the Year
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- The River States Conference is proud to announce that Kyle Wright from Indiana University East has been chosen as the 2019-20 RSC Sports Information Director of the Year. It is the second time in four years that Wright has received the honor and the second time in the six years overall of the award being in existence.
The River States Conference SID of the Year award was established in 2014-15. It annually recognizes an honoree for outstanding service and dedication to the sports information role in promotion of their student-athletes, school, conference and the NAIA. It is voted on by athletic directors and SIDs within the conference.
"I want to congratulate Kyle on being named SID of the year for the conference," said Joe Griffin, IU East Director of Athletics. "I know that there are others that do a great job, but I am really not sure of any that do as much for an athletic department and for the coaches as he does. He is always on top of everything and does it all very well. His work for the conference, work with our local TV station to broadcast games, all of the programing and shows that he sets up and operates are always done top rate. He is always organized and on time with all our game results and other website postings.
"Kyle is truly great at what he does, and I cannot think of anyone else so deserving of this honor. His national COSIDA award is a great example of who he is and the quality of work that he does for IU East athletics and the RSC."
Kyle is in his 11th year as Sports Information Director at Indiana East. He also serves as the Associate Athletic Director at the school. It was another strong year for IU East's publicity efforts led by Wright in 2019-20.
Most notably, Wright earned a big honor with his "best in the nation" award in the CoSIDA Fred Stabley Writing Contest. In the category of general feature story, Wright's submission was voted No. 1 in the country by CoSIDA members. The story of IU East basketball alum Charles Peterson went up against entries from all levels of college athletics, including NCAA Division I.
On the NAIA level, Wright earned two "Top 10" citations from the NAIA-Sports Information Directors Association. His IU East men's and women's basketball game programs were voted fifth and sixth-best in the country for the category of gameday programs. That was one year after IU East's athletic website was voted No. 3 in the nation by NAIA-SIDA. The website continued to produce high-quality and high-quantity content in 2019-20.
IU East sports information efforts resulted in 14 TV shows that broadcast to 500,000 Comcast customers, 50 "Red Wolf Rewind" video features throughout the year, IU East men's and women's basketball games being broadcast on local Whitewater TV station and a 30-minute end-of-year awards show presented by online video instead of the usual in-person event.
Wright serves the RSC as the chair of the Scheduling Committee as part of the RSC Administrative Council. In that role, which he has held for several years, he charts out the conference schedules for sports within the RSC. Other impacts in the RSC this past year were his efforts to host the RSC Men's Basketball Championship finals and his coverage at the RSC Indoor Track & Field Championships. IU East teams won a conference-best three RSC postseason championships (women's soccer, men's basketball, men's indoor track & field) during the year.
YEAR BY YEAR -- RSC/KIAC SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
2019-20 -- Kyle Wright (IU East)
2018-19 -- Dylan Brown (Midway)
2017-18 -- Dylan Brown (Midway)
2016-17 -- Kyle Wright (IU East)
2015-16 -- Randy Payton (Rio Grande)
2014-15 -- Kevin Taylor (Point Park)