College Sports Communicators (formerly known as CoSIDA) began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors.
Currently, CSC sponsors Academic All-America® programs for men's soccer, women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. Many other sports are eligible through the At-Large program.
Lester Jordan, then Sports Information Director at SMU, is considered the father of the first team (football), which was released on Saturday, December 6, 1952. Men's basketball was added in 1963 and baseball in 1970. The first women's Academic All-America® team - for women's basketball - appeared in 1980. Legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg was named the national spokesperson for the program in 1986. Starting with the 1987-88 seasons, CSC began selecting an Academic All-America® of the Year in each sport and an overall Academic All-America® of the Year by division.
The Academic All-America® program is comprised of divisional teams for NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. Added for the 2018-19 academic year was a separate at-large program for two-year schools and Canadian institutions. Members at two-year schools, Canadian institutions and any other institution not affiliated with the NCAA or NAIA nominate their student-athletes in all sports during the spring nomination period.
From 2011-12 until 2017-18, the program was comprised of four divisional teams including NCAA DI, DII, DII and a college division that included NAIA, Canadian and two-year student-athletes. Prior to that, there were two divisions — University Division (NCAA D1) and a College Division (all others).
To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. The cumulative grade-point average may NOT be rounded up to 3.50. Nominated athletes must have participated in at least 90 percent of the team’s games or started 66 percent of games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable). In baseball and softball, pitchers must have at least 25.0 innings pitched or appear in 17 contests. In track and field / cross country, a student-athlete is not required to compete in all three sports in order to be nominated. To be eligible, nominees must rank 50th or better in an individual event in either cross country, indoor track and field, or outdoor track and field. No student-athlete is eligible until he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility. Transfer student-athletes are immediately eligible for nomination. Nominees in graduate school must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or above both as an undergrad and in grad school. With the exception of the at-large program, there are no limits in the number of athletes an institution may nominate.
| Year |
Sport |
Name |
Team |
| 1977 |
Baseball |
Robert Stackhouse |
Second |
|
Football |
Louis Sannutti |
Second |
|
Men's Basketball |
Steve Bright |
Third |
|
Men's Basketball |
Richard Evans |
Honorable Mention |
|
|
|
|
| 1978 |
Men's Basketball |
Steve Bright |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 1983 |
Football |
Dave Pepper |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 1984 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Laurie Snyder |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1986 |
Softball |
Cindy Freeland |
Second |
|
Softball |
Chris Moyer |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1987 |
Softball |
Kate Denneny |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 1988 |
Softball |
Cindy Freeland |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 1989 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Cindy Hurst |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1990 |
Wrestling (At-Large) |
Tom Kuntzleman |
Second |
|
Softball |
Cindy Slocum |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 1991 |
Wrestling (At-Large) |
Tom Kuntzleman |
First |
|
Softball |
Sandy Herr |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1994 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Shelley Miller |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1995 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Shelley Miller |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1997 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Tracy Barndt |
Second |
|
Women's Tennis (At-Large) |
Amy Koontz |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1998 |
Women's Tennis (At-Large) |
Amy Koontz |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 1999 |
Men's Tennis (At-Large) |
Rob Dixon |
Second |
|
Women's Tennis (At-Large) |
Amy Koontz |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 2000 |
Softball |
Chris Bertatie |
Second |
|
Women's Tennis (At-Large) |
Danielle Faretta |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2001 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Ammie Carnell |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 2007 |
Women's Swimming (At-Large) |
Ashley Yelinek |
Third |
|
Women's Track/Cross Country |
Amber Hackenberg |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2008 |
Football |
Jon Ochs |
First |
|
Women's Track/Cross Country |
Amber Hackenberg |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 2011 |
Men's Soccer |
Bryce Shaffer |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 2012 |
Men's Soccer |
Bryce Shaffer |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 2013 |
Women's Track/Cross Country |
Vicki Davis |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 2014 |
Women's Track/Cross Country |
Vicki Davis |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 2015 |
Men's Soccer |
Josh Smith |
First |
|
Women's Soccer |
Chrissy Hollan |
Second |
|
Women's Track/Cross Country |
Kate Dodds |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2016 |
Men's Soccer |
Josh Smith |
First |
|
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Sam Peters |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 2017 |
Men's Track/Cross Country |
Daniel Neiswender |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2018 |
Men's Track/Cross Country |
Daniel Neiswender |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2019 |
Women's Swimming (At-Large) |
Becca Cubbler |
First |
|
|
|
|
| 2020 |
Women's Swimming (At-Large) |
Becca Cubbler |
First |
|
Baseball |
Cole Swiger |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 2021 |
Football |
Alex Findura |
First |
|
Men's Soccer |
Carter Luckenbaugh |
First |
|
Women's Soccer |
Lauren Hoelke |
Second |
|
Baseball |
Cole Swiger |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2022 |
Women's Soccer |
Natalie Holmes |
Second |
|
|
|
|
| 2023 |
Men's Swimming (At-Large) |
Pat Agnew |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2024 |
Field Hockey (At-Large) |
Bella Culp |
Third |
|
|
|
|
| 2025 |
Women's Track/Cross Country |
Kelly Leszcynski |
First |
|
Softball |
Emma Little |
First |
|
Men's Soccer |
Patrick Walsh |
First |
|
Men's Soccer |
Brady Rimple |
Second |
