WEST POINT, N.Y. – The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) has announced that Army West Point Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Initiatives Bob Beretta has been named one of its six 2020 Hall of Fame inductees. Beretta will be honored at CoSIDA’s 63rd annual convention this June.
“Bob Beretta has been a valued member of Army West Point Athletics in a myriad of ways since joining the team over 30 years ago,” said Director of Athletics Mike Buddie. “He is a rare find in college athletics who has experience in so many areas, and has made a true commitment to the staff and cadets at West Point. I am thrilled that CoSIDA is recognizing Bob for his consistent excellence as a professional and a person.”
“I am tremendously honored and extremely humbled to be elected to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame,” said Beretta. “I would like to thank Bill Little and his committee for their incredible work and dedication to the communications field. They are legends within the industry, and I cannot express enough gratitude for being recognized with this honor.
“I’d also like to thank the phenomenal team we assembled at West Point over the years. This award is a reflection of the professionalism and work ethic those talented individuals displayed every day and is a culmination of their unyielding commitment to excellence. They are the true hall of famers. I was just fortunate enough to be in the SID chair for that period of time. West Point is a special place comprised of special people. I’ve been blessed to remain part of this community for my entire professional career
CoSIDA is comprised of more than 3,100 intercollegiate athletic communications and media relations professionals from colleges, universities and athletic conferences at all divisions of competition in the United States and Canada.
Beretta’s induction will take place during the 2020 CoSIDA Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Conference Center in Las Vegas. The CoSIDA Convention takes place June 7-10 and is held in conjunction with National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and Affiliates Convention Week.
Each of the six inductees will join their predecessors on the CoSIDA Hall of Fame plaques that are on permanent display at the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis.
Beretta is in his 19th year serving as a member of the Army athletic department’s senior leadership team and 33rd year overall in West Point's athletic department. He is in his 13th year steering many of the athletic department's external operations ventures to include sport supervision, team and game operations, corporate sponsorship, Army-Navy operations and all Army football bowl activities. Previously, he oversaw Army’s athletic communications, multi-media, broadcasting, new media and publicity efforts for the Black Knights’ 28 intercollegiate athletic teams for more than 25 years.
He also oversees maintenance of athletic department's strategic plan, while holding positions on the Patriot League Sport Management Committee, the Army-Navy Steering Committee, among others. He recently completed a three-year stint on the NCAA Hockey Rules Committee and served for two years as the Chairman of Atlantic Hockey’s Executive Committee. He currently serves as the Patriot League SMC liaison with the conference’s baseball head coaches committee and serves as West Point's lead contact with the New York Yankees and New York Mets, managing all aspects of those vital relationships. During his time leading Atlantic Hockey's Executive Committee, he was instrumental in the league outsourcing its multi-media rights for the first time in conference history, leading to a significant increase in corporate sponsorship revenue.
Previously, he oversaw the athletic department's fund-raising, donor relations, ticket sales and revenue generation initiatives. He was personally charged with synchronizing the entire External Operations department in order to align resources, maximize efficiencies and produce one cohesive unit. He also provided oversight to the athletic department's equipment and facility operations for two years and served as the athletic department’s lead for all new construction projects for several years. During that time, he worked diligently through the construction of five new homes for head coaches and the Foley, Enners, Nathe lacrosse center, a $15 million state-of-the art home for Army’s men’s and women’s lacrosse programs that opened in the fall of 2016.
The Newburgh, N.Y., native has handled football scheduling initiatives for West Point's Division I Independent Football Bowl Subdivision team since 2005. He developed a strategic plan for scheduling that completely overhauled Army's previous philosophy for the current 12-year (2013-24) scheduling cycle to provide the Black Knights with their best possible chance for success. He serves as lead negotiator for all postseason bowl, television and neutral-site football contracts and has been the chairman of Army Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee since its inception in 2004. He has served as Army's lead contact and bowl trip coordinator for each of the Black Knights' last three bowl appearances, including the 2016 Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl and the 2017 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, and has been charged with all operational and financial responsibilities. He was instrumental in changing NCAA legislation this past winter to allow Army to gain direct access to the bowl system.
Beretta assumed duties as the U.S. Military Academy's sports information director in April 1995 after serving for eight years as an assistant under longtime Army SID Bob Kinney. Beretta was named an assistant athletic director in 2000, the first SID to hold such a rank at West Point.
He was promoted to Associate Athletic Director for Athletic Communications in August 2003. Two years later, Beretta added the title of Senior Associate Athletic Director and expanded that role to Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations, Relationships and Branding in May of 2008. He was named Senior Executive Associate Athletic Director in July 2010, then was elevated to Executive Athletic Director in February 2012.
Beretta graduated magna cum laude from St. Bonaventure University in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and was a four-time letter-winner on the Bonnies' baseball team. The three-time team captain earned St. Bonaventure's Varsity Letterman of the Year Award as a senior and was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Academic honorable mention squad on two occasions. Three weeks following graduation, he began a six-month internship in Army's sports information department.
Beretta is a past president of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors of America (ECAC-SIDA) and served on the organization's executive board for more than two decades. He was presented with the ECAC-SIDA Irving T. Marsh Award in the spring of 2010 and the Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement in June 2014. As Charities Director, he and his committee raised more than $60,000 for the organization's charitable efforts over a 15-year period.
Beretta is also active in the local community, serving as founder and head coach of a highly competitive girls travel softball program for the past nine years. Seven of his players from the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders program have gone on to play in college over the past three years. His Crusader teams have registered nearly a .700 winning percentage during his tenure at the helm.
Beretta and his wife, Jennifer, live in Monroe, N.Y., with their daughter, Julia, a member of the club softball team at Sacred Heart University.
Courtesy of Army West Point Athletic Communications
