Doug Ireland, Northwestern State's Assistant Athletic Director/Sports Information Director, may be one of the most unique people in CoSIDA's long history.

He has completed more than 25-years as one of the most beloved sports information directors not only in the state, but in the south, at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches.

He also rubs shoulders with some of Louisiana's and the nation's sports greats as first executive director and now chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. This past year that class included Shaquille O'Neal and Chanda Rubin and soon he'll help supervise the 2014 class that includes New Orleans Saints/Pelicans owner Tom Benson, LSU and 13-year pro football star Alan Faneca, Louisiana Tech and Olympic basketball medalist Venus Lacy, and 13-year major leaguer Shane Reynolds. 
 
Northwestern State got Ireland in 1989 to leave one dream job as an award-winning LSU beat writer for the Alexandria Town Talk to return to his alma mater, something that wasn't on Doug's mind at the time. 

"I loved being a sportswriter in the days when newspapers had space, staff and resources," Ireland said about that time. "I thought I was on a very promising career path. It was a kick covering football games at Tennessee, Ohio State, Florida, Alabama and of course, at Tiger Stadium. I was not much older than the players. The head coach (Mike Archer) was a young guy who like me had Pennsylvania roots.

"The SID crew at LSU were all young, fun and very talented, and I had some fantastic writing colleagues from around the state," Ireland stated. "LSU basketball had the most charismatic coach in sports, Dale Brown, and over at the baseball field, it looked like Skip Bertman was poised to be very good."

Ireland, however, was drawn back to his alma mater with a belief that he still holds to this day.

"There was the idea that the impact I could have in that role, while not in the glare of a spotlight nearly so much as what I was doing, could be much more meaningful to me and for others," he said. "It was the chance to make a real difference in the lives of people around me, to help make those coaches more successful, to help the student-athletes have the best possible experience, to be able to celebrate the big wins and the great moments, and there was no doubt the idea of being able to help with the Hall of Fame was a nice extra nugget.

"When the job at Northwestern State was coming open, it tugged at me. I had a great time working with (CoSIDA Hall of Famer) Dan McDonald at (Louisiana-Lafayette, then USL) where I loved being on the inside, working with competitive, highly-motivated coaches and athletes toward a common goal. You never winced thinking about the next day. My boss at NSU, Jerry Pierce, and I had a great relationship for years already when he picked up the phone to invite me to lunch to talk about the job. The coaches here at the time recruited me like I was a four-star prospect."

Besides coordinating publicity for Northwestern State's 14 sports teams, Pierce had another idea in mind. When Pierce, one of the founding father in bringing the sports hall to Natchitoches, was promoted to vice-president of the university, he needed to step away from the primarily volunteer duties of the Hall of Fame. In 1990, Ireland was handed the title, the job and the caretaking responsibilities of the hall.
 
So it was Ireland who nursed the project along with 
the parent Louisiana Sports Writers Association. There was no official site for the hall – it occupied trophy case space in the basketball arena until that space ran out. Ireland realized what it took the LSWA a while to realize – that small-town Natchitoches was the Cooperstown or Canton for this Hall of Fame and needed a Hall of Fame building.

Gradually, Ireland began to get politicians to listen and soon the Hall of Fame became part of the state museum 
system. Money was appropriated and finally in 2013, after so many delays that people lost count, the building was opened. The happiest man was Ireland and so were all his SID friends in the state. He led and directed the journey to the Promised Land.

Other than for one year, 2008, when he received a $6,000 stipend – thanks to a $250,000 appropriation for the LSHOF from the state – Ireland has worked his Hall of Fame job without pay.

To be truthful, his work never seems done. It's usually after dark and after hours that he works on the Hall of Fame after a day devoted to his Demon teams. It is his wealth of knowledge of Northwestern State and, its sports teams that impresses longtime head basketball coach Mike McConathy.

"It allows him to better equip his coaches to know where you are and where you have been," said McConathy. "When we've got a team or an athlete reaching a milestone, he's on top of those things. He knows the athletes, their passion, their drive. I think those are things that separate a really, really good SID from one not so good."

The museum to honor the state' legendary sports heroes is happening largely because of a guy who was briefly a wingback at Jonesboro-Hodge High School in the late 1970s.

"A lot of people are always wondering what it would be like at a next job, but Doug's not looking for a next job," said McConathy. "Every day he is wholly about making Northwestern the best it can possibly be, and he's made a huge difference with guys at our university over time."

He's won numerous CoSIDA awards including a Best in the Nation football guide in 1992. In February 2009, he was awarded the Distinguished American Award by the S.M. McNaughton Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. He has sent his own long chain of workers to full-time jobs in the sports information profession and somehow finds time among his duties to serve as advisor to the Beta Omicron chapter of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity on the Northwestern State campus.

Ironically, his love for a possible SID job actually started very early in life.

"When I was a little league baseball player, the public address announcer and official scorer was a high school senior named Dan McDonald," said Ireland. "I thought what he did was cool and I hung out with him in the press box when Old South Life wasn't playing. Dan became SID at Northwestern State, and I volunteered in his office in my first two years of college before he moved to Lafayette. When they gave him his first full-time assistant's position, he offered me the job."

He would later serve as sports editor of the Natchitoches Times in 1985-86 and attended graduate school at ULM before joining the Town Talk sports staff in 1987.

The rest as they say is history as he joins CoSIDA's 25-year-club. The LSWA and all of Louisiana's athletic communications professionals salute a man who brings not only prestige to his school, but to his state as he will once again welcome the sports world to Natchitoches in June for another Hall of Fame induction.