Courtesy of Athletic Management Magazine
On March 1, John Humenik became the first ever Executive Director of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Recently, Humenik, who was previously the Sports Information Director at Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and most recently at the University of Florida, sat down with AM and shared his vision for CoSIDA as it deals with the challenges of new media and the 24-hour news cycle. He also addresses some common misconceptions athletic administrators may have about the sports information profession.
AM: Why does CoSIDA now need an Executive Director?
Humenik: CoSIDA, which was established in 1957, has evolved into a diverse 2,300-member national organization composed of the sports public relations, communications and information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics. Until my recent appointment, the organization has relied solely on volunteer committee service to administer day-to-day operations, including oversight of an annual convention. The membership decided last summer at the annual convention that the scope of the total responsibilities and time requirements being demanded should now be handled with more full-time oversight. Administering an organization that has grown this large and diverse reached a point where there simply had to be, for the benefit of the organization and the professional members it represents, more day-to-day oversight as well as providing broader and more strategic leadership in dealing with the issues facing sports public relations/media relations/communications at the collegiate level.
What are your duties as Executive Director?
I serve as the organization’s senior administrator, working very closely with its Board of Directors and committee staff in handling the organization’s day-to-day administration and operations as well as the development of short- and long-term strategic planning and initiatives. I also serve as the organization's primary liaison with all of the nation's collegiate sports governing bodies, sports management organizations, and coaches associations. Fundraising is an important part of the position so that additional revenue streams can be generated to not only support current operations but also new initiatives that the Board of Directors and membership would like to put into place, both short-term and long-term.
What short- and long-term goals do you have for the organization?
Our annual convention takes place in Tampa in late June and what I want to try and get accomplished first with the Board of Directors in the short-term is that by the time the convention arrives, we have fully in place the organization’s first-ever comprehensive strategic plan which will then act as our blueprint for moving forward in a variety of ways over the next several years. The next short-term goal, and the first objective of the strategic plan I’ve presented to the Board for review, is to do a thorough evaluation of our full management and organizational structure to make sure that it is appropriate for where we are now and more importantly, one that will allow us to move forward in a variety of ways and help us get to where we want to head over the next few years.
In short, we need to make sure our management structure is one that is appropriate for dealing with the issues, challenges and opportunities facing us over the next few years and how we want to proactively attack them. Also, over those next few months I will be working hard on assisting our Marketing Director, Ed Carpenter, with fundraising efforts for the convention in Tampa and I also want to try and reach out and be as visible as possible within our membership, but also with other peer groups in college athletics. It will also be key for me to start mobilizing the leaders of our organization and profession at all levels who want to deal with specific issues and challenges and want to be a part of seeking solutions to a variety of things.
I also will be reaching out to former SID’s who have moved on to other prominent roles in college athletics such as Doug Elgin (Commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference), Mike Tranghese (Commissioner of the Big East), Tom Hansen (Commissioner for the Pac-10 Conference), Rick Chryst (Commissioner of the Mid- American Conference), John Junker (Executive Director of the Fiesta Bowl), John Heisler (Senior Assoc. AD for Broadcast and Media Relations at Notre Dame), Chris Plonsky (Women’s Athletics Director and Director of Men’s and Women’s External Services at the University of Texas), David Housel (retired AD at Auburn), Herb Vincent (Senior Assoc. AD for Public Affairs at LSU). They, and many others, do understand this profession and its people and want to help us move forward and their perspective on where we are, where we want to go and what we need to get there will be most important.
With regard to the long-term, I want to see us carry out and make significant progress as it relates to all aspects of the strategic plan that will be put into place within the next few months. That includes putting a management structure into place that is proactive and has a leadership culture that makes decisions and directs its future based on what I’m referring to as our “Seven Core Strategic Guiding Focus Principles.” I want us to ask ourselves as leaders how is/how should/how could this matter—whatever it is we are discussing—advance the profession, advance its professionals, advance and strengthen the organization and professional society, advance image building/enhancing within the collegiate community, advance image building/enhancing within our organization/profession, advance our national leadership position and profile within intercollegiate athletics, and does it support in a positive way our strategic plan and its objectives.
I believe this focus on those seven core leadership and management principles will enable us to make significant headway with many issues, challenges and opportunities, both internally and externally. That focus will, I believe, not only help us more forward in dealing with the issues and challenges facing the organization and sports communications profession, but it will also play a huge role in assisting us with moving forward on important initiatives as it relates to image building, continuing education, a bigger voice on appropriate matters within collegiate athletics, increased fund-raising, etc.
How do you plan to address those goals right away?
There are many things to balance at this point, but the most important thing for me, and I believe the organization, is to stay very focused on a couple of key foundation concepts as well as the “Seven Core Strategic Guiding Focus Principles” and not drift from getting those things and concepts in place as soon as possible. First and foremost is the need to get a strategic plan in place. I have already presented one to the Board of Directors and now we must get that reviewed, amended and approved as it is the key foundation piece for starting to then put multiple things into motion. Then as mentioned above, we will need to thoroughly evaluate our current management/organizational structure and put into place one that will enable us to carry out multiple aspects of the strategic plan as quick as possible. I’ve also provided the Board of Directors with some thoughts in this regard and I will continue to refine that management/organizational-restructuring proposal so that I’m fully prepared to pass along my complete thoughts and ideas once the strategic plan is approved and put into motion. I’m also working diligently at getting in touch with appropriate leaders at all levels of our organization and profession to let them know that I want to work with them in mobilizing in a manner that will help us/them better deal with challenges and opportunities as it relates to each of those diverse groups and multiple issues. I’m also reaching out to former SID’s who have moved into other aspects of college athletics, such as AD’s, conference commissioners, marketing directors, etc., to seek their advise and guidance relative to dealing with the issues and challenges before us. Many of these people might not actually be working in this profession per se at this time, but they have a deep appreciation and affinity for it and its people and we need their insight, perspective and support from them moving forward. I believe I also must work with our leadership to reposition ourselves, as quickly as possible, within the overall intercollegiate athletics community that we should not be viewed in this day-and-age as “Information Directors” but rather “Strategic Communications Directors.” We must convince our membership and all involved in the college athletics community that this is appropriate due to the overall role that communications can, and should, play within a intercollegiate athletics program in today’s world.
Finally, I want to fully put into place the “Seven Core Strategic Guiding Focus Principles” that I mentioned earlier as I truly believe that doing so will result in the type of positive momentum that we really need as a organization an profession.
What are the most serious challenges facing today's SIDs?
I think that there are two serious core challenges that are at the center of multiple issues we are dealing with. One involves senior-level leadership within athletics departments not having a true understanding of all of the elements involved in the job as well as the time-commitment associated with it and the second involves a tremendous lack of appreciation and respect for the value of that role within the overall scope of intercollegiate athletics and for the people involved.
Due to both of those scenarios we have very low morale throughout this profession in college athletics at this point in time. There is a need for a sincere understanding, throughout the entire college athletics community, that at a time when we really need, now more than ever, high quality and dedicated career-orientated professionals with the appropriate skills, knowledge and wisdom in the collegiate sports arena to deal with all of the complicated things taking place in the sports communications field as a result of this incredible communications evolution that we are going through, we are in fact losing a significant number of those quality people already in the field and young people are showing declining interest in the field as well. This is due to a widespread lack of understanding, respect, and appreciation for the value of this role and its people within an athletics program and within the college community.
There are tremendous time and stress demands facing these people and the senior-level leadership in athletics departments can not continue to ignore the current and future consequences of this situation which is, and will continue, to lead to significant turnover. In short, our profession and membership does not feel senior leadership understands, really wants to understand in many cases, what our membership is dealing with and facing each day and then they also feel “devalued” and underappreciated for the significant amount of time and dedication that they put into their jobs for the benefit of the school, athletics program and its coaches and student-athletes.
The top-level leaders in college athletics must hear our call that we need more experienced people with wisdom than ever before and yet we in fact have less people in the profession with at least 15-years experience than at any point over the last several decades. We are having a harder time now than 20 years ago attracting quality young people into the profession and then keeping quality people in the industry due to the excessive time demands, poor pay relative to that time commitment for a 24/7 news demand cycle, and a depreciation for the overall goodwill value of what these folks do as viewed by most AD’s. Young people see the time and stress demands see a lack of appreciation and as a result are clearly saying more and more that they don’t want to get involved in this career due to this situation. That only makes the pool of quality-professionals smaller and then impacts our ability to develop more experienced professionals down the road.
How can you and CoSIDA help address those issues?
There is no real secret to that. I, and the leadership, just have to keep hammering home these points to our peer groups. We have to be relentless in that regard. We have to make these groups understand that if they don’t help us deal with these issues, these will not just be CoSIDA issues, but issues for all of college athletics as athletic directors will find that the turnover within their own department for these positions will continue to rise and that the available pool for quality replacements will continue to decline. They will find less and less quality people to do these jobs and that will have a negative impact not just on communications departments, but on the overall athletics department.
I want to work with our leadership and membership to clearly show that this in indeed an issue and we need senior-level folks and peer groups to help us in dealing with it. Also, there are several key components of our strategic plan that revolve around image building and enhancing and increasing our national leadership profile and position. As we accomplish that, it will make it easier to get in front of the appropriate people to discuss these issues that will affect all levels of college athletics if not dealt with. In short, like so many issues we are facing, the time has come to quit talking about these things and start mobilizing to deal with them. We will also seek the advice of former SID’s who have moved on to become AD’s, conference commissioner and other prominent positions within the college athletics community. I would also like to find a way to get prominent national media representatives who do totally understand and value our role involved in this as well.
How has dealing with the media evolved over the last five to 10 years? Are the challenges different?
There has always been a competitive nature to the media and some tension has always existed between that group and the coaches and administrative staff, but that level of competitiveness and tension is at an all-time high with the need to break stories first and quickly. There is so much pressure on these folks to be first that in many cases they are being forced by their leadership to go with stories that are not complete. There is more tension between coaches, staff and the media than ever and SID’s are caught right in the middle of this firestorm. In many ways, the growing negative attitudes that AD’s and coaches have developed with regard to the media has impacted SID’s in a negative way since so much of the frustration and anger that exists in this regard within an athletics department is directed at the SID. Those feelings have led to less and less access being allowed by and on the part of coaches which has greatly angered the media. The communications department is then taking the full brunt of the anger and tension that exists with both groups.
It is so much harder now to build relationships and preach some level of patience. It is so much harder for SIDs to try and speak on behalf of the media in meetings and defend what they do. In many cases when they try to do that, as we in the business were all once taught you must do, it hurts the SIDs standing further within the athletics department since they are now considered “one of them" rather than "one of us.” The 24/7 news cycle that never stops and continues to be more competitive has created an environment of endless demands and pressures. The demands for I want and I need grow every day and everyone wants it right now. There has over the course of the last 25 years now, been slow erosion in decorum and respect between the media and athletics department staffers.
The advent of all of the new technologies that have surfaced over the last decade or so have only intensified the level of competitiveness and thus tensions on both sides and it has clearly impacted relationships and mutual respect in a negative way. As an organization, we must try to be a facilitator in improving this situation for the betterment of intercollegiate athletics.
How do you see your profession evolving over the next five to 10 years?
To me, so much with regard to that question relates to how successful we will be in staying focused and carrying out our strategic plan and thus its eventual level of effectiveness. Basically, I want us to help significantly shape where we are over the next five to 10 years and not let others in collegiate athletics fully dictate that to us. Much of that will result from being far more proactive and successful with many of the things we discussed here in this interview than we have in the past. We must, in my opinion, concentrate on mobilizing our leadership and membership to be proactive in several areas, and if we are, then I see our organization and profession being significantly better in many ways with a morale that is much higher and healthier. If we are not, then the issues we have discussed here will have grown in scope and their impact will spread beyond being an “SID issue” to a college athletics issue. In my role I must be determined about our ability to influence where we are headed and that we can be a productive player in determining what positively transpires.
What are some more common misconceptions athletic administrators may have about a sports information director's duties?
I just think that most tend to forget that this function started, was developed and still is primarily to service people and their demands. That function has grown due to not only demands caused by the communication evolution we are experiencing but also internal demands as it relates to coaches with recruiting and support for marketing, fundraising and other entities. Most don’t seem to understand, in fact don’t want to understand, how time demanding that it is and yet at the same time question what these folks do. So many of them are out of touch with what it takes to do this job and do it well. For quite awhile, most AD’s were former coaches, usually football and basketball coaches, and because they truly worked with SID’s every day they had a solid understanding of their role and value. They “got it.” Today, many AD’s don’t have that type of background and it has really impacted in a negative way how SID’s are viewed by them and thus much of the athletics department. They are so worried about “cash value” and they just don’t see and understand “goodwill and PR value” in servicing because to them it does not lead directly to “cash value.”
That thinking is a key reason why SID’s struggle to be included among the senior leadership staff as they aren’t seen as people who make money, but those of us who have been involved in PR know that there is a tremendous value to “goodwill” that you can’t determine in a cash-value sense. Unfortunately, that is what most AD’s want to do. It is not co-incidence that the status of SID’s in athletics departments has declined since the late 1970’s when marketing, licensing and development departments first came along. The people/departments that can clearly prove with numbers that they raise/generate cash value are treated one way and those that have a harder time proving that—like communications departments—have declined in status.
Let me give you a good example of this type of thinking. In this day and age, communications people are virtually entirely responsible for the an enormous amount of the content on Web sites—especially content that really drives viewers—with namely things are taking place in a given day. In many cases these folks are writing stories at midnight or later at the conclusion of a 15 hour day while traveling on a bus or trying to catch a plane or at a hotel room. There is a huge amount of goodwill/PR value associated with doing this. For large numbers of people, especially fans and alumni who live in other parts of the country, this is how they get their news. This is their daily connection to their school. When this is all handled in the right way, as most SID’s do handle it in an exemplary and dedicated manner, there is tremendous value in goodwill for the athletics program and the school. However, here is what normally happens. A person in the athletics department will sell some new advertising space for that Web site and get a pat on the back for doing it, but no pat on the back goes to the people who are responsible for the content that drives fans to the site in the first place and thus provides the viewership numbers that the marketing person needs to effectively sell the space. This is the type of scenario that goes on routinely in athletics departments. SID’s work their butts off, are dedicated beyond words in most cases, and receive no expressed appreciation/understanding for their significant role in building value for multiple things and then have to watch and listen as others take or receive credit because they can show a “cash value” increase but the SID can’t.
As communications folks, we all know that in most cases a school’s athletics program generates more day-to-day exposure for the school than any other aspect of the university. That might not be right, but that is the way it is. We all have been told that an athletics program has become the front-porch for the university and how most see that school and stay in touch with their university or college. It is the primary daily connection between a school and generations of people. Everyone associated with college athletics understands that, but yet the people that are most responsible for carrying out the elements of that daily connection through traditional and new-media formats, the SID’s, are not truly and sincerely appreciated for that significant role that they play in all of the goodwill based value that is generated by these efforts. In many cases, however, senior-level management at schools sadly does not grasp that.
What are you looking forward to most as you take over?
I’m just thankful that I’m in a position that I can continue to be passionate about my chosen career path and that I am truly in a position as well to give something back to this profession and its people. I’ve been blessed to have so many great memories, meet so many wonderful people and experience so many wonderful things due to my career in sports communications. I very much wanted to be in a position that as I entered the stretch-run of my chosen career that I would be able to work on issues and challenges and try to be a difference-maker for my profession and its people who I most admire as I truly feel that they rank among the most noble, industrious and dedicated in all of collegiate athletics management. To be in such a position to hopefully accomplish this is most rewarding and I want so much to reward my profession and my colleagues with a performance that will justify the confidence that they have placed in me.