College Sports Information Directors of America

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OUR STORIES

Krystal Warren
University of Dayton Assistant Athletics Director - Athletic Communications

by Barb Kowal, CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Relations
CoSIDA Week Committee member

Like the Dayton athletic program's nickname, Krystal Warren is flying literally and figuratively as UD's top athletics communicator and emerging campus leader.

And she turns all the credit back to the University of Dayton athletic department's culture of support and collaboration.

As Assistant Athletics Director - Athletic Communications, Warren is part of the 13-member UD Division of Athletics Senior Administration team. A member of Dayton's athletics staff since July of 2008, she oversees the five-member athletic communications staff (counting herself) and all publicity efforts, manages the department budget, serves as the primary contact for four women's sports (soccer, rowing, cross country and track & field). She also is co-advisor for the Flyers' Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and a member of the Hazing Prevention Committee at UD.

Oh, and then there's her work on senior leadership courses, taking classes, teaching classes and serving on campus committees. Balancing her work and studies, last year she finished her master's degree in public administration at Dayton. She also completed the UD political science department's non-profit leadership certificate AND added a certificate in Supervisory Leadership from the University of Dayton Center for Leadership in 2014.

Warren insists that all these professional and personal growth opportunities are made possible by one reason - support of everyone from the UD president to Dayton's athletic department staffers.

"If someone expresses an interest to grow and develop, the UD leadership pushes you to do that. I am so fortunate to

work at a school where professional development is encouraged for everyone," Warren noted. "If you have a plan, they will help you reach the goals. I am not the most extroverted person, and both of the athletic directors I have served under - former AD Tim Wabler and now current AD Neil Sullivan - helped mold me and expressed confidence that I could be a leader on campus. Through their support, I got into the certification programs. They've helped shape me and I am a stronger leader now.

"One benefit of all this leadership training is that I was nominated by our department to serve a one-year appointment in our Leadership UD program this year. We do committee work with department leaders throughout the campus - including people from admissions, the faculty, the dining services, facilities so we can understand each other, align our messages, not operate in 'silos' and make our campus safer and stronger."

Warren is able to attend off-campus professional development events as well.

"I've attended the NACWAA convention and recently traveled to Indianapolis for the NCAA Inclusion Forum, to better support and help our student-athletes," she remarked. "I've been meeting with our campus vice president of inclusion as we work aggressively on these important issues."

How is Warren able to accomplish all this?

First, Warren sends out her thanks to the Flyers' athletic communications staff.

"I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention the support and incredible work of our athletic communications staff which gives me the confidence to pursue these opportunities," Warren stated. "To do this, you have to surround yourself with great people and a team. If I go to a meeting, and I have a soccer release to go out, they help me. I lean heavily on the experiences and passion that our Flyer staff brings to the office daily and am so fortunate for the teamwork of Doug Hauschild (director of athletic communications), (assistant directors) Jenna Willhoit and Ross Bagienski and (coordinator) Kyler Ludlow."

Second, it starts with how she approaches her day.

"It's a hard hard thing to do, but over time I've learned to be present in what I am doing. That is all on my mind. After we get done with A, I will move on to B. No multitasking and jumping back and forth on items," she said.

"There is a perfectionism attached to us in our athletic communications jobs and we just think we have to do it all," Warren concluded. "Well, in order to grow you have to fight those battles to have perfection and know that some things will never be perfect or 100 percent your way. You have to tell yourself, 'hey, that's not how I would have done it, but I need to let go and learn how others do things and get new perspectives.'"

Warren gives this advice for those athletic communicators who want to advance professionally and develop more strategic communications skills.

"As my AD Neil (Sullivan) says to me, 'I am all for your development, but you have to do a great job with your athletic

communications responsibilities first, and then I will support you.' I take pride in being a hard worker, an efficient hard worker. That's the key. I used to kill myself when I was younger. Now, I am more efficient, and I learned to trust people more. Yes, accept that young professionals and student workers will make mistakes. Remember, we are in a learning environment ... trust and let go. Neil reminds all of us in leadership roles to be strategic and think bigger picture, and don't be a busy worker. In turn, when I let go of work, that helps people on my staff grow, too."

Warren also throws in more advice for SIDs. An admitted major list maker, she encourages her staff to "live off the list" and more.

"I love making lists and I love scratching things off those lists - it's so fulfilling! I make the staff do that, too, to take 10 extra minutes each day to make the list so you won't forget things. I am also a huge stickler for consistency," Warren added. "Be efficient, too. I use Google calendar for everything - to launch meetings, phone calls, etc. Make sure you always goes back to your team, others in the department if you are a one-person staff, and work together. After a two-year process, we recently finished our Dayton athletics style guide which is so beneficial to have (and a tip of the hat to former SID Chris Yandle for helping us start the project.).

"Another thing we instituted, which is coordinated by Ross on our staff - mandatory study sessions for our student workers. We had three one-hour sessions on PhotoShop, website backend operations, writing. Those three hours will save us so much time and cut back on questions and delays and give our students more ownership."

Final advice from Warren to athletic communicators: "Being a life-long learner helps tremendously. In our constantly-evolving profession, it's important to want to learn new skills, like staying up-to-date on the latest social media trends or going back to school to get an advanced degree. It's important to get involved and be present at activities you are interested in on campus - in athletics events, the arts or in activism for social concern."

Throughout our conversation, Warren mentioned the many mentors who have helped her along the way.

"My mentor at Dayton is Teri Rizvi - UD's former director of communications and now a staff writer - who is a big part of the Dayton supervisory leadership program. I want to thank Mark Womack at Cedarville for always taking my call and helping me out when I was first starting my career; and our own Doug Hauschild for displaying how to treat people with dignity and respect, from fellow colleagues to local and national media, and the coaches and student-athletes we work with."

There is one annual event that calls on the entire athletic staff - in fact, the entire campus and city of Dayton - to pitch in: hosting the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball First Four which jumpstarts the Division I March Madness basketball tourney. The four team, play-in round where the bottom four NCAA automatic qualifiers and the bottom four at-large qualifiers square off, is a sold-out, highly-anticipated event attracting huge TV numbers as well.

As March Madness begins, Dayton is the center of the basketball world annually.

"Hosting the First Four is one of the most taxing events we put on at UD, but also one of the most rewarding," Warren said. "I love how we all come together and make sure this is an event that the student-athletes, coaches, fans and fellow athletics communication professionals will remember as one of the best experiences they ever had."

There are other opportunities which await Warren now and in the near future - teaching and a special trip to Zambia.

This spring, Warren will be teaching a sports information class at Division II Urbana University, a 45-minute drive away and where Warren got her SID start years ago as a one-woman sports information office with 17 sports. She has taught the class before and is excited about the prospect again.

"Urbana gave me the opportunity to create the curriculum, and we'll cover writing 101, video editing, how to reach out to the media, social media, media training, statistics," Warren explained. "I imagine a lot of SIDs wish they had had that classroom experience, and that's why I wanted to do it. I am super proud of it, especially the practicum element of the class. The students will in-game event stuff for Urbana's SID Derrick Blyberg.

"I look forward to setting up "field trips," like the one my last class took to an Ohio State-Hawaii football game, courtesy of Ohio State's Jerry Emig (associate communications director for football). That was another example of how networking in our profession pays off, and shows how people in the business help each other out."

And, there is an impending trip to the continent of Africa this summer - an experience created through her leadership and networking opportunities.

As someone who loves to travel with her husband Jeremy (they spent part of last summer in Australia), Warren now has an international work-related trip on the horizon. For six weeks this June and July this summer, Warren will be in Zambia, serving as group leader for UD students enrolled in an immersion program for the department of social concern.

"An experience like this is only possible because the team around me has agreed to help while I am away," Warren noted. "Doug has been here for so long, he can handle any crisis management issues, and I will lean on Jenna and Ross, too. Kyler is so enthusiastic and happy to help out. This trip came about when one of my Leadership UD colleagues said she was going on maternity leave and needed someone to go to Zambia for her. Seeing an opportunity, I jumped on it. In the past, these groups have built hospitals, started sports programs, and I'm excited to experience it."

"Again, AD Sullivan has been awesome and asked me originally, 'how will this help you, and our department, and how will you manage while you are away?' Critical thinking again. Our athletic communications department is going to grow and be more versatile in my time away. I want to be a senior women's administrator (SWA) at some point, and the problems that I am going to deal with there will help me be a better troubleshooter and leader."