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CoSIDA.com/CoSIDA360 Magazine Archive
Note: This story appeared in the Winter 2020 February edition of CoSIDA 360 Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
Media Training for Student-Athletes in the Digital World
by Jeff Bollig – Contributor, former SID
Kathleen Hessert had an epiphany while watching her brother do media interviews following his winning NASCAR’s 24 Hours of Daytona.
“He blundered it,” Hessert said. “He didn’t have a good message and he didn’t recognize his sponsors appropriately. It was bad.”
A television news anchor turned corporate communications consultant, the light bulb went on for Hessert as she reasoned that sports organizations and their coaches and athletes needed communications assistance as much as businesses and their board chairpersons, CEOs and presidents. A Saint Mary’s College graduate, she first reached out to Roger Valdiserri, the long-time Sports Information Director at nearby Notre Dame, in 1988 to pitch her services.
“I said, ‘Roger, you give your athletes the best of everything, but when it comes to talking to the media, it’s like sending the lambs to slaughter. They aren’t prepared.’”
Hessert made a deal with Valdiserri. Give her a chance. If it didn’t work, she would quietly go away. But if it was a success, she asked him to tell the world. It was fortuitous timing for Hessert (unknown to her at the time) as the Irish were about to sign the lucrative television agreement with NBC Sports. The experiment was a success from the start and soon schools from every corner of the sports world were knocking on her door. She even became a frequent presenter at CoSIDA conventions.
John Heisler, senior associate athletic director for strategic communications at UCF, was on staff at Notre Dame at the time. He said a positive was Hessert’s outside perspective, which provided a “different voice” to deliver the message.
“By the nature of our position, we were regularly providing guidance to coaches and athletes regarding the media,” he said. “But Kathleen was in the media and was able to communicate from that perspective. Plus, who had a video department at their fingertips back then? Nobody. She was able to put together clips and show the good and the bad.”
After more than 30 years since her first media training gig, how does Hessert feel about the need for training given in the current media climate, specifically the advent of social media?
“It’s as important today as it was back then, perhaps even more so,” Hessert says. “You cannot separate the two. It’s all about creating those key messages that you want to convey to the audience. Your coaches and your student-athletes are your ambassadors. You must provide good content for them to share. It’s a great opportunity for schools.”
One opportunity Hessert believes schools miss out on is in the postgame setting. She notes that these can be emotional environments — win or lose — therefore some direction to coaches and athletes is advisable. It’s not about providing the exact language, rather its offering concepts that help participants to communicate a coherent message.
Hessert and Heisler are in agreement that a media policy complete with training for traditional and social media should not be seen as a defensive exercise, rather one that allows schools to go on the offensive to communicate key messages. That includes creating content for student-athletes to repeat in all platforms.
“In terms of original social media content by the athletes, I do think you should set guidelines or policies, and have some type of enforcement,” Hessert said. I don’t think you can tell students these days they cannot be on social or dictate what they can say, but you need to convey to them why you have the policies. And, don’t leave them hanging out there on their own. Give them the graphics, the video, the messages you want to deliver as a university.” Kathleen Hessert
Dave Plati, CoSIDA Hall of Famer and long-time Colorado associate athletics director/sports information director, started a media training program for the Buffs in the late 1980s when head football coach Bill McCartney asked him to address the team. It also coincided with the burgeoning success of the program, thus media attention was significantly growing.
In addition to speaking with the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams, Plati and his staff have created an extensive resource guide to support all student-athletes. About 10 years ago, he began incorporating social media into discussions with the teams and the information packets. Through his long-time statistical work with the Denver Broncos, he is also able to share a video produced by the NFL that discusses the athlete-media relationship.
“I think every school needs to decide what is best for them in terms of specific media policies,” Plati says. “You need to work with your coaches on what they would like to include and you need to know your market. In terms of social media, we see ourselves providing guidance to our student-athletes. They need to be aware of the pitfalls of the platforms. Even if you tweet something and take it down right away, someone has probably already taken a screenshot.”
That concept is central to the training Mount Union SID Lenny Reich provides to his student-athletes. Thanks to a legendary football program, the school receives considerable media attention. Still as a Division III institution, he knows they must fight for every inch of copy or tweet by a reporter.
“We stress that for a small college, we have worked hard to get our share of media exposure,” Reich says. “But each student-athlete needs to understand they are our best recruiters, fundraisers and promoters of our institution. That is why they need to pay attention to their interactions both with traditional and social media.”
Another pillar of Hessert’s training, echoed by Plati and Reich, is the educational and developmental opportunities for student-athletes afforded by media interaction. She says it’s only natural that the more you practice, the better you become. That’s just one reason she cautions schools against creating media policies that limit or exclude media access.
“I get being able to control your message,” Hessert says, “but you are only reaching those who follow you. You cannot exclude or put your media at a disadvantage. They are the ones who reach those you cannot, and they provide the third-party validation you cannot create on your own.” Kathleen Hessert
To that end, Plati has always had a philosophy that he is an advocate for media access to coaches and student-athletes, even when it might have been unpopular inside the walls of the athletic department.
“They have a job to do and we have an opportunity to promote our program if we remain professional and are thoughtful in our comments. We are in a pro sports market with five professional teams. If we make it hard on the media, eventually they will limit coming to campus to cover us.”
Sports information directors should not sell themselves short in their ability to develop resources to help their student-athletes and coaches, and training activities should not be seen as a luxury only for those with larger budgets Heisler said.
“It could be something as simple as bringing in beat reporters for a panel discussion with athletes and coaches,” he said. “Or, you get a local television reporter or perhaps your video staff to put some interview footage together, and then do some interviews as part of the training. Even if it’s something as old-school as a powerpoint, there is a benefit. And again, mix it up from year to year to keep it fresh.”
Hessert, who also does considerable research on Generation Z (ages 4 - 24), encourages SIDs to learn more about those individuals as they will bring with them attitudes, perceptions and experiences that are based on a lifetime of exposure to social media. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z’ers do not know what life is like not having social media platforms at their disposal. Understanding them will help in your media training activities, she says.
And if generational change is not enough to drive schools to evaluate media training practices, likely policy change coming down the pike might be, according to Heisler. If student-athletes are allowed to be compensated for their name, image and/or likeness, then he says athletic departments will be faced with the question of how much support they offer.
Stay tuned!
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