College Sports Information Directors of America

The Four Pillars of the Advocacy Committee

In this new year, we’re asking each of you to be bold, step out of the shadows and advocate for yourself through these suggestions provided in the Four Pillars. 

by Danny Barnts – Point Loma Nazarene, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications // Advocacy Committee Member // Former CoSIDA Board of Directors Member

I’m proud of the job I have and the work I do, but I’ll always be the last one to bring it up. And I know I’m just like many of you. We chose a role in athletic communications so we wouldn’t have to talk about ourselves or be the center of attention. We take joy in telling the story of others and doing our job behind the scenes. But, just like any movie, sometimes the protagonists need to emerge from the shadows and begin the journey to bigger things by standing up for themselves.

This is why the newest CoSIDA committee — the Advocacy Committee — has created the ‘Four Pillars’ initiative to serve as the guiding principles of support that we are establishing for our members.

These are personal advocacy resources the committee hopes will provide guidance for all of us to be a little bolder because.

Here are the committee’s “Four Pillars” in year number one of our work:

1. Talking openly with coaches 

Building a relationship with our coaching staffs is one of the most vital parts of our job. We put effort into understanding the roles each person on the staff will play, both on the field and off. We know the families of the coaches and when it’s appropriate to ‘miss’ an interview after a tough loss, but do we take any time to tell them about ourselves and our role? Not telling them just about the next story or social media post, but about our vision for our own department or about our own lives outside of the office. Being willing to open up about these topics isn’t always natural for us, but those conversations can help form bonds that can extend beyond the field. Here are a few areas of conversation you can have with your coaches to help them better understand your role as an athletics communication professional.

• Explain your role and your value to their program and brand — we’re not assistant coaches or managers.
• Explain your value to student-athletes in educating/training them to be better, more savvy communicators and understand the role that they, the student-athlete plays, in messaging for their team and for the athletic department and campus community.
• Communicate how the expectations are set for your office/staff. These should be set based upon resources available and the priorities set by your administration. Different schools have different visions of equity and our offices are providing for all sports, not just one coach’s program exclusively; emphasis should be on providing quality over quantity.
• Reminder that research shows all people are more productive with a sensible work-life balance.

2. Talking openly with athletics directors/commissioners

Whether you’re an SID trying to move through the ranks of athletic administration or settled comfortably in your role, having an open and honest relationship with the athletic director/commissioner is critical. Not only are they making the decisions on budget, staffing and more, but they are often among the most public faces of the organization, and the sports information department is one of the key resources in shaping the public’s opinion of the department they lead. Therefore, being able to explain the value and versatility of your department to the mission of athletics is so critical, especially in the digital age.

• Ask for senior management’s assessment of your role; use this opportunity and conversation as a chance to show the importance/value of our skills and what we can provide beyond their traditional expectations. (For example: show how we do a lot of problem-solving and work collaboratively with every area of the department.)
• Keys to retention of good people include fair pay and job expectations, opportunities for career development, prioritizing a sensible work-life balance for all staff; this is a commitment to quality of product vs. hours spent in office.
• Lobbying for resources to do the job efficiently and optimally; the department and campus leaders will get more bang for their buck when this occurs — tools that quantify the value we provide would be a benefit here.

3. Talking with upper administration and campus constituents

You might not always feel this way, but your job is the envy of many! Others, especially outside the athletics department, think your job is cool. When you talk to students, professors, or campus and community members and you get to sum up your job as a sports information director, others get a little jealous of the work we get to do every day.

Don’t let these opportunities slip by as they are also another source for professional advocation. Use these opportunities to pop the figurative bubble that athletics can sometimes live in, and bring a deeper understanding of the importance of your role to those that you might not deal with on a daily basis but yet are those deeply invested in the work you produce. 

• Explain your role and the importance/value of your skills in adding to the overall brand of the university/conference.
• Be an advocate for student-athletes and push to get them recognized within the athletics department, in conference activities and through their colleges and campus organizations; share their on-field success stories with their academic units and other campus and alumni groups.
• Encourage your office to become involved in the campus community in numerous ways, and not remain isolated in the athletics silo.
• Opportunities for academic collaborations and career development may be available beyond athletics. Ask about them.
• Educate members of the student body that athletic communications is a viable career path. To do so, teach or guest lecture classes, internship programs, career fairs, and during orientation. Make an appearance to show that our profession is a viable student opportunity.

4. Talking with co-workers and staff

The final and most forgotten area of advocacy is working within our own departments. We can concentrate on always trying to “advocate up” for ourselves and our department, but often the group to whom it’s most critical to advocate the importance of the SID role … is within our own offices. We often just expect that we’re “all in this together,” but it’s necessary and invigorating for us to verbalize those thoughts and take action.

• The leader should share honest impressions of how administration/campus leaders view the SID role. Work together as a unit to align that with your internal office vision. All staff can contribute in brainstorming ways to change impressions.
• Resolve to prioritize work-life balance for all staffers; staff should be honest and plan ahead where family and real-life priorities may conflict with work to give plenty of lead time for flexible and creative solutions. Frank discussions of areas that could be improved within the athletics department should go hand-in-hand with problem-solving. Again, we are looking for a commitment to quality of product vs. hours spent on the job.
• Give staff varied opportunities to grow and test their skills, especially in non-sport-specific areas. Tap into each person’s strengths and praise and showcase excellence in others.

In conclusion

It can be awkward, unorthodox or even scary in the situation where you must talk and even brag on yourself, especially trumpeting your own on-job accomplishments. Yet, if you’re not going to do it, who will? 

You may feel that you don’t need the attention, but we in CoSIDA are all in this together. I consider not only the people I see on a daily basis as my co-workers, but all athletics communication professionals, because of the unique nature of the way we rely on each other in this job. 

Remember, as we see every day with the sports we’re covering, we’re stronger when we work together as a team.

If you have questions for the CoSIDA Advocacy Committee and its work, please contact Advocacy Committee chair and CoSIDA past president Shelly Poe, Auburn University, Assistant AD/Communications, at slp0019@auburn.edu.

Written in consultation with Advocacy Committee members Sean Cartell (Texas Associate Media Relations Director) and Jay Stancil (Union College [Ky.] Director of Strategic Sports Communications)

Want to add something to this topic? Add your thoughts on the CoSIDA Connect Open Member Forum.