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Note: This story appeared in the Summer 2020 September edition of CoSIDA 360 Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
Perspectives From Outside the Profession
What are your expectations...
for athletic communications professionals as we prepare for a fall without full sport competitions, and what do you see as the important contributions athletic communicators can make in planning for the spring semester? We asked five high-level administrators at different levels of college athletics.
Compiled by Barb Kowal – CoSIDA Director of External Affairs & Professional Development
Joel Cain – Jones College, Athletic Director
“We’ll continue to provide exposure for our student-athletes in a constructive manner and represent our institution and conference in a positive light. Our five core values will remain our focus: leadership, empowerment, accountability, discipline and family.”
Lonnie Folks – Maryville University, Director of Athletics and Recreation
“I’ll be leaning even more so on my athletic communications staff during this upcoming fall period. There will be multiple issues that arise, and from many different areas. The constant for me will be my team in athletics communications and their ability to remain focused, professional and task-orientated along the way. I’ll be having individual and group meetings with them regularly to not only inform, but also to learn what their thoughts are and what they may know that I’ve not yet heard or anticipated. This will be one of the areas that I try my best to keep as close to normal operations as possible.”
Krista L. Montague – Montana State Billings, Athletic Director
“Our athletics communications professionals are a critical part of our team and that will be no different this fall without competition. We know better days are ahead and we’ll lean on our communications staff to help us plan and communicate our messages moving forward. Our Director of Communications (Evan O’Kelly) is an important member of our decision-making team. His feedback will be important, as we begin to work through what our spring and beyond will look like. We plan to be creative and work on some fun virtual projects to keep our student-athletes, fans, and alumni involved. Our athletics communications team also is available to assist our overall university’s marketing & communications staff with ideas and content to attract new students to MSUB.
“It’s often said there is no off-season for athletics communications professionals. Although the work and demands may look a little different this year, we look forward to using this time to get creative and keep our students engaged and involved in the best and safest way possible.”
Adrienne J. Mullikin – Colonial States Athletic Conference, Commissioner
“We’re in the very early stages of identifying themes for collaborative programming for student-athletes within the conference that will play to the strengths of the athletic administrators within our membership. Our SIDs convened in mid-August to collaborate on ideas for social media content and other ways we can engage our student-athletes in the absence of conducting intercollegiate contests. We’ll also be discussing the challenges they anticipate when considering the concept of having fall and spring sports practicing and competing in the same season.”
Bernard M. Muir – Stanford University, Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics
“I sincerely appreciate how our communications team has embraced the last six months, demonstrating a combination of versatility, creativity and willingness to adapt to the changing landscape. The team’s mission during that time remained the same: inspire people around the world to value the simultaneous pursuit of excellence in both athletics and academics. As we transition into an unprecedented fall season, that same mindset and emphasis on storytelling will again be critical. I know our staff is already busy identifying feature content opportunities, establishing our digital strategy and contributing to some of our department’s most important strategic initiatives. We also rely on our communications team to remain connected and responsive to their student-athletes and coaches, serving as a trusted resource and familiar face to those programs during this period of uncertainty.”
Bob Williams – NCAA Senior Vice President of Communications
“What we all need to do is start thinking about what we want college sports to look like in the coming years. One of the ways to ensure that you, the athletic communications professional, get a seat at the table — or strengthen your position at the table — is to pose to the leaders and decision-makers in your organization the realities of where we are today and the challenge of where we, as leaders, want to be tomorrow. That conversation must happen around the table; if that conversation doesn’t happen AT the table, it will happen TO that table.
“The way to secure the seat is to bring all the important issues to your leaders, asking, “How will we address and handle a student-athlete group on campus saying, ‘Here are our demands’? Step forward and impress your leadership before these issues are put on them. Understand as communicators, we are the ones who forecast — saying and strategizing that ‘this is on the horizon, here are the issues, and we need to start talking about these things today.’ And, you need to come with potential solutions…not just questions.
“The biggest value we can leverage across all communicators in every NCAA division and at every campus is to further communicate the narrative on everything we all provide for our student-athletes. You start changing outlooks and opinions when people have skin in the game. Let the public know: here’s what we provide, here are the student-athlete benefits, and let them know we want to provide more for them. This is the key to us moving forward.”
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