College Sports Information Directors of America

“We have so much history — more than 100 years. Each of our teams gets three (multimedia) posts over the course of the year and picks days where something interesting happened for their program. It could be as recent as last year. Or something about Harvard inventing the first catcher’s mask. Or the first African-American player to play south of the Mason-Dixon line. Anything like that with historical significance showing Harvard’s leadership in terms of athletics. That’s been really helpful to us to keep our social-media channels up to date.”
 
- Tim Williamson, Harvard Associate Director of Athletics

Tim Williamson, Harvard Associate Director of Athletics, embraces leading the athletic communications department at a university that sponsors 42 sports, the most of any NCAA institution. And with Ivy League programs now nearly a full year into a pandemic-induced hiatus, he nonetheless continues to spearhead vibrant content across Harvard’s social-media channels and at gocrimson.com in support of 1,100 student-athletes.

“It’s definitely a badge of honor,” Williamson says about the Crimson leading in sports sponsorship. “One of the things we really take pride in is showcasing all of our student-athletes and all of our programs in the best light possible. Forty-two teams with the staffing size that we have, we definitely need to do a lot of prioritizing and making sure everyone is getting their fair share of attention. It can be difficult sometimes, but is also a fun challenge.”

Williamson’s team, which includes the multimedia staff, emphasizes storytelling, which had been a focal point pre-pandemic anyway.

“We’ve always taken a lot of pride in focusing on what students are doing off the field — or off whatever playing surface they have,” says Williamson, now in his 14th year at Harvard and his eighth overseeing the department. “Volunteer work. Academic work. Things that are in line with the university’s mission.”

 

Harvard had nine players in the NFL this past season to highlight. The Crimson had two student-athletes and a coach compete at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. The staff also has leaned into the program’s history, including launching a “This Day in Harvard Athletics” campaign.

“We have so much history — more than 100 years,” Williamson says. “Each of our teams gets three posts over the course of the year and picks days where something interesting happened for their program. It could be as recent as last year. Or something about Harvard inventing the first catcher’s mask. Or the first African-American player to play south of the Mason-Dixon line. Anything like that with historical significance showing Harvard’s leadership in terms of athletics. That’s been really helpful to us to keep our social-media channels up to date.”

Harvard also has done check-in videos with student-athletes as they train at home, interviews with coaches and virtual facilities tours.

“We had to be creative in a sense, but you don’t want to force it, either,” Williamson says. “You want to make sure it’s worthwhile content. You don’t want something bare bones, just to say you did it. I use the term ‘evergreen’ in the sense of a post you can use now, but also again in six months or a year.”

Williamson prides himself on staff development and stresses the importance of time management. He encourages those aspiring to enter the profession to volunteer at local colleges.

“Be friendly,” Williamson notes. “Ask people for a cup of coffee or Zoom conversations for networking opportunities. Cast a wide net for internships and programs. Don’t be afraid to move anywhere across the country.”

After graduating from Boston College with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in U.S. history, Williamson joined his future wife Christine at New England Cable News in 2005. He worked as a weekend assignment editor, dispatching news crews to the top stories of the day and interacting with politicians, including then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Unconventionally, Williamson ultimately left the full-time position in broadcast news for a sports information internship at his alma mater.

 

Given his previous real-word experience, Williamson was entrusted as the secondary contact for football as the Matt Ryan era that propelled Boston College football into prominence began.

When a full-time position opened in Morningside Heights, Williamson joined Columbia University, not far from his New Jersey roots. A year later, though, he returned to Boston. He since has risen to associate athletic director during 14 years at Harvard.

In his Harvard tenure, Williamson continually is reinvigorated by having to reinvent the department as technology evolves.

As for the present, the Ivy League has been at the forefront in protecting its student-athletes.
 
Last March, it swiftly canceled its basketball tournaments — a move other conferences later matched. In July, the Ivy League became the first Division I conference to cancel its fall seasons. It now is the lone Division I conference not attempting a basketball season.

“Our Ivy League leadership did a really good job in making sure all of the staff and student-athletes and coaches knew that the single most important thing was everyone’s well-being and safety,” Williamson says. “Some people may have been curious why we were canceling at the time, but then the NBA started canceling and other college basketball schools started canceling.
 
And within a week or so, the sports landscape stopped. At the time, I definitely think there were a lot of people saying, ‘Why is the Ivy League doing that?’ Then they realized it was obviously the right decision.”