College Sports Information Directors of America

“My advice to SIDs: Get to know student-athletes personally, away from the sports arena, and get to know non-athletes on campus ... The main thing I learned from city council that I carry over into the SID world is don’t beat a dead horse … identify a problem and then fix the problem. Otherwise you’re just wasting time … attack things as they come so they don’t hang over your head.”
- Ted Schultz, Grinnell College SID

 
For nearly 15 years, Ted Schultz has served as Sports Information Director at Grinnell College, a NCAA Division III institution in central Iowa and a member of the Midwest Conference. He came to Grinnell, his first and only SID position, from an award-winning career in news media industry, serving as sports editor and reporter. Elected chair of the Midwest Conference Sports Information Directors in 2017, he also is a member of the league's Championships Committee.

Read more on Schultz and how he and his colleagues have dealt with nearly a year-long cancellation of Grinnell sports competition and what athletic passion he has outside of his professional career.

 

In a Tweet-length of 280 characters or less, tell us who you are and how you got to where you are today.
TS: I’m Ted Schultz and have been Sports Information Director at Grinnell College for 14 years. I was a mass communications major at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and was in the newspaper industry out of college.

As mentioned, you entered athletic communications after a successful newspaper/sportswriting and sports editor career. Why the career shift 13-plus years ago, especially after earning multiple statewide writing and composing awards, including honors from AP and the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association?
TS: My wife Marsha and I lived in Clinton, Iowa for 13 years before looking for a change. Right about the time she got a teaching and (volleyball and track) coaching job in the Grinnell Public Schools, I was hired as SID at Grinnell College. The timing was uncanny.

What were the content-generating challenges that you faced during CoVID-19? Your college and your conference (Midwest Conference) not only cancelled 2020 spring sports but also cancelled 2020 fall and 2020-2021 winter competition as well. How difficult has this been for you personally and for your colleagues?
TS: Initially, generating content seemed like a tall task since our sports were stopped cold in their tracks. But I checked out some social media things being done by my peers and came up with some ideas of my own, like doing fun Q-and-A graphics with the student-athletes and interviewing our 2020 Grinnell Hall of Famers.

During COVID and all the sport cancellations, what is your philosophy about content and storytelling? Talk about some of the successes you had during this period.
TS: The pandemic has forced us to be more creative since the “built-in” athletic event stories came to a halt. That’s where I’ve had a good time doing the student-athlete graphics, and I’ve also been able to digitize all my sport record books. Those things were a crazy hodge-podge before and I’m trying to present a similar look and feel to them.

What’s the project or campaign or honor that you’re proudest of as a professional? Why?
TS: A few years after I arrived at Grinnell, I received the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Media Excellence Award, which is essentially the state athletic media Hall of Fame (for my newspaper work). It was an honor to join a group of people that I consider legends.

 

You’ve been an early adopter of new statistical software. Notably, you served as a tester for the new NCAA Live Stats volleyball software in 2019 and were a member of the Controlled Release Group (CRG) for the NCAA Live Stats football software. What have you gained from these experiences?
TS: I learned how exciting it is to see early versions of the software and how it evolves via suggestions by the testers, myself included! Unfortunately, three days after the initial webinar for football, Grinnell cancelled fall sports. I still tested the software on some games online, though.

Can you leave us with a professional "takeaway" idea - it could be a suggestion on working with staff, on balancing the demands, a game management tip, small-staff strategies, etc. 
TS: My advice to SIDs: Get to know student-athletes personally, away from the sports arena, and get to know non-athletes on campus.

You have varied interests and community involvement outside of college athletics. People in college athletics might be surprised to know that, for eight years, you were a member of the Oakland Acres City Council (2011 through 2019) and, in 2014, was named the city's Mayor Pro Tem. You also closed out your Council time as Oakland Acres' interim mayor for four months. Can you offer strategies to others on how you found the time to prioritize these duties and your SID responsibilities?
TS: Luckily it’s a small community, so it didn’t take up a huge amount of time. But I remember being on the phone for council business in the soccer press box, prior to a match, and again on a drive to the airport on my way to an SID-related event. The main thing I learned from city council that I carry over into the SID world is don’t beat a dead horse … identify a problem and then fix the problem. Otherwise you’re just wasting time. I also enhanced my efficiency skills as mayor pro-tem and then interim mayor … when I ran council meetings, I kept things moving. If you don’t, things quickly dissolve into idle chit-chat. Also, don’t let problems build … attack things as they come so they don’t hang over your head. 
 
Do you have any future plans or desires to run for office or become more involved in community outreach?
TS: No more City Council work … a year short of a decade is enough! I have served as a statistician for the Iowa High School State Volleyball and Softball Tournaments and want to continue. It’s fun to work events and watch some of the best high school athletes in the state.

 

An additional hobby of yours is cycling. I read where you’ve participated in endurance riding, including participating in the RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) 14 times. This is a highly-popular event – and the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world. What does that entail, time and mileage-wise, and have you done this recently? How do you find time to train for this?
I’m so glad you asked me about that … biking is a passion of mine, for sure! I’ve done 14 RAGBRAIs, doing it every year since 2004 except twice. The ride allows 10,000 registered riders but when taking into consideration the non-registered people, it’s probably 16,000 to 18,000 riders per day. There are riders from several states and at least a dozen countries.

The route changes every year, but always starts in western Iowa and goes east, ending at the Mississippi River. Each year there is an optional 100-mile loop on a given day, so the weekly mileage can range from the low 400-mile range to 500 miles. My favorite part of the ride is pulling up next to somebody and starting a conversation … wow, the people I’ve met and the stories I can tell!

Typically I try to average about 1,000 miles prior to the ride, which is held the last full week of July. I usually have one of my bikes on the back of my car, always ready for a ride, and there are several good routes I take from work during the noon hour. I can do an 18-mile route in a tad over an hour, so it works well.

During the pandemic, have you hit the bike trails and roads a lot more?
TS: For sure! I started biking in 2020 in late March and ended up putting in more than 2,500 miles by November! I figured that’s about equal to a trip across the country! It also got me in the mood to try and ride year-around instead of just summer. I’ve already bundled up and ridden several days in 2021. One fun thing I did last fall, with no sports going on, was leading rides for students on campus (there were only a handful, mainly international students who couldn’t go home). That was so much fun and I got to meet a lot of great people.

Is there another job other than your own would you like to have?
TS: I would love to be director of RAGBRAI (the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). Planning the yearly route would be awesome!