College Sports Information Directors of America

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Adrian Ferguson – Fayetteville State University, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

CoSIDA 25-Year Award

by Barb Kowal – CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Affairs

Earlier this year in February’s edition of CoSIDA 360, Adrian Ferguson was featured as he told the unique story of promoting and publicizing his son, Jordan, who was a member of the Fayetteville State football team and a campus leader. That story and background of Ferguson, a CoSIDA 25-Year Award recipient, is re-printed, below.

Ferguson also contributed to this short Q&A as he is being recognized with his quarter century of service to athletic communications.

Ferguson has been at Fayetteville State since January 2008 after working in sports information and as a coach at his alma mater, Livingston College and in sports information at Winston-Salem State. He has served as president of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Sports Information Directors Association several times while also serving on the NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Regional Advisory Committee.
 
Ferguson has received the John Holley CIAA Sports Information Director of the Year Award twice and was inducted into the Livingstone College Hall of Fame in 2010 as a student-athlete, coach, and administrator.
 
What contribution have you made to the college athletics communications profession that are most meaningful to you?
Years back, I began editing video clips and highlights for the athletic programs and began streaming Fayetteville State University games and CIAA events before streaming became popular. To-date, there is a conference wide effort to stream games and events.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants a lasting career in athletic PR, like yours, what would it be?
The need for information is constant but forever changing. Keep developing and enhancing your skill sets for the new generations will digest information differently from your traditional fan base.

How would you describe your leadership style?
My leadership style is to provide a template of examples and resources with guidance so that one can develop a personal style that will stand out from the crowd.

In your CoSIDA 360 story earlier this year, several people quoted noted that you've been a role model and mentor for them. Who are your mentors/role models and why?
Eric Moore (of Onnidan and the BCSIDA executive director) has been a mentor/role model for me over the years because of his vast skill sets. He has worked with sports information, broadcasts, statistics, websites, and such that has kept me inspired and on my toes. He has been a friend and an irreplaceable resource in my life.

Kyle Serba (North Carolina Central University Executive Senior Associate AD for Strategic Communications) has been a mentor and role since our first encounter. His commitment to the profession and drive to be of service to others has been a motivation. His quality of work has been an inspiration.

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Fayetteville State's Adrian Ferguson Relishes Rare Opportunity To Tell the Story of His Football-playing Son Jordan.
This story was part of our February 2022 CoSIDA 360 package
 

"We have to educate students, particularly our student-athletes, that this is a viable career. They already are direct media sources themselves on social! I'm trying to show students, hey, you are heavy on social media, we as professionals are heavy on social media, too. Come by and use our video cameras, shoot some video and interviews for us using your phones. What they take for granted for their social life can also become their professional life."

- Adrian Ferguson – Fayetteville State, Assistant AD for Sports Information

 

Fayetteville State Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Information Adrian Ferguson has a long list of experiences that he shares with many SIDs. In his 25th year in the profession, Ferguson is a former student-athlete (checklist item for some SIDs); he's a former SID student assistant (check for even more SIDs). At times in his career, he was a head coach and assistant coach (another checked item with SIDs). He's served at several institutions and a conference office (check again).

Yet, he also has one experience that is a rarity in athletic communications – getting to promote, recognize and publicize his own child. (Not so many checks here ... at all!)

As Ferguson coordinates the coverage, publicity, digital production and event management for 11 sports at FSU — an NCAA Division II historically black public regional university in Fayetteville, North Carolina and a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) member — one of the hundreds of student-athletes he sees on a regular basis is his own son, Jordan, a senior defensive back on the Broncos' football team.

According to the CIAA, this is a first in conference history that a father is the sports communications contact for his son. Currently, it is believed to be the only scenario of its kind in NCAA Division II. (Previously at Baldwin Wallace, a Division III school in Ohio, now-retired SID Kevin Ruple had the privilege of publicizing his son, Danny, a soccer All-America performer and the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division III Men's Soccer Member of the Year.)

For the Fergusons, it all started at Livingstone College.
 

Being a student-athlete has come full circle in the Ferguson family. Adrian and his wife Denise were both standout track and field athletes at Livingstone, another CIAA school. Their daughter, Taelor, competed in the same sport at North Carolina Central while Jordan turned his focus to college football.

Both parents are proudly enshrined in the Livingstone Athletic Hall of Fame, Denise as a student-athlete, and Adrian as a student-athlete and administrator/coach.

"My family has had a special bond with sports forever," noted Ferguson. "I met my wife Denise at Livingstone where she was an exceptional track and field athlete. I competed as well and worked in the SID office as an undergraduate student. Because I switched my major from engineering to computer information systems, I needed a fifth year in 1996 to complete my degree. When our track and field coach and SID Clinton Huff ascended to the athletic director position before my fifth year, he sold me on becoming his SID replacement. In my final year I was both a full-time student and our official sports information director, under his wing."

As a very young full-time SIDs (and as one of the few Black SIDs as well at the time), Ferguson found the transition easy for one reason – he utilized his computer classes knowledge to gain an advantage.

"The SID position was evolving at the time, with people moving from paper stats to computer stats, to the early versions of StatCrew," he stated. "Because I changed my major when StatCrew came out, I was learning programming classes in Pascal and other platforms and I could visualize how StatCrew had been developed. So, I eased right into the stat program … when it was a difficult struggle for some, I rolled with the punches."

Ferguson served for two years at Livingstone, then went to Winston-Salem State as Assistant AD for Sports Information for three years before returning to his alma mater where he stayed for 13 years as SID and, at times, as assistant and then head track and field coach.
 

At Livingstone, the Ferguson children "started to grow up in the gym and on the field as they also competed in various youth sports," Ferguson said. "My wife worked in the business office and when I was the track and field coach, we had the kids get off the bus on campus. Their after-school time was on the track or in the gym at games. Taelor become a successful triple jumper in high school – I wore out my knees trying to teach her how to jump! Jordan was involved in many sports."

In 2008, the Ferguson family then relocated to Fayetteville State for a new SID opportunity.

"To be a one-person SID office at an HCBU and also shift to coaching as well became a bit much, especially with active kids," Ferguson said. "A  SID's biggest challenge is burnout and work-life balance. I involved my family in my job, working with me, folding and printing programs, being at games. To provide more for them, I took the opportunity at Fayetteville State to focus only on sports information."

With his background in computers and technology, Ferguson has positioned Fayetteville State Athletics as a leader in technology, highlight videos, video streaming, graphics and the like.

For his standout work, Ferguson has twice received the CIAA's John Holley Sports Information Director of the Year Award.

"I was so fortunate to expose our children to university life, university activities and to being around adults and college kids," noted Ferguson. "I also knew the importance of keeping Fayetteville Athletics relevant and on the map by being a leader in graphics and social content. I didn't know that some of this content would eventually include my son, which makes it even that more rewarding at times."

Jordan, the youngest of the siblings, was involved and excelling in athletics since the age of six. And, when he got college football scholarship offers from Winston-Salem State and Fayetteville State, he stayed home to play.
 

"My first opportunity to promote Jordan was on his signing day," Ferguson continued. "To do that graphic was special to me and very special to him. Certainly few, if any, signees have ever had this experience! Jordan redshirted, then had a good first season of competition. One of his first games was against Lincoln, and he came up with an interception. As he was a familiar face on campus, a photographer recorded that interception on video, posted it to his site, and shared it with me. That was quite rewarding to see. I was able to nominate him for Freshman of the Week honors, and he won that award. Another proud parent and SID day.

"Jordan continued to have successes and was named to the 2019 CIAA All-Freshman Team. Writing that release was another big moment for the family."

Over the years, Ferguson has watched his son blossom into a well-rounded and serious Bronco student-athlete and emerge as a leader on campus. Carrying a 3.7 grade point average as a business administration/marketing major, the 5-10 defensive back played in 14 games over the last two seasons (2019 and 2021, no competition in 2020), totaling 13 solo tackles and assisting on 14 others as FSU went 16-5 in this span. On the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Jordan also is a Thurgood Marshall campus ambassador, involved in his fraternity leadership, and was a two-time participant in the Thurgood Marshall Leadership Institute.

"To witness Jordan develop as an individual and pursue his goals with success means the world to me," Ferguson noted. "As any parent, I can go  and go and talk about and celebrate my kids' accomplishments. Recently, I've had the pleasure and the reward of doing it on the job."

In a previous article about their father-son relationship at FSU, Jordan had this to say about his father.

"Everyone thinks we look alike and when they realize that he is my dad, they automatically know I'm good people. It's pretty cool having my dad here, looking out for me … He has set a standard of being a good steward on campus and I will do my best to continue the Ferguson name in good stewardship."

That stewardship extends outside Ferguson's campus duties.
 

He has served as president of the CIAA Sports Information Directors Association multiple times, was on the CIAA Management Council, and served a three-year term on the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Regional Advisory Committee.

"Why should SIDs get involved in committee work and conference work? It's about relationships. Workwise, you know you cannot do it alone. You have to rely on your colleagues. In our conference, we have the "CIAA for Life" motto. The other SIDs become a family source. Your coaches become an extended family. So, I wanted to represent Fayetteville State and the CIAA on the regional golf committee because, although FSU has a long history of golf success, you want to see all our conference golf programs do well, and that way I could advise on scheduling and rankings to raise awareness for CIAA golf."

"Adrian is one of the underrated giants of our profession. His passion for storytelling and developing staff is legendary and often gets lost because he's been solid and consistent throughout most of his career. It's really cool that he had a chance to share his son's journey as a student-athlete," stated Rob Knox, former CoSIDA president who is UNC Greensboro's Associate AD for Strategic Communications.

"When I was at Lincoln and we joined the CIAA in 2008, Adrian embraced me," Knox continued. "He answered my thousands of questions, supported me and helped me develop confidence, like he has done for so many with his guidance and encouragement."

Looking at his journey, and the journey of ethnic minorities in college athletics, Ferguson notes that progress has been made, with more to come.
 

"I definitely see some growth, and we are going in a good direction. There is an infusion of new talent, but the challenge is to keep people in the profession. I would like to see more resources devoted in the HBCU environment so young people can see the benefits of this career and there can be more assistance for full-time SIDs. It is important for all of us SIDs to give back and develop the next generation of SIDs and creatives."

Just like when Ferguson was starting out in sports information, helped by his background in computers and programming, it's the technology of today that holds the key to developing an influx of new SID talent.

"We have to educate students, particularly our student-athletes, that this is a viable career," Ferguson said. "They already are direct media sources themselves on social! I'm trying to show students, hey, you are heavy on social media, we as professionals are heavy on social media, too. Come by and use our video cameras, shoot some video and interviews for us using your phones. What they take for granted for their social life can also become their professional life."

His advice to help develop the next generation of communications talent, and to grow the ethnic minority representation in our profession?

"The hook is the digital space that we all work in - and early education about this career path," Ferguson noted. "Get them involved early. Start with your student-athletes. They see the final product first, so they get interested in the "how" of doing a video clip or what photos are taken to share. They know directly who is creating the post, the recaps, versus the general student who doesn't have instant access to people in the department.

"Sometimes, their 'career lightbulbs' don't click on until they are seniors and then they are anxious to learn it all in one year. You can get an understanding in one year, but cannot you drive the digital and creative bus with one year or one semester's experience."
 

And, how to keep people in the profession? Ferguson has an interesting analogy for that.

"First, there's not enough time in the day to do everything creative we want to and we try to do too much or too much extra, so it makes the days run long and out. Prioritize better," he notes.

"I'll use a dog analogy. Dogs don't want to let their old bones go. And, many SIDs don't necessarily want to 'let go of the bones', the old ways of doing our jobs that we are comfortable with. We need to let go and welcome in the new era of digital and listen to our administrators about priorities and strategies."

And what keeps Ferguson going in the profession?

"The best part of the job is the camaraderie with fellow SIDs and with student-athletes," Ferguson said. "Like I said, CIAA For Life. Growing up, my children looked up to our student-athletes and those who interacted with me.

Now, those former athletes, they remember our kids, and the kids remember them. Former players follow my kids on social media and send congratulations and notes to me about them and message them directly. This mutual respect and these friendships are the most important."