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This story is part of our CSC 360 package for April 2023, to view more stories, click here.
Pictured above: CSC 2nd VP Kevin Trainor, FDU's Jordan Sarnoff, CSC 3rd VP John Paquette and CSC Executive Director Erik Christianson at the 2023 Men's Final Four in Houston.
When preparation meets the moment
On the (March Madness) Run: How FDU handled its communications plan before and during its historic NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship showing
by Barb Kowal – College Sports Communicators, Director of Professional Development and External Affairs
See how Fairleigh Dickinson's messaging strategies and preparation of a communications plan added to the university's heightened coverage and raised profile, both nationally and internationally, in the aftermath of the No. 16 seeded Knights shocking top-seeded Purdue during the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
The attention and engagement? FOUR BILLION social media impressions; 57.1 million video views; CBS and Warner Media/Turner Sports, Today Show and College Game Day appearances; and people from 159 different countries posting on social media about the Knights. Just to name a few ...
Jordan Sarnoff on site in Columbus, Ohio, where the FDU Knights became the second No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Fairleigh Dickinson's men's basketball program — and its young men's basketball contact Jordan Sarnoff — made headlines throughout the country when the Knights, the 16 seed in the East region, shocked the basketball world by taking down top-seeded Purdue University, 63-58. The win marked only the second time in NCAA history that a No. 16 seed beat the No. 1 seed in the men's tournament, making it one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history.
Adding to the excitement, you may have seen this in-game spotlight on Sarnoff from Jamie Erdahl and CBS during the Second Round game against Florida Atlantic.
The FDU run capped one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA history, as the Knights finished 21-16 after going 4-22 the year before. They are the first 16 seed to win two NCAA tournament games after knocking off Texas Southern in an NCAA First Four matchup.
Here, we take a look at how the FDU athletic communications and creative staff handled the messaging and storytelling and dealt with the unprecedented media coverage and demands.
Impressively, they did it with a small yet mighty staff of Preston Jones, former grad assistant now full-time Director of Creative Services; SID wunderkind Sarnoff, in his junior undergraduate year who is Director of Athletic Media Relations and the main men's basketball contact; and six graduate assistants — four in athletic media relations and two in external affairs.
"As far as this NCAA Tournament run and everything surrounding it, I was really blessed to be around these types of things before," noted FDU Director of Athletics Brad Hurlbut, who began his professional career as an assistant sports information director at George Washington University. "My time, especially in sports information and external relations at GWU, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern, gave me important experience.
"I was part of Northwestern's 1995 magical Rose Bowl run. Four years ago, our FDU basketball team went to the First Four and we won, and I knew what worked and what we could do better. This time, we wanted to do more social media, and I knew when we won, our men's basketball contact Jordan (Sarnoff) would be pulled in so many directions with media requests."
Preston Jones, a former FDU graduate assistant, now serves as the full-time Director of Creative Services.
With a smile, Hurlbut spoke about Sarnoff, who captured national attention himself once the media caught wind that the young CSC member serving as the men's basketball contact was a junior – a junior! – undergraduate holding the title of director of athletic media relations.
"I call Jordan the Doogie Howser of athletic communicators," Hurlbut laughed. "Doogie was that TV sitcom character who was a medical prodigy, a teenage physician. Jordan breaks the mold. His experience far outweighs his age. He came to FDU in high school, ready to volunteer, already with a ton of PR and SID experience. We've structured our staff and his role to take advantage of his unique skill set and experiences. It won't always be that way at FDU, but his talents at such a young age are extraordinary and we took that into consideration when handing out roles and assignments."
For advance strategic messaging and staffing, Hurlbut turned to his chief communications staffer, Jason Young, FDU's senior associate AD for external affairs.
"As we continued to win this season, Jason mapped out new communications strategies, adding people to come with us, and adding more help back on campus to write stories and support our other teams," Hurlbut said.
In anticipation of conference and NCAA postseason basketball, Young instituted a communications strategy well ahead of March Madness.
"We started prepping for a potential NCAA tournament berth in early February. We brought Preston Jones (director of creative services), Jordan and Nick Sconzo (media relations graduate assistant) together to hash out a plan," Young explained. "We thought both basketball teams had a chance to go to the NCAAs. Our structure started with a rough draft. As we got closer to postseason, before Selection Sunday, we came up with ideas for scheduled posts and graphics."
Charlie Carbonetto (right) of the FDU external affairs and media relations staff was on-site to assist with social media. Pictured with facilities and event operations GA Nicholas Hernandez.
Young was quick to praise the work of his staff, all of whom are College Sports Communications members.
Sarnoff, who created headlines himself once the media realized that the main Knights basketball contact is an undergraduate in his junior year of school, worked closely with the university's communications staff. Jones was charged with re-vamping graphics and video looks.
"What made a difference was our advance planning," said Young. "Jordan worked with our campus communications office on building scheduled posts during our games, which attracted amazing attention and engagement. For instance, in-game we did posts telling the world that we are a global institution with four campuses, spotlighting our sport management program, talking about our business program, things like that. We scheduled them at the First Four in Columbus and kept adding on."
Jones also adjusted the social and digital messaging, and staff support, keeping things fluid as the team advanced through the NEC tournament and into NCAA play.
"On the basketball side, Preston re-did our graphics package. We had developed a theme going into the playoffs. We decided to keep our sports Twitter and Instagram accounts for in-game messaging. We kept a close eye on the conversations about FDU happening in the media and on social, and we pushed these media hits out on our platforms, too. We did a lot of behind-the-scenes looks, and brought in another photographer to enhance our coverage. (Graduate assistant) Charlie Carbonetto assisted Preston on handling our social platforms."
And what a time it was for the FDU community during March Madness.
Following the victory over No. 1 Purdue, FDU did media hits until midnight.
"We were running back and forth at the locker room and hotel, getting players and coaches. The next day, we handled media interview requests until 5 p.m., notifying the media of our deadline so that our team could focus on prepping for Florida Atlantic in the Second Round," Young recalled. "After the Florida Atlantic game, we did more, including setting up an early morning Today Show appearance.
We took a charter flight from Columbus, Ohio after the game, landed at 3:30 a.m., had bus issues, and didn't get off the plane until 4:30 a.m. Then, four staff members, including (then-head coach) Tobin (Anderson), and Jordan, had a van waiting to go to the New York Hilton for a few hours. At 7:30 a.m., we got back on a van to go to 30 Rock and Tobin did his media piece at 8:15 a.m., and then we departed for campus."
Young and the staff have yet to summarize the whirlwind week.
"It was a crazy week and I still haven't digested it all. The next step is a social media compilation, with our social media consulting firm First and First, and then to put something together to memorialize the week that was."
Summarizing the top highlights and extraordinary coverage is no easy task.
"An incredible four billion – BILLION – social media impressions stands out first. We had over 57 million views of our video posts. People from 159 different countries posted on social about us. The number of celebrities who posted, staggering," Young said. "What gave me chills and goosebumps, however, were the videos of people crying and how happy they were that we won. People shouting FDU in a sold-out Columbus area; you cannot quantify that. Coach Anderson getting a text from Bill Belichick. Being on the College GameDay broadcast. Getting the back page of the NY Post and NY Daily News. The Today Show. Tremendous support by Under Armour."
Fairleigh Dickinson Senior Associate AD, External Affairs Jason Young (left) and Athletics Director Brad Hurlbut (right) put months of planning in to make sure FDU could meet its moment if it came.
Hurlbut was quick to note the immediate impact.
"As a university, we are taking advantage of our moments and having our students and potential students believing more in our institution," noted Hurlbut. "We had an open house the weekend after the Purdue game, and attendance was record-breaking. Already, applications are surging. Personally, when I stepped off a plane right after our win over Purdue in my FDU pullover, four people immediately came up to me at the gate, congratulating me without knowing who I was but so excited for the institution's incredible feat."
Jones, in his second year at FDU, credits his time at previous institutions Vermont and Division II Newbury for helping him prep for capturing these big FDU moments.
"Vermont men's basketball made NCAA tournament appearances during my four years there. I was able to see the post-season operation and how many people it took to pull things off," he noted. "That helped me develop early planning. Facing Purdue, and then beating them, meant adjusting on the fly.
"It all hit so quick, instantaneously after we beat the Boilermakers. We pulled some regular duties away from Jordan to free him up for post-game to deal with the amazing media attention. We reached out to colleagues, and Pat Duffy (Montclair State sports information coordinator) helped write the basketball game recaps and then the next previews. Our other graduate assistants held down the fort covering women's basketball playing in the WNIT, and our golf, tennis and baseball teams."
The key to handling the onslaught, interest and record-setting engagement?
"Preparation and planning — way in advance of Selection Sunday. Then, we outsourced and used all the connections we could," Young concluded. "My advice to CSC members and their colleagues — do not wait until you get to the NCAA championship to make a plan. A lot of people are superstitious, but the reality is, it all comes too quick to plan on the fly. Start thinking about the moments, and the information you want to share, and capture that information in February."
And, sharing that information and planning stages doesn't stop in the athletic department.
"Try to get as many people as possible at your university to understand how big the NCAA moments will be, especially those who have not been there before — the bookstore managers, student life, university communications," Young noted. "You've got to get people to understand how big this can be, will be, and emphasize being ready before it happens to take advantage of the moment.
"FDU Interim President Michael J. Avaltroni, Ph.D. was so supportive of our work. For example, his support and the university at-large support helped us book fan buses to Dayton for the First Four – three weeks in advance."
Young also noted how FDU learned from University of Maryland-Baltimore County's men's basketball team when they made history in 2018, becoming the first No. 16 seed in NCAA men's basketball tourney history to knock off a No. 1 seed with its win over Virginia.
After seeing how successfully UMBC was able to capitalize on its moment in real time, Young and team took it a step further to create a strategic plan in advance to capitalize on their moments, if and when they came.
Based on his experiences, Young extended an offer to other CSC members.
"After we take a deep dive into all our analytics and review what we did, I would be willing to help others in drafting a messaging and content plan," concluded Young. "I really hope everyone is ready in case you do have unprecedented team successes, because when it happens, it happens so quick."
Q&A with Jason Young
Your external relations/athletic media relations office is structured with two full-timers, and a bevy of graduate assistants. Tell us about your structure.
JY: When Covid hit and we re-structured, I was a big believer to have an extended graduate assistant program, across our whole department. It's a great training ground, offering free master's degrees, and it builds connections for young professionals. We currently have 30 grad assistants spread out in our department in coaching, communications, marketing, student- business, and more, as there is not an area without graduate assistant support.
In communications, we are building a graduate assistant tree and network. Each of our four athletic communications grad assistants, here for two years, oversees between 2-3 sports, one sport per season. We tailor assignments to their skill sets — if you are more media saavy, or have social media skills, or want to be on the production/streaming broadcast side, for instance. It's been successful so far. Preston Jones, our current full-time director of creative services, was a former grad assistant here.
How do the graduate assistants and Sarnoff balance their office/professional demands with their student demands?
JY: Admittedly it's not easy all the time, and we try to set boundaries. We have a good culture as they all like each other and hang out. We have a grad assistant "bullpen office space" and sometimes we have to kick them out and say, go home. I do weekly check-ins and oversee their development outside of work. It's hard in this industry with the long hours, but we provide opportunities in the summer for free housing so they can get summer internships in and around NYC, to do right by them. We are appreciative of them trusting us with these two years."
Tell us about why FDU purchased an All-In Membership to CSC this year and what you think the benefit is for all your student assistants/new professionals to be a part of our organization.
JY: You absolutely must build a network for these young people and give them a chance to go to convention sessions, attend webinars, etc. Preston and Jordan went to the convention in Las Vegas last year. We want to keep providing opportunities for our young people; that is what it is about. Can we get them to the convention? Can we help prepare them for their next steps? Those are our main concerns."
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