FB: Liberty League

[unionpalooza]

Thanks. I'd say it's hit-or-miss but way better than some programs.

I recall talking to a former SID once who said this was the #1 part of the job people didn't understand when it came to how overworked so many in the profession are.

The Liberty League gives out weekly awards in 11 sports, which means that each week, you've got to tally up weekly stats/performances for players in 11 sports and write who knows how many nominations. And if you don't get your athletes selected, all that work is essentially unseen. I can see how it may simply be a lower priority for some departments

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks. I'd say it's hit-or-miss but way better than some programs.

I recall talking to a former SID once who said this was the #1 part of the job people didn't understand when it came to how overworked so many in the profession are.

The Liberty League gives out weekly awards in 11 sports, which means that each week, you've got to tally up weekly stats/performances for players in 11 sports and write who knows how many nominations. And if you don't get your athletes selected, all that work is essentially unseen. I can see how it may simply be a lower priority for some departments

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

And therefore, better work-life balance. We are definitely losing SIDs at an even faster rate since we have come back from the COVID break.

[IC798891]

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

1. I agree with your larger points about the understaffing of Sports Information Offices. It's massively understaffed, and everyone in it is overworked.

2. Your 99% figure, is, simply, not even close. Although athletics does get a lot of attention, and is incredibly valuable in publicizing a college and university, as someone who works in a college communications department, I assure you, non-athletics stories get read plenty.

There are a lot of people at a college — and really everywhere — who just do not care about sports in the slightest. Sports people tend to surround themselves with other sports fans though — because sport is social — and have created a mini-echo chamber about sports where they assume it's taking up a larger percentage of the clicks than it is. Colleges measure everything, and if athletics stories were getting 99% of a college's clicks, that would absolutely be reflected in staffing of both central and athletics comms.

3. College marketing staffs are not as well staffed as you think, especially considering the much larger responsibility they have

[Ice Bear]

Thanks. I'd say it's hit-or-miss but way better than some programs.

I recall talking to a former SID once who said this was the #1 part of the job people didn't understand when it came to how overworked so many in the profession are.

The Liberty League gives out weekly awards in 11 sports, which means that each week, you've got to tally up weekly stats/performances for players in 11 sports and write who knows how many nominations. And if you don't get your athletes selected, all that work is essentially unseen. I can see how it may simply be a lower priority for some departments

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

Absolutely baffling Mach, baffling. I feel that many in academia, or those who feel they are in the high heights of academia, tend to look down on sports and would rather their have school completely out of the news instead of getting attention for anything related to sports. I feel this has been the case at Union many times. Faculty's and even presidents who seem to support sports won't do so when it comes to their pocket books.

[Ice Bear]

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

1. I agree with your larger points about the understaffing of Sports Information Offices. It's massively understaffed, and everyone in it is overworked.

2. Your 99% figure, is, simply, not even close. Although athletics does get a lot of attention, and is incredibly valuable in publicizing a college and university, as someone who works in a college communications department, I assure you, non-athletics stories get read plenty.

There are a lot of people at a college — and really everywhere — who just do not care about sports in the slightest. Sports people tend to surround themselves with other sports fans though — because sport is social — and have created a mini-echo chamber about sports where they assume it's taking up a larger percentage of the clicks than it is. Colleges measure everything, and if athletics stories were getting 99% of a college's clicks, that would absolutely be reflected in staffing of both central and athletics comms.

3. College marketing staffs are not as well staffed as you think, especially considering the much larger responsibility they have

These too are great points IC.

[unionpalooza]

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

1. I agree with your larger points about the understaffing of Sports Information Offices. It's massively understaffed, and everyone in it is overworked.

2. Your 99% figure, is, simply, not even close. Although athletics does get a lot of attention, and is incredibly valuable in publicizing a college and university, as someone who works in a college communications department, I assure you, non-athletics stories get read plenty.

There are a lot of people at a college — and really everywhere — who just do not care about sports in the slightest. Sports people tend to surround themselves with other sports fans though — because sport is social — and have created a mini-echo chamber about sports where they assume it's taking up a larger percentage of the clicks than it is. Colleges measure everything, and if athletics stories were getting 99% of a college's clicks, that would absolutely be reflected in staffing of both central and athletics comms.

3. College marketing staffs are not as well staffed as you think, especially considering the much larger responsibility they have

That all sounds right, and confess my 99% reference was hyperbole.  I just think SIDs punch way above their weight in terms of comms reach. 

On 3, I'm sure that's true. I really have in mind Union, which has a 12-person comms/marketing staff (to just a lone SID), and wastes its time rebranding the school nickname and using dumb phrases like "across multiple tomorrows."

[IC798891]

If I were an AD, I'd split my athletic communications department in half

One half would be responsible for all the live game stuff. Live stats, live social, recaps, updating stats after the game.

The other half would be responsible for all the during the week stuff: Awards nominations and announcements, interview coordinations, game previews, any long form stories about athletes, or other athletics news.

During college breaks, both sides could work together on whatever long-term projects.

It would be unconventional, but I bet by the end of the year, given the number of insanely long weekend hours put in by all SIDs, that you'd still get a 40-hour a week equivalency, even if some weeks might not be that way.

But it'd be a tough sell to people who just don't understand these types of jobs

[UfanBill]

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

1. I agree with your larger points about the understaffing of Sports Information Offices. It's massively understaffed, and everyone in it is overworked.

2. Your 99% figure, is, simply, not even close. Although athletics does get a lot of attention, and is incredibly valuable in publicizing a college and university, as someone who works in a college communications department, I assure you, non-athletics stories get read plenty.

There are a lot of people at a college — and really everywhere — who just do not care about sports in the slightest. Sports people tend to surround themselves with other sports fans though — because sport is social — and have created a mini-echo chamber about sports where they assume it's taking up a larger percentage of the clicks than it is. Colleges measure everything, and if athletics stories were getting 99% of a college's clicks, that would absolutely be reflected in staffing of both central and athletics comms.

3. College marketing staffs are not as well staffed as you think, especially considering the much larger responsibility they have

That all sounds right, and confess my 99% reference was hyperbole.  I just think SIDs punch way above their weight in terms of comms reach. 

On 3, I'm sure that's true. I really have in mind Union, which has a 12-person comms/marketing staff (to just a lone SID), and wastes its time rebranding the school nickname and using dumb phrases like "across multiple tomorrows."

If I may Palozza...Just a clarification on your comment about the Union SID staff. Union lists 3 full time members of the "Athletics Communication Department" and 16 student assistants. Each of the 3 full timers is responsible for specific sports in season. Example Steve Sheridan is listed as FH, VB, M/WTEN, WGOLF, M/WBB, M/WLAX. Assistant Dominique Del Prete has her first focus as football but also has men's hockey. She must be busy this time of year.

[IC798891]

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

1. I agree with your larger points about the understaffing of Sports Information Offices. It's massively understaffed, and everyone in it is overworked.

2. Your 99% figure, is, simply, not even close. Although athletics does get a lot of attention, and is incredibly valuable in publicizing a college and university, as someone who works in a college communications department, I assure you, non-athletics stories get read plenty.

There are a lot of people at a college — and really everywhere — who just do not care about sports in the slightest. Sports people tend to surround themselves with other sports fans though — because sport is social — and have created a mini-echo chamber about sports where they assume it's taking up a larger percentage of the clicks than it is. Colleges measure everything, and if athletics stories were getting 99% of a college's clicks, that would absolutely be reflected in staffing of both central and athletics comms.

3. College marketing staffs are not as well staffed as you think, especially considering the much larger responsibility they have

That all sounds right, and confess my 99% reference was hyperbole.  I just think SIDs punch way above their weight in terms of comms reach. 

On 3, I'm sure that's true. I really have in mind Union, which has a 12-person comms/marketing staff (to just a lone SID), and wastes its time rebranding the school nickname and using dumb phrases like "across multiple tomorrows."

If I may Palozza...Just a clarification on your comment about the Union SID staff. Union lists 3 full time members of the "Athletics Communication Department" and 16 student assistants. Each of the 3 full timers is responsible for specific sports in season. Example Steve Sheridan is listed as FH, VB, M/WTEN, WGOLF, M/WBB, M/WLAX. Assistant Dominique Del Prete has her first focus as football but also has men's hockey. She must be busy this time of year.

I'm also guessing athletics uses an outside photographer and videographer — which are two of the positions for the general comms department as well.

[unionpalooza]

I will never in a hundred million years understand the under-resourcing of SIDs.  99% percent of the press about a college that the average person reads is sports content.  99.9% of student names that make the press appear in the context of athletics.  Yet for every SID, there are five college marketing people that write press releases about Blah Blah Initiative X that no ever reads.  (I don't mean to sounds too dismissive - a lot of what college comms teams do is important.  But if you look at the Union featured news section today, you get articles on a Renaissance dance event, a bio of new photographer in the marketing department, and a piece on an upcoming F1 watch party.) 

I suspect that if more SIDs sat in the Comms departments, they have much larger budgets and more staff.

1. I agree with your larger points about the understaffing of Sports Information Offices. It's massively understaffed, and everyone in it is overworked.

2. Your 99% figure, is, simply, not even close. Although athletics does get a lot of attention, and is incredibly valuable in publicizing a college and university, as someone who works in a college communications department, I assure you, non-athletics stories get read plenty.

There are a lot of people at a college — and really everywhere — who just do not care about sports in the slightest. Sports people tend to surround themselves with other sports fans though — because sport is social — and have created a mini-echo chamber about sports where they assume it's taking up a larger percentage of the clicks than it is. Colleges measure everything, and if athletics stories were getting 99% of a college's clicks, that would absolutely be reflected in staffing of both central and athletics comms.

3. College marketing staffs are not as well staffed as you think, especially considering the much larger responsibility they have

That all sounds right, and confess my 99% reference was hyperbole.  I just think SIDs punch way above their weight in terms of comms reach. 

On 3, I'm sure that's true. I really have in mind Union, which has a 12-person comms/marketing staff (to just a lone SID), and wastes its time rebranding the school nickname and using dumb phrases like "across multiple tomorrows."

If I may Palozza...Just a clarification on your comment about the Union SID staff. Union lists 3 full time members of the "Athletics Communication Department" and 16 student assistants. Each of the 3 full timers is responsible for specific sports in season. Example Steve Sheridan is listed as FH, VB, M/WTEN, WGOLF, M/WBB, M/WLAX. Assistant Dominique Del Prete has her first focus as football but also has men's hockey. She must be busy this time of year.

I'm also guessing athletics uses an outside photographer and videographer — which are two of the positions for the general comms department as well.

0

Yeah, I'm not going to compile outsourcing spend and work study hours and convert them to FTEs. I stand by my general anecdotal sense that SIDs have significatly fewer resources at hand than comms/marketing departments. If folks want to think SIDs are adequately and fairly resourced relative to their communications and marketing value, go for it. 

[IC798891]

Yeah, I'm not going to compile outsourcing spend and work study hours and convert them to FTEs. I stand by my general anecdotal sense that SIDs have significatly fewer resources at hand than comms/marketing departments. If folks want to think SIDs are adequately and fairly resourced relative to their communications and marketing value, go for it.

I don't think a single person disagrees with your larger point about SIDs being overworked.

I think, if you're going to draw comparisons to staffing to other departments to make your point, using factually inaccurate staffing figures (EDIT: and intentionally hyperbolic figures on what news gets read) isn't helping.

[unionpalooza]

Yeah, I'm not going to compile outsourcing spend and work study hours and convert them to FTEs. I stand by my general anecdotal sense that SIDs have significatly fewer resources at hand than comms/marketing departments. If folks want to think SIDs are adequately and fairly resourced relative to their communications and marketing value, go for it.

I don't think a single person disagrees with your larger point about SIDs being overworked.

I think, if you're going to draw comparisons to staffing to other departments to make your point, using factually inaccurate staffing figures isn't helping.

I certainly apologize if I gave the impression I was giving scientific data.  I promise to be better at prefacing my comments with "Based on thirty seconds of lazy googling..."

[IC798891]

I mean, it took 10 seconds to see Union's got three full-time people in their Sports Information Office, not one. So I'm guessing you didn't even do that. I get that maybe this is an axe you want to grind. But why should anyone take your points seriously if you can't be bothered to care about their accuracy? 

Yes, a college's comms staff is going to be bigger than its athletics comms staff. Because there's a lot more non-athletics stuff going on around campus than athletics stuff. That you don't care about non-athletics stuff doesn't change that.

[unionpalooza]

Awesome podcast out by Pat and team going through the playoff criteria and selection process.  Totally worth a listen.

Pat, is the NCAA's version of SOS for each team out there somewhere?

[Pat Coleman]

Awesome podcast out by Pat and team going through the playoff criteria and selection process.  Totally worth a listen.

Pat, is the NCAA's version of SOS for each team out there somewhere?

Yep -- we have it on our site:
https://www.d3football.com/seasons/2023/schedule?tmpl=sos-template

This is as accurate as we can make it. We'll double check it when the NCAA releases the data next week with the alphabetical rankings. It is usually pretty close.