O
n a drizzly Thursday evening in late May in Washington, D.C., two men stood side-by-side inside the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, relatively invisible to the cocktail party crowd around them at a pre-Tewaaraton Award ceremony. But if those lacrosse enthusiasts, friends and family just a shoulder-length away knew what social media account access was in a pair of pant pockets nearby,
it’s easy to imagine people would have lined up for any number of requests. Just like those kids and fans asking for autographs with the five men’s and five women’s Tewaaraton finalists a few feet away. Albany assistant coach Eric Wolf’s smartphone is notified of any mention of the Great Danes men’s lacrosse team on Twitter. And with Lyle and Miles Thompson both finalists for college lacrosse’s highest individual honor, he said “it’s getting crazy,” as anticipation built for the ceremony that would eventually crown the first- ever co-Tewaaraton winners in the form of the two brothers. Next to Wolf stood Bill O’Brien, the Thompsons’ older cousin and curator of the Thompson Brothers Lacrosse brand, and the same guy you’ll hear at games as the “human goal horn.” As someone who had a capable phone and knowledge to use the necessary Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts involved, he took up the task before last season of streamlining all that was out there about college lacrosse’s most exciting family, putting the information in one place and giving fans an inside, raw look at their lives. Like the first time Lyle and Miles tried crab cakes in the days before this historic season- ending award show.
“Why not give people a way to peek into the lives with these guys?” O’Brien said. “They are normal people. They’re not superheroes, although some people still idolize them.”
In the atrium of the museum, under a 120-foot high domed roof, was one of those moments when a trending topic in the stratosphere of the Internet had a real human impact — and was in some cases driven — by someone you wouldn’t think of, or even know of, on the ground.
Sometimes it’s overwhelming, said
Wolf, entering his fourth year on staff, every time someone pings @UAlbanyLacrosse on Twitter or leaves a message on the Danes’ Facebook page. In addition to coaching the Albany offense, Wolf runs the team’s social media accounts, a common job responsibility for a member of a lacrosse coaching staff, according to a Lacrosse Magazine survey of more than 50 Division I men’s and women’s programs.
“Why not give people a way to peek into the lives with these guys?” They are normal people. They’re not
superheroes.” — Bill O’Brien, the
Thompsons’ cousin and social media handler
Given the non-revenue status of the sport at the college level and the fact that many athletic department sports information officers are spread thin with time and resources, many schools put at least part, if not all, of their social media responsibilities in the hands, phones and computers of coaching staff, mainly assistants, directors of operations or team managers.
Even some head coaches, like Loyola’s Charley Toomey and Lehigh’s Kevin Cassese, regularly access their own team’s accounts and can see the messages that are coming in about their team. In the moments leading up to the world championship gold medal game this July, Team USA head coach Richie Meade’s phone was showing messages sent to his Twitter account. The days of “not reading the newspaper clippings,” are as long gone as that Facebook post you saw two days ago.
“Is my phone on vibrate more than having the sounds on in-season?” Wolf said, “Definitely.”
laxmagazine.com october 2014 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 33
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