Does tweeting or planning take away from other responsibilities? Sure. Free time? Yep.
But it can be better this way, too. Coaches and staff are always around the team and can provide behind-the- scenes access about their program and players, to promote the team and connect it with fans, recruits and alumni. It can be spur of the moment. How else can you get pictures of the Loyola team in the film room during a mid-day session? Or Penn State at an early-morning practice with dew still on the turf? And as the world knows, you don’t have to be a communications professional to use social media. Of the teams surveyed, two-thirds had at least one coach who personally managed social media. Some are more involved than others. “We’re experiencing this shift where more and more coaches are starting to use it,” said Kevin DeShazo, founder of Fieldhouse Media, a social media firm that has worked with more than 60 collegiate athletic departments nationwide in the last two years. “I wouldn’t say embrace it. Some certainly are, but they are at least starting to acknowledge and realize that we need to pay attention to this.”
When Albany coach Scott Marr hired
Wolf as an assistant in 2011, the Great Danes lacrosse alum picked up Facebook duties. The team had a page, created by former assistant Chris Kivlen, now at Cornell, but Wolf really wanted to ramp up the presence. “When I was an alum, I wanted a connection to the program,” said Wolf, who played for three America East title teams at Albany. “It was the easiest way to keep in touch with people. That was what first got me into it. As everything kept picking up steam, it was a really good way to have a presence on the Internet, or just feel like people have access to stuff they might not normally see.” Duke coach John Danowski goes “cold turkey” on his personal Twitter account once practice starts in the spring until the season is over, falling in line with his general philosophy of keeping players’ focused on the task at hand
34 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » october 2014
HOW WE
DO IT Follow Lacrosse Magazine, the flagship publication of US Lacrosse, and the national governing body on social media. Twitter: @LacrosseMag, @USLacrosse; Facebook: Lacrosse Magazine, US Lacrosse; Instagram: LacrosseMag, USLacrosse. The LM accounts are managed and populated by magazine and
LaxMagazine.com editorial staff and the USL accounts by the communications and marketing department.
and blocking out outside comments, especially from parents. But when he’s on, he’s on. There is no doubting the authenticity. Who else would know he lost and found the cell phone he was tweeting from in a New York City taxi? Danger can be found and made on the Internet, too. Wolf monitors players’ accounts. If he sees something questionable, he follows up with a conversation about how the player doesn’t just represent himself, but the program. Albany has a preseason social media talk, a common practice. Some coaches will stop recruiting a player if he sees something unsightly. A Penn State football assistant in July tweeted, ironically, that he dropped a prospect from their radar because of his “social media presence.” Georgia football coach Mark Richt made similar statements a few days later about a player who made inappropriate comments on two public accounts. DeShazo said at least one coach from each of the 60-plus schools he has worked with in the last two years has been turned off from a potential recruit by social media profiles. “It’s a risk assessment,” DeShazo said. “Is that kid worth it? Some say it’s not fair to judge a high school kid off of that, but we’re not talking about minor things. We’re talking about racially, sexually degrading things, drugs, alcohol, violence, patterns of behavior. That becomes a red flag.” Consider social media another fact of life. There are ways it can hurt you or ways it can help, and ways it is changing how organizations, corporations and even lacrosse teams operate. It’s making social media managers out of family members and coaches. When the Thompsons announce one of their camps for the fall, you can find the information easily if you want, O’Brien said, or inside-access photos and videos. More than 20,000 follow them on Instagram. With Lyle Thompson returning to Albany as the favorite to end up right back in Washington, D.C. at the Tewaaraton ceremony next May, Wolf’s phone is about to start buzzing again. LM
A Publication of US Lacrosse
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