In her Charlotte, N.C., office, Kathleen Hessert has a whiteboard covered with the names of all her clients. Every so often she will erase names and write new ones, depending on who she is talking with on a particular day. A casual glance at the board may leave those unfamiliar with it starstruck. Over the years, names like Danica Patrick, Shaquille O’Neal and Derek Jeter have appeared on the board. For a sports fan this is a dream job. For Hessert, it is an average day.
Hessert is the president and founder of Sports Media Challenge (SMC), a media and communication training group based in Charlotte. Hessert and SMC counsel athletes, coaches and executives in the art of enhancing their public image. Since she started the group in 1988, Hessert has worked with a wide cross-section of the sports world: From the Manning brothers and Williams sisters to the WWE and NFL Canada, it seems like Hessert has dealt with nearly every athlete or organization.
Recently, Hessert’s focus has been social networking, advising sports figures on the ins and outs of Web sites like Facebook and Twitter. The popularity of these social media outlets has exploded, with each site attracting millions of unique visitors every day. They have made their mark on almost all aspects of American culture, and college football is not immune. Coaches, players, conferences, athletic departments and boosters have all bought into the social media craze.
For better or for worse, social media is revolutionizing college football. There is no turning back.
TWITTER IS A TRENDING TOPIC
While Twitter and Facebook have consumed almost every sport, Hessert said she believes social media outlets may carry special importance for football.
“Having social media exposure on larger teams versus smaller teams makes a significant difference,” she said. “It’s more important for a football player than a basketball player because it’s easier to get lost in the masses of a football team versus 15 people on a basketball team.”
Some professional leagues mandate media training, but in college sports that decision is up to the individual school.
“When a college brings (us) in it’s because they truly want to invest in teaching their student-athletes how to deal with the media,” said Hessert, who has worked with Notre Dame, Texas, Tennessee and Florida, among others.
Each college football program has reacted differently to the influx of these sites. Some have embraced it wholeheartedly. Southern California coach Pete Carroll updates his Twitter several times per day, and he has been known to post a “song of the day.” But not every coach thinks so highly of Twitter. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach banned his team from Twitter after being criticized on one of his players’ pages.
Meanwhile, some coaches are still struggling with the concept.
“Twitter I can’t say much about, other than I’m just trying to figure it out,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz at Big Ten Media Day in July. “I’m sure there’s a lot of value there, I just don’t know what that is.”
As hard as it is for Ferentz to comprehend Twitter, he’s lucky he even knows what it is.”What do you guys call those things?” asked Penn State coach Joe Paterno. “Twittle-Doo, Twittle-Dee? I haven’t got the slightest idea what you’re looking at.”
What Paterno may not understand is the use of Twitter in self-promotion.
“If traditional media isn’t covering your sport or your team or your university, then social media is a way to go directly to the fans and get exposure you wouldn’t otherwise have,” Hessert said.
Northwestern is using “Twittle-Doo” and “Twittle-Dee” to take advantage of whatever exposure it can get.
“Every time we can get some information out there, it’s a great advantage for us,” NU recruiting coordinator and offensive line coach Adam Cushing said. “So we can sell all the great things we have, with our family atmosphere, with Chicago. Any time we have the opportunity to get that out, that’s good.”
REACHING OUT TO RECRUITS
In the ongoing battle to lock up top recruits, Twitter and Facebook have become invaluable weapons, allowing coaches to connect with high schoolers on a new level.
“The key with social media is creating value in what you talk about and listening to what people are saying,” Hessert said. “If a coach is monitoring key recruits and what they’re saying and doing on social media, they can respond to things of interest to (the recruit) without responding directly.”
According to sophomore defensive end Kevin Watt, social media will benefit recruits as well as coaches.
“You definitely get to see a little more of a personal side of a coach and see what they’re about,” Watt said. “That’s important in choosing a college, figuring out what kind of person your coach is.”
For Fitzgerald, who was a recruiting coordinator before he was promoted to Captain Cat, Twitter and Facebook have quickly replaced e-mail as the best way to get in touch with recruits.
“If we didn’t have that medium, we’d have to send them e-mails,” he said. “And e-mail has kind of become snail mail, so to speak.”
In his use of social networking tools, Fitzgerald differentiates between Facebook and Twitter. His Twitter is used more for reaching out to fans, while his Facebook is primarily a recruiting tool.
“When you look at where a 17- or 18-year-old kid is at and what they’re doing, they’re on Facebook,” he said.
NU’s most recent commit, Evanston native Chance Carter, doesn’t go on Facebook much. But even he knows the value it can have in the recruiting process.
“Sometimes kids put the wrongs things up on their Facebooks,” Carter said. “So the coach can look at that and determine who a kid is.”
Fitzgerald frequents Facebook daily, including right before scholarship offers.
“When you’re getting ready to offer a scholarship, you look at a kid, and you look at his Facebook page,” Fitzgerald said. “You look at the pictures he’s tagged in, look at the pictures in his profile, and you can learn a lot about a young man.”
As the Twittersphere learned last spring, coaches must be careful how they use Twitter and Facebook. In May, Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin tweeted about a recruit who had recently committed to the Volunteers. Under NCAA rules, coaches cannot comment on a recruit until the recruit has officially signed. This incident did not deter Kiffin, and in less than one year he has amassed almost 20,000 followers on Twitter.
FITZGERALD’S FACEBOOK FRIENDS
NU has made use of its presence on Facebook for much more than recruiting.
Of late, NU’s athletic department has used Fitgzerald’s profile as a marketing tool, handing out free T-shirts at football games to anyone who has friended Fitzgerald on Facebook. And the promotion has worked, with Fitzgerald accumulating more than 2,500 friends.
Tracie Hitz, NU’s associate athletic director for sales and marketing, said Fitzgerald has become a marketer’s dream.
“For us, the biggest thing is that people really embrace coach Fitzgerald,” she said.
Because of his charisma, it works for him to be able to help us promote some of the things that we want to do.”
Another reason for Fitzgerald’s cyberspace celebrity is his ability to translate his personality onto the sites.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone use more exclamation points than coach Fitz,” Hitz said. “And he means every one of them.”
Even with a 1.15 exclamation points-per-post average in his last 20 Twitter posts, Fitzgerald doesn’t even come close to the most exclamatory Tweeter in the Big Ten. Minnesota coach Tim Brewster racked up an eye-popping 98 exclamation points in his last 20 posts, for an average of 4.90 per update.
Still, for some of his players, it was an adjustment to see Fitzgerald’s profile appearing on their home page.
“It’s just weird because a few years ago it seemed like it was all teenagers, and now all
the adults are doing it,” sophomore left tackle Al Netter said. “My parents and Fitz are both on Facebook. It’s weird to see updates from them. It’s like, ‘What are you doing on the computer right now?'”Cushing believes Fitzgerald’s use of Facebook works to promote a family atmosphere within the program.”Coach Fitz is very active on it, and he enjoys getting a chance to get to know young men that way and begin relationships,” Cushing said. “This place is all about family and getting to know each other, and that’s the first step to getting to know someone.”
Everyone has a different motive for using social media. For some it’s recruiting. For some it’s reaching out to fans or alumni. For some it’s just about getting a name out there. And if nothing else, for some it’s about free merchandise.
“I don’t really care what (Fitzgerald) is doing during the day, ” junior punter/kicker Stefan Demos said. “I did get a cool T-shirt out of it and I wear that around a little bit now, so that’s probably the good that came out of it for me.”
