Past The 'Keeper

When writing Media Relations in Sports, Craig Esherick worked with two others who each had different focuses. Esherick looked at sports journalism from a coaches perspective, having coached at Georgetown University for many years before coming to George Mason University.

Worked at what is now called CBS Sports.

Did a lot of research for the book and needed to get his three chapters submitted at a deadline. His chapter on law ethics was cut almost in half. Being a lawyer, he felt people needed to know this part very well (and clearly a little too more than his editor felt they needed to know)!

People who helped Esherick write his part of the book:

Dan Steinberg, Caroline Miller, Steve Goff (traveling for sports)

Looking to write another book that will appeal more to the pulic than just the college students and professors who use Media Relations in Sports is.

“Coaches Corner” was an important part of the book because natural tensions between reporters, coaches, players, etc. and people needed to know what’s going through a coaches mind during certain times. Here are some parts within the “Coaches Corner.”

• Sports Information Director: Very important job for the coach because a coach doesn’t get the reputation he has by not recruiting great players. You must be able to see good players. Should be able to establish a relationship with the players.
• Interviewing Techniques/Questions: Know when to ask questions and how to ask them to a coach.
• How To Write a Media Guide: Coaches job is to sell a program so recruits will see it and be impressed. They must sell their program to the recruits, fans, students, etc.
• Gameday Event Management: Interviews during timeouts gets the producers and fans more involved in the game. Some coaches will allow reporters to interview them beffore/after games, some don’t like it.
• Publicity Campaigns: Important for a team’s star player(s) but you don’t want to single out one player and cause tension within the team so be careful with how it is done.
• Crisis Management: The standard for professionals must be must higher for pros than it is for college players and high school players.
• Coaches use of new media: Making use of new media with people who know what they’re doing. Get somebody on the staff who can use new technology well.

Important info from his three chapters of the book:

1. Language barriers — when in another country, how will you communicate?
2. Travel — hotel proximity to venue, security, working conditions, customs, press in terms of the interview process.
3. New technology — Twitter, social media, satellites being able to show a game all over the world creates employment opportunities for many people. ESPN has created so many jobs because they have so many channels and opportunities. They are even inventing games, such as the X Games, to create ways to expand the market.

Maureen Nasser, the GMU athletic department’s Director of Communication and Public Relations since 2003, visited our Comm371 class Thursday, February 3rd. She really, really interested me with what she said. As a die-hard Washington Wizards fan, it was great to hear first-hand from someone who worked within the organization and played a huge role with the team.

Some things I learned from her:

• When she first began with the then-Bullets, Maureen’s job was way less muti-dimensional than it is today. (Clearly, with the way the internet and the writing has boomed over the recent years!)
• She explained how when she was with the Bullets/Wizards, the press needed to call her for information regarding the visiting team because there was no internet back then in 1988. Nowadays, these same people can just make a few clicks on their computer and bam. Everything (and more) that they need to know is right there for them.

Oh yeah, she also made reference to the fact that the Bullets/Wizards only made the playoffs once in her 13 years with the team. Well, nothing’s changed from back then to now!

Maureen got into how her job has changed with the new up-to-the-second style of news:

• You have to be real quick with getting information out to the press and/or the public. No more relaxation period! In the past you could take your time to get things finished about a game but not anymore.

I was on-hand at the Patriot Center writing about the men’s basketball game vs. the Towson Tigers for Connect2Mason.com. Towson was unable to get to the game on time, thus forcing the game to be postponed until the next day. I certainly was a bit bothered by their inability to show up and wondered how the fans would find out about it. Here’s how:

• Maureen and her staff used Twitter and Facebook to reach out to the Mason basketball fans to inform them that the game would be delayed, canceled, then postponed until the next day. It was a difficult time for her with all the news swirling around and what would happen with the game. Luckily, it got resolved pretty quickly.

Also, when asked about how The Washington Post looks for articles and why there isn’t many stories written about sports teams doing well besides basketball, I was very interested with what she said:

• The main thing is finding a story to write about. While lesser-known sports teams may be playing well and doing good, if there isn’t anything extremely interesting with a member of the team or something that will catch the attention of readers, there most likely won’t be anything written about them.

The example she used was that The Washington Post is coming out with a story on Mason’s forward on the basketball team, Ryan Pearson because he’s been doing well, the team’s been doing well, and this has all happened despite being hit by a car when he was 11 years old. That’s interesting, right? That’s why there will be a story on him.

Thank you to Maureen for stopping by our class! Everything we learned was very valuable information.