5 New Realities:

Coaches & Crises

Presented by: Kathleen Hessert

AFCA Convention 2012

© 2012 All Rights Reserved

1. Public trust is lost

2. No more free passes

3. Coaches are under scrutiny & under siege

4. Crisis management = vital core competency

5. Social media factors into decision making

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge 2

NEW COACHING REALITIES:

Steps to

Survive & Excel © 2012 Sports Media Challenge

Bunker Mentality Doesn’t Work

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge 5

When the University

Takes the Lead,

• Athletic Dept relationships with football become less valuable

• Decisions are delayed when administrators don’t understand

or care about the rhythm of athletics

• Stakeholders expand & need attention on and off campus

• Big donors & “influencers” carry big weight but…

• Demands require help from non-football staff, coaches,

outside professionals

Everything Changes!

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge 6

Apply

Issues Management.

Your Job Depends On It !

• Crisis management is added to your current responsibilities

• Strategy needed ; tactics alone are not sufficient

• Focusing on current crisis means you’re behind

• Ripple effects start early & last long

• Determine & focus on what may happen next

• Communicate how you’re taking control to instill confidence

7 7 © 2012 Sports Media Challenge

Issues Mgmt Lessons Learned

• ID potential

horribles before &

during crisis

• Put your efforts &

resources where

they’ll help you

most

• Reevaluate issues

daily as they

change constantly

High Impact High Probability Assign resources NOW

Low Impact Low Probability IGNORE

Imp

act

if it

hap

pe

ns

rat

e 1

-10

10

Probability of occurring rate 1-100%

100%

Issues Management Assessment

Monogram Club & players respond

negatively to critics

Campus police involvement criticized

Monitor Rumors

for

1st Mover Advantage

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge 8

• Shutting out criticism is like not scouting opponents

• Blame spews from unexpected areas/people

• As scrutiny grows- others (insiders & outsiders) grow

angry from spread of negativity focused on them

• Comprehensive social media monitoring is essenial

9 9 © 2012 Sports Media Challenge

Monitoring Lessons Learned

• Real-time monitoring

enables timely action

• Media troll Twitter,

Facebook for

discontent, support,

storylines.

You can prepare

• Public sentiment

polarizes . Easy to

determine friends

&foes

• Easily identify issues

you’ll face &

questions to answer

Watch sentiment as it changes ACT on IT

Be Transparent.

Align Advocates

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge 10

• Staff, players, recruits, parents, advisors

• Know what you can say and not say. Stand firm.

• Put information into 1 of 3 categories:

• what I know …

• what I don’t know…

• what I’ll find out…

• Enlist advocates to communicate your message

11

There’s

No Time to

THINK, FEEL, or ACT

But Your Job

Depends on it!

© 2012 Sports Media Challenge

5 New Realities:

Coaches & Crises

Contact: Kathleen Hessert

khessert@sportsmediachallenge.com

@Kathleenhessert on Twitter, Linkedin, Google+

704.541.5942 or 704.906.3600

© 2012 All Rights Reserved