By Dennis DuLaney
In order to get a behind-the-scenes look on the everyday responsibilities of a collegiate athletic director, I shadowed Milla Sue Wisecarver. Wisecarver is an Assistant Athletics Communications Director for JMU’s men and women’s soccer teams, women’s basketball, and lacrosse. The game I shadowed was between men’s soccer and conference rival Georgia State University on Sunday, October 28th at 1 p.m. I arrived at University Parkan hour before kickoff so I could snap some pictures of the team warming up, as well as some of the seniors being recognized for senior day celebrations.
After capturing some action shots, I reported to the press box to see what game day responsibilities Milla Sue had assigned for me. Unfortunately, by the time I got there she had already assigned JMU Athletic Communications staff members Twittermanagement and as her primary spotter. However, because I have completed my sports communication practicum, I already had experience working in the press box. Throughout the game, I acted as a second spotter for Milla Sue, which actually proved to beneficial as I was able to clarify the players involved on certain plays, allowing Milla Sue and her staff to attribute the correct statistics to the rightful player.
Milla Sue and her athletic communications staff remains constantly busy throughout the event—from pregame, to halftime, and lastly all the way to postgame coverage. I observed that during her pregame preparations, she printed off multiple copies of both teams’ rosters equipped with the starting line-ups. When I asked her why she had to print off so many, she explained that many staff members needed access to player information for different reasons. For example, she needed it accessible so she could reference the players’ numbers, allowing her to accurately input their game stats into their program called “Statcrew.” The announcers also needed a copy of the lineup, especially during introductions, when they announced the players’ name, year, position, and hometown. It was also necessary for the social media managers to have an accessible copy in order for them to disseminate the correct information to the public. Milla Sue was also managing two separate computers throughout the game—one used strictly for stat input and the other for social media management and keeping track of other game scores within the conference. She stated that it was important to keep track of the other teams around the conference because those results ultimately directly affect JMU’s conference ranking, which plays an important role in conference tournament seeding.
Throughout the game, the spotter would shout out the plays that were occurring, including the player and the type of statistic involved, while Milla Sue put the information into Statcrew. I noticed sometimes the spotter would accidently shout the wrong number or play that occurred. This always posed a problem because it was difficult to go back into Statcrew and edit a play that already been entered—especially because there were plays that were happening while Milla Sue was editing the play. Milla Sue explained that when this happens, the spotter will write down every play on a sheet of paper while she goes back and edits the play. This way, they avoid missing entering stats.
After the game concluded, Milla Sue printed off the finalized box scoreand delivered them to the assistant coaches of each team. These box scores contained all of the game’s notable statistics and percentages, which help the coaches gain an idea of what things their team did well, and what areas they need to improve on. Milla Sue also noted that the official box score needed to be signed by the game officials in order to present it to the NCAA.
This experience was extremely beneficial as it opened up my eyes to how much work is done behind-the-scenes for every sports event. It taught me that the sports industry isn’t as glamorous as it is made out to be. As an athletic director, your primary responsibility is making sure the game day operations are carried out thoroughly, which requires complete dedication hours before, during, and after the event. It showed me how detailed and meticulous you have to be in order to avoid committing any mistakes that could potentially alter game statistics. This type of job is not exactly ideal personally, but I think if an individual is passionate enough about the sports industry, with the right attitude and work ethic I can see how they would want this position. Working in the sports industry is a lifestyle choice, as you are constantly following the sports you are covering—it’s just a matter if you are willing to accept that as feasible or not.