Troy L. Sayles

The SID, One of the Most Vital, Yet Often Thankless, Jobs in College Athletics As a former Sports Information Director (SID), I know firsthand that the job is so much more than updating stats and sending out press releases. We wear a lot of hats, often behind the scenes, to make sure our student-athletes, coaches and programs receive the recognition they deserve. We are: • Publicists who promote our programs, coaches and student-athletes. • Storytellers who bring the people, moments and accomplishments behind the games to life. • Social media managers who engage fans and keep our communities connected. • Historians who serve as custodians of records, statistics, archives and program history. • Advocates who nominate and campaign for conference, regional and national honors, postseason awards and All-America recognition. • Statisticians and official scorers who know the numbers, understand the rules and ensure accurate records during competition. • Media coordinators who organize interviews, manage media requests and prepare student-athletes and coaches to handle interviews with confidence. • Broadcast partners who prepare background information, statistics, storylines and talking points to help television and radio crews tell the story of the game. • Collaborators who work with marketing, communications, ticketing, development, alumni relations and other campus partners to meet the needs of the department. • Plan all promotion with recruiting and revenue generation in mind. • Photographers and photo coordinators who capture, organize and preserve the moments that define a program. • Planners and problem-solvers who prepare for every possible scenario, adjust on the fly and find solutions when things don't go according to plan. And that's just scratching the surface. Much of what we do happens before the lights come on, after the final buzzer sounds and in the countless hours between competitions. When things go right, the work often goes unnoticed. When something goes wrong, we're often the first ones asked what happened. It's a profession built on preparation, attention to detail, relationships, institutional knowledge and a genuine passion for telling the stories of college athletics. To all the SIDs and athletic communications professionals doing this work every day - your work matters, even when it doesn't always get recognized, or even criticized. Big thanks to coaches and administrators that truly get what we all do, compared to the admins who underfund with over-demanding expectations that don’t match the resources.