How to be a Steeldog: Chapter Six

Chapter Six: Dealing with Coach and the Team

Remember when I told you that your job involves, to a degree, babysitting the players. If that peaked your interest, then this is the chapter for you. Here is a primer on how to deal with the football aspect of the Birmingham Steeldogs.

When Coach loves you

Now a big part of how successful you will be as the team’s PR director depends greatly on how well you get along with the coaches. They will supply you with all the inside dope on player movement, which will make your job much easier.

When coach loves you, there really is no better time to have your job. You will be included in frank player personnel discussions. You will be included in conversations loaded with privy information. The world is your oyster.

Part of your job is that you control information relating to your team’s player movement. Those movements show up every afternoon at 4:30 p.m. on the af2 transaction report. That same transaction report is released to your local media at the same time. When coach loves you, he will tell you of player moves BEFORE they end up on the transaction report, thus giving you more time to deal with major moves, which puts you one step ahead of the media. This is referred to commonly in the business as “being perched in the catbird seat.”

When Coach hates you

How do you fall out of the catbird seat? It can happen dumbfoundingly quick.

Let’s say that you’re having a conversation with coach and you casually ask him a question about next week’s starting lineup. Perhaps your OS is a little gimpy and you’re innocently wondering as to whether or not he will suit up. After all, you have a roster to get to the league on a deadline.

Asking stupid questions gets you a one-way ticket out of the catbird seat. Suddenly, coach will rise up against you: “Hooper! Haven’t I told you about asking me questions about next weeks’ roster! Hell, I don’t know whose going to play this week! Geez, you’re killing me. That’s it, no more questions. I’m cutting you off!”

See? Innocent enough. You were just checking the trends. Staying on top of the situation. Being a good media relations director. Then, WHAM! No more love from coach. You’re reduced to waiting for the transaction roster to surface with the media dregs. No more oysters. No more catbird seat.

There is really nothing you can do about this phenomenon, it will happen to you just as it happens to all PR directors at some point. Just ride it out and eventually the love will return.
If you wish to speed up the process a bit, then try a bit of reverse psychology to break the no-love-cycle. Try not asking questions for a few days to make him think you’re mad at him. Don’t even go back in his office to see him. Once he feels ignored, he will come bearing information. This is commonly referred to in the business as “playing hard to get.”

The Coaches’ Ego

All of this is directly related to another phenomenon known as “The Coaches’ Ego.”

There has never been a coach at any level of football that doesn’t possess “The Coaches’ Ego.” It’s a facet of the profession. Coach Selesky was never really that bad, but it surfaced at times.

Example: Coach Selesky recruited a player (whose name I won’t mention) who was to take the place of another player who departed the team under dubious circumstances. This player was supposed to be the prototypical athlete for his position: fast, strong, good footwork. Although he was “a bit undersized,” he “makes up for it with his solid fundamentals.”

Turns out that the poor guy was so undersized for his position, he just got beat up and down the line of scrimmage. He was a complete bust at that position.

A coach will always stand up for his players, which is what he is supposed to do. But be sure not to drink the Kool-Aid every time it’s offered to you.

The Coaches’ FOI, or lack thereof

Whether or not coach loves you or hates you, he will always question your security clearance when it comes to gaining privy inside information.

Your organization is a family, but there are tight cliques within that family structure. The front office is a clique. The executive branch is a clique. The trainers and equipment personnel form a clique. The coaches are a clique. The players are a clique. And when you leave your clique to get information about another clique, the leader of the former clique exhibits classic paranoia: “Who else will hear this information? I don’t want any of this information published. You don’t need to know this.”

Again, nothing you can do about this phenomenon. Just be patient with coach and hope that he tells you what you want to hear. It may take a period of trust-building before he shares valuable information with you. He has to be confident that you won’t go out blab to your beat writer.

Remember: Because you have ready access to the media, don’t be surprised if you are the last person to hear certain information: executive decisions, coaching decisions, etc. Expect this, try not to let it get to you. It is not necessary that you’re not trusted…it’s usually just a precaution.

Woe to you if you do blab. In that case, expect your information hydrant to trickle down to the last drop very quickly from every clique in the family.

Your love triangle

You have three obligations as the Steeldogs’ media relations director: the front office (namely the executive branch), the coaches and the players, in that order. Oftentimes there are situations that put those three at odds. You may like a player that coach is being pressured to cut from the executive office. You may agree with the ownership that a player is dead weight and needs to be cut, but coach objects. There are an infinite number of possible situations here. Just remember the order: front office/executives are first, coaches’ second, players third.

Remember: Love your players, but you don’t work for them

In your time here, you will undoubtedly get closer to a few players than others. There’s a common romanticism about this job that involves you hanging out with the pros; that you are buddies with elite athletes. But remember the hierarchy of the love triangle: the players finished last. They will ask you for anything and everything: change this stat (“Don’t you remember my three quarterback hurries? They only marked me down for one!”), get me tickets, can you arrange for to be delivered flowers from me during the game? (this was actually requested of us)

It’s ok to love your players. If there is a stat discrepancy, clear it up. (only after you make sure that their really is a reason to) But don’t bend over backwards. The cold reality is this: a lot of players are lazy. They have been pampered all through college and expect things to be handed to them with no question. It would seem ludicrous otherwise.

Respect them, help when you can, but maintain a professional distance.