To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Exploring Division I Athletic Departments’ Social-Media Policies

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimmy Sanderson

Via their social-media postings, student-athletes are increasingly creating public relations issues for college athletic programs. With social media’s emergence as a popular communication tool, exploring the messages student-athletes receive from their athletic departments about social-media use is warranted. This research examined social-media policies in student-athlete handbooks from 159 NCAA Division I schools. Using thematic and textual analytic procedures, analysis revealed that policies heavily emphasize content restrictions and external monitoring and frame social media as laden with risk. The results suggest that social-media policies should be more reflexive to identify both positive and negative outcomes for student-athletes. In addition, athletic departments must assertively monitor social-media trends to ensure that policies and training stay relevant.

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair Browning ◽  
Jimmy Sanderson

Twitter has become a popular topic in sport communication research. Little research to date, however, has examined Twitter from the perspective of student-athletes. This research explored how student-athletes at an NCAA Division I university used Twitter and reacted to critical tweets from fans. Semistructured interviews with 20 student-athletes were conducted. Analysis revealed that student-athletes used Twitter in 3 primary ways: keeping in contact, communicating with followers, and accessing information. With respect to critical tweets, student-athletes reported various perceptions about them and diverse strategies for responding to them. The results suggest that Twitter is a beneficial communicative tool for student-athletes but also presents challenges, given the ease with which fans attack them via this social-media platform. Accordingly, athletic departments must be proactive in helping student-athletes use Twitter strategically, particularly in responding to detractors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-390
Author(s):  
R. Todd Jewell

Using a stochastic production function approach and a dynamic panel data estimator, this study creates estimates of time-varying efficiency in the production of generated revenues for NCAA Division I football bowl subdivision athletic programs. These efficiency estimates are then compared to the use of allocated revenues—fees from students and direct payments from the university budget—by college athletic departments. While all schools that are less efficient in the production of generated revenue are shown to use allocated revenue more intensively, a major finding is power-conference schools that are less efficient in their use of expenditure inputs tend to rely more heavily on allocated revenue in the form of student fees to support the activities of the program.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-325
Author(s):  
Leslie K. Larsen ◽  
Leslee A. Fisher ◽  
Terilyn C. Shigeno ◽  
Matthew P. Bejar ◽  
Melissa N. Madeson

While the policies National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletic departments have in place regarding social media and drug abuse have been empirically investigated, research on the full battery of rules implemented by NCAA teams is scant. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the written team rules of 41 NCAA Division I women’s basketball teams to better understand the types of rules that are in place and to hypothesize the effects these rules might have on the development of an autonomy-supportive environment. Using Consensual Qualitative Research, the research team constructed seven domains with multiple categories to represent the data. The domains included the following: (a) program expectations, (b) controlled communication, (c) controlled relationships, (d) controlled appearance/attire, (e) controlled social behavior, (f) recommendations for optimal physical performance, and (g) academic expectation. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that NCAA Division I women’s basketball coaches use team rules as a tool for domination rather than a strategy for developing the autonomy of student-athletes. We offer practical suggestions for coach educators, coach developers, and coaches on best practices when creating team rules to develop an autonomy-supportive environment that strengthens organizational loyalty and improves the experiences of student-athletes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric W. Hayden ◽  
Alan S. Kornspan ◽  
Zachary T. Bruback ◽  
Michael C. Parent ◽  
Matthew Rodgers

One hundred twenty university counseling centers and athletic-department websites were viewed and analyzed for the provision of sport psychology services specifically to NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I Football Bowl Championship Series (FBS) student athletes. Using content-analysis methodology, the present research identified a fair number of university athletic departments (n = 29) and university counseling centers (n = 6) that provided specific sport psychology services. In addition, most athletic departments and counseling centers that provided sport psychology services had one individual on staff who was listed as the service provider. Results of the study are discussed in relation to providing a current understanding of the extent to which sport psychology is presently being provided to NCAA Division I FBS university student athletes. Future qualitative research is recommended to examine the work of professionals providing sport psychology services in athletic departments and counseling centers to better understand the precise nature of the services provided.


2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Klenosky ◽  
Thomas J. Templin ◽  
Josh A. Troutmam

This paper reports the results of an empirical study that draws on a means-end perspective to examine the factors influencing the school choice decisions of collegiate student athletes. A sample of 27 NCAA Division I collegiate football players were questioned to identify the attributes that differentiated the school they selected from the others they had considered attending. The interviewing technique known as laddering was then used to link the salient attributes of the chosen school to the consequences and personal values important to the athlete. An analysis of the resulting data provided unique insight into the means-end relationships that underlie students' selection of competing athletic programs. A discussion of the study findings outlined the implications of this investigation and the means-end approach for future recruiting and research efforts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Hardin ◽  
Lauren Antle ◽  
Lauren Beasley

The National Collegiate Athletic Association passed legislation in 2014 to allow for unlimited meals and snacks for college athletes. This policy change created a need for full-time registered dietitians (RDs) to ensure student-athletes are properly fueled and monitor their dietary habits. RDs are now considered to be a key member of the college athlete holistic care team, and this has created a unique professional niche for RDs. There is a lack of research exploring the experiences and challenges of this emerging profession in college athletic departments. Nine RDs working in NCAA Division I athletic departments participated in semi-structured interviews to examine their career experiences. Three themes were constructed from the data analysis: (a) professional transition; (b) nutritional education; and (c) (dis)respect. The respondents discussed their participation in sport or volunteer experience was what pushed them to pursue a career as a sports dietician. One of the primary functions of their position is to build trust with the student-athletes and provide them with nutritional education so they will develop healthy eating habits. The respondents also struggled with a lack of acceptance of the importance of their position on the interprofessional care team. Some had positive experiences with administrators, but most had negative experiences and a general lack of understanding of the professional expertise they had.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Han ◽  
Mark Dodds ◽  
Tara Mahoney ◽  
Kristi Schoepfer ◽  
Justin Lovich

Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, have become extremely popular; they serve as tools to connect individuals in a public forum. However, collegiate student-athletes use social media to send messages that may reflect poorly on their educational institutions. For example, student-athletes have posted profanity, obscene messages, compromising photographs, and even threatened the President of the United States while using social media. These messages create negative publicity for the college since athletics and student-athletes are a visible aspect of the institution. As such, inappropriate social media use has become a major concern with college athletic departments. Because the NCAA requires member institutions to adequately and consistently monitor social networking activity, colleges have responded to the actions by disciplining student-athletes that use social media negatively to voice their opinions; in some cases, this punishment has been as severe as actually dismissing the student-athlete from his or her team. But, how does this action impact the public relations of the athletic department? Further, does it subject the college to possible legal action?


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Horner ◽  
Neal Ternes ◽  
Christopher McLeod

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) clearly states there are many favorable qualities derived from participation that benefit those “who go pro in something other than sports.” However, the ability of collegiate athletics to deliver on the promise of attributable long-term vocational value is rarely questioned. Instead, student-athletes are encouraged to think of their participation as a personal investment with enduring rewards for the investor. In this study involving former NCAA Division I student-athletes, the authors examined whether participation can be regarded as an investment and how student-athletes perceive the returns thus derived. Extending Becker’s (1962) theory of human capital investment to sport participation, the authors probed participants’ experiences for evidence of investment thinking and lasting benefits in corporeal, economic, social, and cultural varieties. The findings support the notion that participation in collegiate athletics can be broadly defined as an investment, but not in accordance with the long-term utility maximizing rationale described by neoclassical economists. Furthermore, the high cost of participation, inherent uncertainty, and unreliable information confound the athlete’s decision-making and blur the distinction between consumption in the present and investing for the future.


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