At the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic school year, the Sports Information Department at North Central College started the redesign of the athletic media guides. There are 22 athletic media guides for the 22 sports offered at North Central. Each guide contains a large amount of information pertaining to athletics. According to the College’s Sports Information Director, Clark Teuscher, the guides have pertinent information regarding a sport’s program. This information includes current coaches and athletes, notable alumni, sport records, upcoming opponents, game schedules, general college information, and more. With the redesign nearly complete, Teuscher explains the purpose and use of the media guides and how information is presented in them. The new design will be released Fall Term 2013.
Teuscher explains, in regards to the redesign, “You always want to make sure you have something that catches people’s eye, and gets people who might not ordinarily take the time to view a publication like [the media guide]. It’s a hook to get them in there and look at some of the information we have to offer.” And with so much information to present, the project can be challenging.
One tip Teuscher states is to not overcomplicate things. There is a broad audience that the media guide serves. Parents, coaches, prospective athletes, current athletes, other college teams, and more all may utilize the guide in a different way. As Teuscher explains, the publication cannot merely use the jargon or language that only individuals of a certain sport would know. Simplification is key for readability and reliability.
Another essential part of constructing the media guide is presenting information accurately. Sports Information Graduate Assistant Lou Groce says, “We are marketing the whole school, not just the athletic department.” With such a broad scope, putting information out to the public that is incorrect reflects on the whole college.
Additionally, it is essential to know how the guides should be used. The North Central Women’s Track and Field Coach Kari Kluckhohn explains how she uses the guides for recruiting prospective athletes.
Kluckhohn says, “The Track and Field Media Guide is a great reference to learn what our program is about. We tell recruits to check out the athletic website and pull [the media guide]up to see what our team has done over the years.”
Therefore, it must be apparent where to access the media guides for each sport. Teuscher explains that in the past, the Sports Information Department would print the guides for wide use. Unfortunately, due to the cost of printing the massive amount of information each guide contains, the department was only able to print about eight copies. Now each sport’s guide can be found online at northcentralcardinals.com in full color.
Overall, athletic media guides contain a high volume of information. The quality of content in the media guides is just as important as how the content is presented. Pleasing the broad audience that will be accessing the media guides can be challenging; however, Teuscher and his team are working diligently to provide an informative and expansive record of North Central College athletics. Don’t forget to check northcentralcardinals.com Fall Term 2013 to see the new media guide design.
