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Imagine getting ready for your first coaching interview; you’ve checked all the boxes in preparation for the job. But there is an unwritten experience that even Head Coaches and Athletic Directors are underselling as necessary skills. The demand of being a marketing and public relations practitioner is a pivotal set of skills needed to complement the already-loaded scope of responsibilities. Whether you are the Athletic Director or the general assistant, the traits of a communications expert spearhead a Kaizen-like approach to fulfill the personal and community demands.

 

What is Branding from a district perspective?

The priority of branding yourself and your program has become normalcy for educators. Andrew Fernandez, San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District’s (San Marcos CISD) Executive Director of Communication is adamant that branding is an essential aspect that capitalizes on highlighting your district programs.

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“If you don’t tell your story, if you don’t tell your strengths, you’re going to go under the radar,” exclaims Fernandez.

 

The branding element is an opportunity to internalize the traditions and needs of your community. “How I can relate to coaches is you have to put in that sweat equity,” said Fernandez. Building relationships with your stakeholders is an opportunity to introduce your mission and vision and intertwine it with the fabric of your community to inspire ownership in the process.

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Fernandez highlights the importance of branding being an intentional, strategic, and consistent process. These three key points of emphasis were learned through his formal education and implemented during his tenure as a San Antonio Spurs content creator, and now as an executive for San Marcos CISD. This three-prong guideline can be implemented within a team of coaches, or as an individual spokesperson. The key ingredient that Fernandez emphasized whether you’re a novice or an expert communicator is building the element of trust. Stick to what your genuine niche is and utilize the three-step process to build that allegiance to your program. Oh, and you must be a professional bragger. “The tough thing about public school teachers is they don’t know how to brag about themselves,” says Fernandez. Bragging about yourself or your program is integral part in building your reputation and your program. In the social media age, Influencers have mastered the concept of bragging; as a coach, adopting this strategy can influence your players and community to meet your expectations.

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Athletics as the district Public Relations agent.

The reputation of schools often hinges on their most popular programs. According to Fernandez, utilizing athletics as the “tip of the spear” to market the district is a strong strategy to promote the district. “They’ve gotten of glimpse of San Marcos through our athletic programs,” states Fernandez. Hiring Head Football Coach John Walsh as a notable 6A Football State Champion formally with Denton Guyer has provided instant credibility hints Fernandez.

 

Let us hypothesize the opportunity what the San Marcos Rattler Football team has. The Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) states San Marcos High School in 2020-2021 had a total of 2,371 students: 48.5% Female, 51.5 % Male. In correlation, the number of participants for football, Max Preps states there were 108 (4.5%) players total on their roster. There is an opportunity for this team to fill Rattler Stadium, home of the San Marcos Rattlers, where the capacity stands at 8,000. The possibility of 4.5% of the student-body can influence up to 8,000 people physically, but in the football-crazed world of Texas, can be exponentially more significant in influence based on the team's success and marketing.

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There is an acknowledgement that local High School football is a spectacle in the State of Texas for programs like band, cheer, and ROTC. This community event can provide quality Return of Investment (ROI) to your school if you execute the marketing element. Fernandez is keen on working with his athletic department to capitalize on their influence and parlaying that relationship into compelling advertising of other gem programs in San Marcos CISD.

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“Athletics is that main attraction to a concert, you come to the concert for the main attraction but you’re going to get multiple shows from different performers throughout the night,” states Fernandez.

 

Fernandez was quick to recognize a notable Career and Technical Education program as another valued “performer” for San Marcos CISD.

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The importance of learning content aggregation for branding.

When the pandemic first hit in the spring of 2019, it left the sports world in a daze. A side-effect of trying to get back to the normal routine, coaches found themselves performing tasks they had never done; task like streaming a game on their new YouTube channel or conducting Zoom workouts. The coaching world began to assemble new technical skills that were increasingly valued by athletic leadership. Matt Stepp, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Insider once hinted at the importance of coaches learning content creation and aggregation skills to share their content with their local journalist. The topic was about controlling your narrative and the skill of content creation as a significant resource to harness in creating your own platform.

 

If you want to see an exemplar, check out the Smithson Valley Rangers of Comal Independent School District and their prized Ranger Network. But the importance of marketing and branding for your athletic programs has a far more significant impact than just streaming your games. The ability to highlight the triumphs and challenges of your programs and your student-athletes can have a resounding impact in the elements of college recruitment, growing a coaching tree, and inspiring emphatic fandom throughout your campus.

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Networking as an element of personal branding.

The implementation of networking can be a rewarding tactic in relation to personal branding. For Coach Adam Harvey, Defensive Coordinator of Hutto High School in Central Texas, the art of networking has been a big aspect in his development as a professional and resulting success. Harvey has been responsible for some of the most positive experiences for coaches during the pandemic. His conceptualization of the popular defensive football coaches live Twitter chat called the No Fly Zone Chat is a popular resource for coaches seeking to learn defensive strategies and philosophies in a network of coaches. The chat has 5,476 followers and features some of the brightest minds in the coaching fraternity. Gridiron Gigs is another coaching resource that Harvey has had a hand in developing; this platform focuses on the job recruitment and placement for coaches. Harvey maintains the development of these endeavors were a positive response to a negative situation with the pandemic. “I don’t want it to be the Adam Harvey show, but I do want it to be a resource for coaches and it’s been a resource for me,” explains Harvey.

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The design of these concepts aimed to facilitate a gathering of the best minds in football and a stage to “talk ball.” In fact, there were several coaches that had a response to the pandemic. Matt Arrufat, Defensive Coordinator of Brennan High School in San Antonio, Texas, was instrumental in implementing the platform Chalk War; this experience is a Zoom gathering of coaches in a match-up of defensive and offensive wits, with the results voted by their peers. The Hispanic Texas High School Football Coaches Association has a board of leadership led by Spring Independent School District’s Athletic Director Armando Jacinto that sprung into action as well; this organization was a renaissance of empowerment for the Hispanic representation of coaches in the State of Texas manifested through networking and advocacy. These coaches in the same breadth and spirit of Adam Harvey founded platforms to facilitate knowledge and advocacy. In the channels of communication in high school football, these names are rapidly gaining traction as innovative leaders and future/current head coaches.

 

By serving the coaching community, Harvey has benefited in networking by striking friendships and mentorship with the likes of Patrick Toney, Co-Defensive Coordinator of the Florida Gators and Jim Leonard, Defensive Coordinator of the Wisconsin Badgers just to name a few.

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“I feel like a lot people will reach out to me, and I’ll always want to give back to coaches and the game, but for somebody at that level to do the same, I find that intriguing, and that’s why I will always want to give back and make time for others,” shares Harvey.

 

These are significant relationships in the eyes of many, but Harvey looks at these as an opportunity to become the best version of himself through a collection of talented coaches willing to share their knowledge and experience. Networking is a risky transactional experience. You may be shunned; you may experience a humbleness that may leave you feeling uncomfortable. But Harvey explains the reward far outweighs the risk when you keep the mindset of getting better in this profession.

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Solutions on becoming a branding practitioner.

There are a few problems out there in which branding can offer solutions. Promoting your program

can combat the existing crisis of declining participation. Branding can also increase your marketability to differentiate yourself from the competition; after all, minorities especially need any competitive edge to overcome existing obstacles whether in high school, college, or the professional ranks.

 

The response to this information may be the urge to integrate Mass Communications skills into your repertoire. But does this mean that you must go back to school to learn these new skills? The answer is no; however, the caveat of taking ownership in your learning is a pivotal response.

 

Professional Learning Communities (PLC) is an option that coaches are familiar with in education. Harnessing the concept of PLCs and utilizing it amongst your staff can be a transformational step. Another choice is to utilize the spirit of life-long learning and incorporate platforms like LinkedIn learning or YouTube for self-paced learning; see this YouTube video with Branding expert Marty Neumeier on the definition of Branding. How about cross-curriculum opportunities with your CTE programs or asking for tutelage from your district communications professional for guidance? Whatever the solution, the profession is rapidly changing, and these are a few solutions to consider. One thing is for certain, coaches can not rest on their laurels and must continue to evolve to gain the competitive edge they wholeheartedly covet.

 

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