Friday, December 7, 2007

Sports Information Director

John Cook
Blog 3

My dream job is working as a sports information director (SID) for a NCAA Division 1 school. SIDs are in control of the image of the sports programs, the publications that the programs produce in every sport, organizing the media, and also organizing almost everything on game days that involves the media. This job will keep me busy and a public relations (PR) degree will fit in perfect for this career.


Crisis management is a big part of being a good SID. Think ‘Rhett Bomar.” After my experience this year in PR Campaigns I feel like a seasoned veteran when it comes to crisis management. There are other lessons taught in campaigns that will help as I move forward into this field as well. Ethics is another area that we focus on in PR that is crucial. As the voice of the athletic department you can only report what you know and only after you find the truth. There is no reason to report on unfounded rumors or answer questions from the media that you may not have all the facts about at that point.


These are just a couple areas that PR has helped me prepare for my dream job. Unfortunately becoming a SID at a major school is very difficult. There are only 119 schools in Division I football, so there is a very limited amount of jobs available at that level. Only the best SIDs get a chance at schools like OU, Texas, USC and other big time schools. I will continue to work on my goals as I move forward and hopefully I will be the OU SID down the road. I will probably end up at a small school before I make the big leap!

1 comment:

Charlie Scheihing said...

I see that you had the pleasure of taking Kenny Mossman's class. I really enjoyed it too. It is definitely an awesome dream job.