Troy University Athletics
Picture Day is Over!
7/29/2008 5:00:00 AM | Football
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
5:00 p.m.
Picture Day is Over!
Is seems as if no matter how much planning you do, picture day with the football team never, ever, stays on schedule. I changed the way we ran things this year and, for the first time in the 15 years I have been doing these, we got finished ON TIME!
Notice that I didn't say things went on schedule. We had to reshoot one position group after the team photo because one of the players was missing the first time, but that was about the only glitch on the day.
Thanks to having access to two of Troy University's shuttle buses for the morning, we were able to transport players, coaches and staff back and forth between the fieldhouse and Wallace Hall on a regular basis.
Eric Williamson and Travis Jarome worked with the guys at Troy TV to get all of the video shots we'll need of the players for the big board at the stadium this year, while Dan Ensey worked with Cass Davis in the photo studio to get all of the still head shots.
Kevin Glackmeyer and I worked at the stadium, getting the group shots done and keeping up with what groups had been through and what groups had not. Things went as close to clock work as I could have hoped. It went so well that we actually started getting organized for the team photo 30 minutes early.
We got some good shots for use on the program covers this year, although it was tough getting a senior shot because there are so many this time. You'll know when I get the shots back because they will start showing up on the web site.
After wrapping up picture day, the next big item on the agenda was our media training session. We take an hour or so every year to talk to the team about how to deal with the media. What media members expect and what they should expect from the media.
Over the years I have put together a pretty good handout to provide to the players with tips for dealing with the media. You can read it here if you like.
I also like to bring in a couple of guest speakers to talk to the team about the media. We were very fortunate today in that we had Mr. College Football, Tony Barnhart from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as well as Jeff Shearer from WSFA-TV in Montgomery.
Tony, who is as good a person as he is a writer, gave the players several pointers on dealing with the media. The thing he said was most important was to have confidence when talking to a media member. If you have confidence going in, the reporter will pick up on it.
His other tips included:
A media interview is not just a media interview. It can be your next job interview. If your goal is the play professional football, understand that an NFL general manager who scouts players reads everything and looks at every interview on tape. How you handle these public moments can impact the impression a team has of you.
If your goal is to use the name recognition you get from football to get a job in the private sector, media interviews are even more important. A potential employer could be watching or reading at any time. In the new world of the internet and YouTube, good moments and bad moments live forever.
He talked about covering Tiki Barber when he was at Virginia. How he handled himself there and took that skill to the world's largest media market in New York City. While with the Giants, he continued to be what Tony called a “stand up guy”. Someone the media could count on to be accountable, win or lose.
We had a couple of guys like that at Troy last year in Gary Banks and Marcus Richardson. I could always count on them to be honest and engaging with the media, regardless of the situation. I challenged the team that we needed more of those kind of guys this year. Hopefully there will be several step up.
After Tony finished, Jeff talked about working with TV cameras and what to expect. He brought Jerrel Jernigan and Jamie Hampton down in front of the team and conducted interviews with them and showed the entire squad what television reporters are looking for.
Even though they are both sophomores, both did a good job. They both understand that because of the position and roles they have on the team, they will be much in demand this season. They both have work to do, but I don't think work is something that scares either of them.
We wrapped up our meeting with our athletics director, Steve Dennis, talking to the team. He talked about being responsible, working hard and, most of all, doing the right thing. I was standing next to Tony Barnhart, who was a college classmate of Steve's at Georgia, and he leaned over to me and whispered “Steve is getting me fired up!”
We'll close today's activities with a team meal in the stadium club. Tomorrow, there will be meetings throughout the day before the team hits the practice field at 6 p.m.
At that point, there will be just one month before they step onto the field in Murfreesboro to “Battle for the Palladium”.
It will be here before you know it.
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I am sure these will get shorter at some point, but I've always been long-winded.
I'll get back with you tomorrow.
RH
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