GetSET2Connect Series - "E" - Part 4: The Pivot – Adjusting Goals When the Game Changes (March 26, 2026)

In 25 years of college athletics, I’ve learned one thing for certain: the plan will change. Whether it’s navigating the complexities of a global pandemic, the shifting landscape of conference realignment, or a personal transition across the NCAA and NAIA, there will come a time when your current goals no longer fit your reality. 

Part of being truly Engaged is having the professional maturity to execute a "Goal Pivot."

Throughout my career—from the early days of internships at the Naval Academy and Indiana University to leading departments at six different institutions—I’ve seen that many professionals feel like a pivot is a failure. It isn't. In fact, staying engaged with a goal that no longer serves you—or the institution—is the fastest way to burnout.

A pivot is simply an "in-game adjustment." Perhaps you entered the field wanting to be a DI Baseball SID, but you discovered a passion for the administrative strategy and storytelling inherent in a leadership role.

Or maybe you realized that your true joy comes from the "Foundational Comfort" of a smaller, tight-knit community like Spartanburg Methodist College or The College of Idaho, rather than the bright lights of the Power Five.

My own journey from Columbus State to the University of Toledo and through various divisions has taught me that the mission of supporting student-athletes remains constant, even if the zip code or the division changes.

Regularly auditing your goals is essential. Every six months, ask yourself: "Am I still engaged with this objective because I want it, or because I’m afraid to change it?" By allowing yourself the grace to pivot, you stay fresh. You remain a student of the game.

Engagement isn't about being stubborn; it's about being aligned. When your goals align with your current passion and the evolving needs of the industry, your work becomes effortless.

Let’s Connect: If you are interested in having a deeper conversation about how to successfully navigate a career pivot or intentional networking, let's connect either via email or on social media, preferably via LinkedIn.

 

GetSET2Connect Series - "E" - Part 3: Long-Term Endurance – The “Off-Season” Vision (March 25, 2026)

While short-term goals keep us moving, long-term goals keep us grounded. In the #GetSET2Connect framework, the “E” can also stands for Endurance—and this is where engagement takes on a deeper, more strategic meaning.

In Part 2, we emphasized that engagement is not just about activity, but about intentional alignment and purpose. Long-term endurance is the extension of that idea. It’s not about doing more over time—it’s about doing the right things consistently to position yourself for where you want to go.

A career in athletic communications is a marathon, not a sprint. Yet too often, we operate in survival mode—jumping from event to event, deadline to deadline—without lifting our eyes to the bigger picture. Endurance requires a shift: from reactive execution to proactive career design.

Think in terms of “coaching cycles.” Where do you want to be two cycles from now? Not just in title, but in responsibility, influence, and impact. That perspective forces a different level of engagement—one centered on Strategic Positioning.

If your goal is to move into leadership—Assistant AD, Associate AD, or beyond—your engagement must evolve accordingly. That means stepping outside the comfort zone of content creation and game coverage and into areas that shape departments:

• Budget planning and resource allocation

• Compliance frameworks, including Title IX

• External relations and donor engagement

• Sport supervision and staff management

This is where intentional engagement becomes a differentiator. You’re no longer just executing tasks—you’re preparing for the next seat before you’re asked to fill it.

Equally important is how you think about your impact where you are right now. Endurance is not just about upward mobility—it’s about Legacy Building.

What are you creating that will last beyond your tenure?

These are your Legacy Projects—the tangible evidence of long-term engagement:

• A reimagined Hall of Fame process that elevates storytelling and recognition

• A structured student-intern pipeline that develops the next generation of professionals

• A fully digitized archive that preserves and promotes your institution’s history

• A content strategy framework that others can sustain and build upon

These initiatives require foresight, patience, and buy-in—but they separate professionals who “do the job” from those who transform the job.

When viewed through the lens of Part 2, this is the highest level of engagement: aligning your daily work with a long-term vision that benefits both your career and your organization. It’s the difference between being busy and being impactful over time.

Because ultimately, endurance ensures that you’re not just chasing your next opportunity—you’re building a professional identity that travels with you.

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Let’s Connect:
If you’re looking to think more strategically about your long-term path, legacy projects, or how to align your current role with future opportunities, let’s connect via LinkedIn or email.

GetSET2Connect Series - "E" - Engaged; Part 2: Short-Term Sprints – The “In-Season” Goals (March 24, 2026)

Athletic communications is a game of inches and seconds. We often talk about “surviving the season,” but what if we reframed that mindset to “mastering the season”?

Short-term goals—what I call “Short-Term Sprints”—are the objectives you can realistically achieve in a three-to-six-month window. These are the building blocks of Foundational Comfort. When you gain command over the micro-tasks of the job, you reduce friction in your daily workflow, lower stress, and create bandwidth for higher-level strategy and creativity.

For a job seeker or emerging professional, these sprints should center on Micro-Credentials. The modern SID is no longer operating in a single lane—you are a content creator, data storyteller, brand manager, and digital operator. The question becomes: what is one technical or strategic skill you can own by the end of a semester or season? Maybe it’s streamlining a repeatable design workflow that cuts production time in half. Maybe it’s building and executing a content calendar for a non-revenue sport that drives measurable engagement. Or perhaps it’s learning how to interpret analytics in a way that informs future storytelling decisions.

But the differentiator isn’t just the goal—it’s the engagement with the goal.

Engagement at the short-term level is about intentionality and visibility. It’s not enough to say, “I want to get better at graphics.” A more engaged approach is: “I will create three original templates, test them across platforms, and evaluate performance weekly.” You’re not just completing tasks—you’re interacting with the process, measuring progress, and adjusting in real time. That’s where growth compounds.

If you can improve your efficiency, creativity, or strategic thinking by even 1% each week through intentional goal setting, the cumulative impact over the course of a full athletic year becomes significant. These short-term wins serve as proof of progress. They provide momentum. More importantly, they keep you engaged when the calendar tightens and the workload intensifies. They transform routine responsibilities into competitive opportunities and the mundane into measurable milestones.

And here’s where short-term and long-term goalsetting intersect.

Long-term goals—landing a full-time role, becoming an Associate AD, leading a department, building a personal brand—can often feel abstract or distant. Without engagement at the short-term level, those aspirations remain ideas. Short-Term Sprints act as the operational bridge. Each sprint should intentionally ladder up to a larger objective. If your long-term goal is leadership, your short-term sprint might involve taking ownership of a sport, mentoring a student worker, or presenting a post-season report with actionable insights. You’re not waiting for the opportunity—you’re building the case for it.

Engagement, then, becomes the through-line.

It’s the difference between passively completing a season and actively constructing a career. It’s setting goals that are specific, measurable, and time-bound—but also personally meaningful. It’s checking in with those goals weekly, not just at the end of the season. It’s being honest about what’s working, what’s not, and where you need to adjust.

Because in this profession, the pace never slows. Seasons overlap. Expectations evolve. The professionals who sustain energy and growth are the ones who stay engaged—not just with their work, but with their direction.

Short-Term Sprints give you traction. Long-term goals give you direction. Engagement connects the two.

Let’s Connect: If you’re interested in building out a goalsetting framework that keeps you engaged—both in-season and long-term—I’d welcome the conversation. Reach out via email or connect on LinkedIn.

GetSET2Connect Series - "E" - Engaged; Part 1: The "E" in Action – Why Engagement Requires a Map (March 23, 2026)

In the GetSET2Connect model, the "E" represents Engaged, focusing on both short- and long-term goals. Prioritizing engagement through goal setting is a strategic necessity in athletic communications. In an industry where 60-hour workweeks can often lead to burnout, a structured career trajectory is what distinguishes those simply working a job from those building a lasting legacy.

Stop Reporting History. Start Influencing It (March 21, 2026)

When I first started as an intern at the Naval Academy and later at Indiana University, my office was often a quiet place of deep contemplation—sometimes by choice, and sometimes by the sheer weight of a 25-year career still waiting to be written. In those moments, I wasn’t just thinking about box scores or media guides; I was pondering the trajectory of a life in college athletics.

Interestingly, it wasn't always my direct supervisors who helped me navigate those thoughts. It was the Assistant and Associate ADs who would wander in, lean against the doorframe, and talk to me. They didn't just discuss the "what" of my daily tasks; they shared the "why" of the entire department. Those conversations were my first real masterclass in administrative strategy, teaching me that the view from the SID desk is only as narrow as you choose to make it.

Articles of Interest (March 20, 2026)

Before returning to the GetSET2Connect series, I want to briefly pause and share a few pieces of reading that have been on my mind this week.

In my 25 years in collegiate athletics, the “how” of our work has evolved repeatedly—from mailing typed game summaries and calling in statistics to local newspapers, to today’s world of AI-generated recaps. What hasn’t changed is the “why.” Athletic communications remains grounded in mentorship, visibility, and intentional connection.

Whether you’re a veteran administrator or a student assistant just beginning your journey, these recent insights offer a practical roadmap for navigating the demands of modern leadership and an increasingly dynamic technological landscape.

The Highlights:

• The AI Pivot: Inside Higher Ed reminds us that while machines can handle the rote tasks, they can't replace the human element. Our value in 2026 is found in critical thinking and student-athlete engagement.

• The Visibility Trap: Ever feel like your hard work is invisible? It might be the "Performance Paradox." We discuss why translating "effort" into "impact" is a professional necessity, not just bragging.

• Strategic Humility: Leadership feels harder because it is harder. We look at why "certainty theater" is failing and why radical honesty is the only way to rebuild trust with our teams.

• The Power of Small: Ever heard of the Ringelmann Effect? It explains why individual effort drops as teams grow too large. The "Two-Pizza Team" rule might be the secret to a more efficient gameday staff.

• Networking Pillars: A reminder from HERC Jobs that our careers are built on three specific legs: mentors, peers, and professional involvement (like our work with CSC).

As I prepare to share the next part of our series next week, I’d love to hear which of these hits home for you. Are you seeing "social loafing" on your gameday crews? Are you using AI to free up time for mentorship?

Drop a comment below and let’s connect.

GetSET2Connect Series, Part 4: Strategy in Athletic Communications and the Sports Industry (March 19, 2026)

Strategy takes on a different level of importance in athletic communications and the sports industry, where the pace is fast and the expectations are constant.

Success in this space requires more than execution — it requires perspective.

Operating Proactively in a Reactive Environment

Athletic communications is built around deadlines, events, and results. The work is naturally reactive.

But the most effective professionals find ways to operate proactively within that structure.

That means:

• Anticipating storylines before they happen

• Planning content around key moments in a season

• Aligning messaging with broader institutional goals

Strategy is what allows you to stay ahead, even when everything around you is moving quickly.

Moving Beyond Coverage

At its most basic level, athletic communications is about delivering information.

But strategic communicators understand that the role is much bigger than that.

The focus shifts from:

“Did we cover the event?”

To:

“Did we tell the story in a way that builds the program?”

That includes:

• Positioning student-athletes for recognition

• Enhancing recruiting visibility through content

• Creating a consistent voice and identity across platforms

Every piece of content becomes part of a larger narrative.

Creating a Competitive Advantage

In the sports industry, visibility and perception matter.

Programs that consistently tell their story well and engage their audience effectively create a measurable advantage — in recruiting, branding, and overall growth.

In practice, that can look like:

• Increased follower growth and engagement rates across social platforms

• Improved media coverage and external recognition

• Greater success in promoting student-athletes for postseason awards

That advantage doesn’t come from volume. It comes from intentionality.

Strategy is the difference between simply doing the job and elevating the entire program.

Final Thought

In athletic communications, strategy connects what you do every day to the long-term success of the program you represent.

It’s the difference between documenting moments and defining them.

And in a competitive industry, that distinction matters.