When the SID doesn't call you back

That's silly, petty and small-minded.

"Work with coaches, not for them" is something that has been lost amid the power-hungry as salaries and supposed authority over all athletic domain continues to grow.

 

I see these horror stories and I realize how good I have it with the school I cover.

 

And I realize how good I've had it over the years, working with some pretty good head coaches. The few bad ones that I've had, I have pretty much refused to drink the kool-aid and "work for them" because I've also had a pretty good string of AD's.

 

It would also be against the rules of most every major conference, I'd reckon.

 

This is totally bizarre as they are easily available elsewhere...

 

If you are covering the BCS national championship game, here is some friendly, hard-earned advice: Have a backup plan ready for everything, and I mean everything, you ask LSU's SID to help you with. If you can, just go around him.

Thank me later.

 

Got it taken care of. Called the assistant at home. Chatted for 10 minutes. It's all good.

 

King, just out of curiosity, was showing up after a practice and just waiting the guy out an impossibility? I once covered a BCS school with a sometimes unreliable SID staff from 90 minutes away. Whenever I really wanted somebody, I drove up there and got them in person. I figured the time in the car offset the time waiting by the telephone, and the face time didn't hurt.

 

I live about 6 hours away from this school.

Not sure they would have OK'd a company car for that trip. ;D

 

I get annoyed sometimes by a media member who just assumes that if they drop you an email, that it will be no problem to get something done. This happens a lot with radio guys wanting to set up an interview. They don't leave a cell number, aren't at the station when you call back and weren't very clear as to when they want to do the interview.

A two-minute call works better sometimes for me. Besides, I think the idea of communicating without actually talking has gotten out of hand. How can you build a working relationship with somebody if all you do is trade emails?

 

You're assuming that most SIDs take calls.

At a lot of the schools I work with, they might pick up 50 percent of the time. The other 50, I leave messages, about half of which are returned.

I always start with email as a head's up. If they respond, great.

If not, I'll be calling soon.

The more they ignore me, the bigger the pest I become, which I dont enjoy, but what else can you do?

 

Co-sign. My school treats me so well it also goes out of its way to make sure I'm well taken care of on the road.