Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Sean Carroll is in his ninth year in the Notre Dame media relations office and his seventh as assistant media relations director. He graduated from Indi- ana University in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a second concentration in political science. Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is an average day like for you? Carroll: "Most days during the week are spent preparing for the next game for your sports by do- ing game notes, preview stories, game programs, interviews, etc. It's also spent doing press releases for special announcements or awards that your student-athletes receive. "During games, I usually keep stats, do in-game notes, help coor- dinate postgame media and write the game recap [for men's soccer and men's la- crosse]." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is your proudest moment while working for Notre Dame? Carroll: "My proudest moment at Notre Dame was working with the men's soccer team when they won the 2013 national championship. Clearly I didn't contribute to the on-field success, but I was extremely happy for them because everyone as- sociated with the program is so great to work with and be around." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What are some of the challenges of your job? Carroll: "The work-life balance is always a chal- lenge during the season because you're working Monday to Friday in the office, and then there are games on the weekend and some nights during the week. I try my best to make time for my family and work from home during the weekend whenever possible. "Another challenge is keeping up with the latest technology and how to best utilize it. Most of the time new technology is great because it makes cer- tain parts of your job easier, but it can also be one more thing to have to worry about." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What do you think a common misconcep- tion about the work in media rela- tions might be? Carroll: "I think there's a miscon- ception that we just show up to the game, do stats, deal with inter- views and then update the website. There is a lot of preparation work from doing game notes, press re- leases, game programs, interviews and other media requests along with setting up the press box or press row to make sure everything is in working order. "There also is a lot of postgame work from making sure the media has what they need, to doing our own recap, the posting and distributing of stats, etc." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What brought you to Notre Dame? Carroll: "I contacted [assistant athletics director] Bernie Cafarelli during my senior year at Indiana University to see if there were any opportunities to work in Notre Dame's office. There weren't at the time, but she helped me get my foot in the door by landing an internship at the University at Albany in Albany, N.Y. "I kept in touch with Bernie during my year at Al- bany and was able to come to Notre Dame when an internship opened and have been here ever since." — Andrew Owens Five Questions With … ASSISTANT MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR SEAN CARROLL CARROLL