Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/744639
8 NOV. 7, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Alan Wasielewski returned to athletics commu- nications after spending the past 10 years work- ing with digital side of Notre Dame media and being on the ground floor of Fighting Irish Digital Media, which was formed in 2011. He began his career in Notre Dame athletics communications in 2000 staying there until mov- ing to the digital side in 2006. BGI: What's the biggest challenge of your job? Wasielewski: "My biggest personal challenge was to get my writing back up to the way it used to be. When you don't do it for 10 years … can you imagine not writing for 10 years and coming back and writing a lot? "Another thing is the athletics communications field has changed a lot in the last 10 years. It's a lot more social media driven and story driven in terms of us telling the story and not relying on the media to tell all of our stories." BGI: What's it like working with someone like head coach Mike Brey? Wasielewski: "He has to be the best coach to work for in the country. It was much more automatic for me to come back from the digital media side knowing I was going to be working for Coach Brey. "He makes my job easier, but I also think I make his job easier by efficient use of his time. … He has to be the easiest coach to work for because of his ability to deal with media. The pressure is off of me to take care of his scheduling where I can focus on the student-ath- letes and getting them taken care of." BGI: Do basketball players have to go through some sort of media training before they are able to speak with the media? Wasielewski: " These kids nowadays have grown up somewhat being self-promot- ers on social media. The caliber of people Mike Brey brings in his program don't need a whole heck of a lot of prep, to be hon- est with you. … "I do think one of the things we work with them more on is media awareness, i.e. knowing what you are tweeting, knowing what you are putting out in the public … is probably the most important thing they need to do." BGI: How has Fighting Irish Digital Media grown in the past several years? Wasielewski: "It 's crazy … they came and asked if I would do the digital media stuff not because of my expertise in creating video, but my relationships with the football program and the people around the university. "I wasn't a video producer; I was a media relations guy t r y i n g to f i g u re i t o u t . I n about 2010 or 2011 … we started getting more talented people, more resources and it 's grown up to where you see that it is." BGI: What's more difficult, the communications side or the digital side with Fighting Irish Digital Media? Wasielewski: " The digital side was far more challeng- ing. I wasn't a professionally trained video producer. There was no background there, so it was basically trial and error. … "I always told people when I came back here [to athletic communications] it was like putting on an old coat. It just felt like what I should be doing." — Corey Bodden Five Questions With … ASSOCIATE ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR ALAN WASIELEWSKI Point ✦ Counterpoint: DID JACK SWARBRICK NEED TO PUBLICLY DECLARE DURING THE BYE WEEK THAT BRIAN KELLY WOULD RETURN IN 2017? Wasielewski became the main contact for the men's basketball program in January. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS No, It Causes Unnecessary Panic By Matt Jones While Notre Dame's 2-5 start is far, far from where most thought the team would be entering its bye week, director of athletics Jack Swarbrick's public statement of support for head coach Brian Kelly did more harm than good. Rather than simply forge ahead and fight through the final five regular- season games, Swarbrick's acknowledgement of Kelly's doubters brings too much attention to the Irish. After extending Kelly's contract through the 2021 this offseason, what could have changed in Swarbrick's mind during the first seven games that the 55-year-old Kelly isn't the man for at least two more seasons? Sure, the decision to bring back defensive co- ordinator Brian VanGorder was a poor one in hindsight. Kelly has rectified that decision, firing VanGorder after losing to Duke. The next defen- sive coordinator hire will determine Kelly's long- term fate with the Irish, no doubt. But a midseason statement of support with a coach fresh off a 10-win season and narrowly missing the College Football Playoff seems radical and unprompted. If a reassurance needed to be made to Kelly, Swarbrick's word behind closed doors should have sufficed. Releasing a statement to the college football world was too much. Instead of staying above the fray, a token show of support — when a change could still be made if the Irish finish something like 2-10 or 3-9 — wasn't necessary. Yes, Just To At Least To Quell Idle Speculation By Lou Somogyi Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick was in a no-win situation once Notre Dame dropped to 2-5 before the bye week. If he said nothing about the future status about Brian Kelly, there would have been innuendo and idle speculation that by remaining silent he is not support- ing his coach and "something is going on behind the scenes." Once there is a "no comment," it only fans the flames that something is up. It's sort of like when potential fifth-year senior Irish quarterback Everett Golson was not made avail- able for interviews during the spring of 2015. The first question that was going to be asked was if he was indeed returning to Notre Dame. If he had said yes and then still transferred (like he did to Florida State), then he would have been called a liar. By not stating anything, then you had the feeling that he already had one foot out the door. However, once Swarbrick did issue a statement to ESPN.com that Kelly would be leading the Notre Dame team out of the tunnel in 2017, then cynics pointed out how such public votes of confidence are "the kiss of death." So either way, people will believe what they want to believe. Nevertheless, the better choice of the two for Swarbrick was to at least state this is where Notre Dame stands with Kelly, and leave it at that, rather than remaining silent. Coaching is a volatile business, but at least some clarity was provided from Swarbrick. BRIAN KELLY JACK SWARBRICK