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Staley takes lead using Twitter to reach recruits, fans

dawn staley

USC coach Dawn Staley is on Twitter. She also e-mails and surfs the Web from her cell phone, but she is not on Facebook or MySpace.

Gerry Melendez/gmelendez@thestate.com

Written by JOSEPH PERSON

jperson@thestate.com
Posted on 05.07.09
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Twitter terms

TWAITING: Twittering while waiting

TWAFFIC: Twitter traffic

TWEEPLE: Twitter people, Twitter members, Twitter users

TWEETER: A user of Twitter (also: Twitterer)

TWEETERBOXES: Twitterers who tweet too much

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TWEET(ING): The act of posting to Twitter

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TWITTONARY: dictionary of twitter terminology

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Famous folks on Twitter

A few famous sports personalties using Twitter:

LANCE ARMSTRONG, cyclist, lancearmstrong

PETE CARROLL, Southern Cal football coach, PeteCarroll

MARK CUBAN, Dallas Mavericks owner, mcuban

NATALIE GULBIS, LPGA golfer, natalie—gulbis

TONY HAWK, skateboarder, tonyhawk

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL, Phoenix Suns, THE—REAL—SHAQ

CC SABATHIA, New York Yankees, CC—Sabathia

South Carolina fans with a Twitter account and some idle time can see how Gamecocks women's basketball coach Dawn Staley spent last weekend: running errands and watching the NBA playoffs and the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight Saturday, before visiting Charleston on Sunday.

Staley thinks the minutia from her daily life is "boring." But to her followers on the trendy social-networking site Twitter.com — a group that numbered 530 as of Wednesday — Staley's daily "tweets" are a behind-the-scenes glimpse at her favorite Columbia restaurants (Villa Tronco's, California Dreaming) and leisure-time activities (shopping, going to movies, tuning into NBA games).

"They seem like they want to know," Staley said. "It's pretty much working, eating and watching basketball if I had to describe it."

Staley, the former Temple coach and three-time Olympic gold medalist, wrote a blog during her first year at USC. But she likes twittering better because of its more personal nature, and, at a maximum of 140 characters per tweet, it takes less time.

Staley joins the growing ranks of college coaches who twitter, a who's who list that includes football coaches with a reputation for being on the cutting edge (Southern Cal's Pete Carroll) and those with a lower hipness quotient (West Virginia's Bill Stewart).

Staley falls somewhere in between. Though Staley e-mails and surfs the Web from her cell phone, she is not on Facebook or MySpace.

When USC's marketing department approached her a few months ago about Twitter, Staley was game. But with apologies to natureboy2323 and Staley's other followers, Staley is quick to point out that she tweets in order to reach out to recruits, not potential cyberfriends.

Twitter seems to give coaches an end-run around the NCAA's ban on text-messaging recruits. Twitter users can choose to receive tweets as texts on their cell phones.

However, an NCAA spokesman said the texting ban came about after recruits complained about getting inundated during the school day. In the case of Twitter, the recruits have agreed to accept the tweets, either as posts on their Twitter home page or texts to their phones.

"If they want that kind of intrusion, that's them signing up for it," the NCAA's Cameron Schuh said.

But Schuh pointed out that the NCAA's standard recruiting rules apply to Twitter. As long as coaches are posting mundane items about the weather or that day's lunch choices — and not identifying prospects or contacting them directly — they can tweet away.

"Us coaches, we're going to push the envelope," Staley said, laughing. "When we become the first school to get the first verbal (commitment) on Twitter," the NCAA will outlaw it.

Until then, fans and recruits can continue to read Carroll's tweets about surfing and traffic on I-405, or look for LSU football coach Les Miles twittering about his children's swim meets and baseball games.

But not everyone is caught up in the Twitter craze.

"That's something I wouldn't do," USC coach Steve Spurrier said. "Maybe our assistant coaches might do something like that a little bit. But no, there's all kind of stuff to do. But basically a young man is gonna pick a school where he thinks it's best for him."

Clemson spokesman Tim Bourret said he knows of no Tigers coaches who tweet.

USC's athletics department set up a Twitter page where it "re-tweets" links from its Web site. Eric Nichols, the Gamecocks' marketing director, plans to talk to the rest of USC's coaches next week about tweeting, which he believes allows them to reach fans directly without using the media's "lens."

"You can be as goofy or as serious or take whatever tone you want, and I think that can come across with your Twitter page," Nichols said.

But there can be questions about the authenticity of Twitter pages.

Many pro athletes have their publicists tweet for them. A page claiming to be USC quarterback Stephen Garcia's is authored by an impostor, according to Gary Garcia, the player's father.

If Staley is out of the office, Staley sometimes calls in a twitter for one of her staffers to post, though the thought is hers. Gamecocks men's basketball coach Darrin Horn has asked Staley about Twitter.

But so far Staley is the only USC coach tweeting — a fact that amuses incoming Gamecocks post player Kelsey Bone, who started a Twitter account last month.

"It's pretty funny to me because my mom's on Twitter, as well," said Bone, the Texas native rated the nation's No. 2 girls player.

"One day I got an e-mail: 'Kim Williams is now following you on Twitter.' I texted my mom and said, 'Mom, you're too old to be on Twitter.'"

Staley, who turned 39 this week, has embraced the Twitter phenomenon.

"It's like a little diary," she said. "Without the secrets."

Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.

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