Just curious how others would evaluate the sports information dept at UCD.

I don't think I can say that without first stating what I think their role is. I believe their role is releasing essential information about UC Davis sports to the public, including the media. Essential information can include schedules (including schedule updates), gameday attendance policies, and whatever else the public needs to know about the competitions if they plan to attend. They're also responsible for releasing some non-essential information about the teams to generate interest (those gameday notes with the various witticisms for interest.

I believe a secondary role (though no one would likely admit this) is to lower the amount of e-mails and phone calls to coaches, who already have players, parents, other coaches, prospective players and their parents, their own bosses, etc. contacting them. Get essential info out to the fans and media proactively so they can concentrate on the behind-the scenes stuff . Also funneling inquiries to appropriate media reps helps ensure coaches do not accidentally release information they shouldn't.

How do they get the information out ? Press releases, the website, social media, and answering external inquiries. But how are they doing ?

I suppose it depends on how you view it. If you think getting tons of updates about the football team is enough you might rate it more favorably. However, I think minimizing coverage of some sports due to perceived lack of interestis a self-fulfilling prophecy. How are people supposed to just get interested on their own ? Yes, have lots of info on football, but also more information on every sport. If the sports are worth sponsoring at all then they are worth the time to cover properly.

For this reason I would give our sports information department a C at best. They do a very good job of getting the information out about football and basketball, but it seems like the other sports are a bit neglected. Marketing is part of it too-I'll try to separate that part of it from my post. Where are the attendance policies for baseball, for instance ? Can I bring food in ? What about my backpack ? I wouldn't know these things until I go, unless I contact some bored staffer who's looking for the quickest way to get of mymessage. If it's a schedule question could they be bothered to contact a coach and get back to me ?

It'd be nice to know that I should plan on bringing my own chair to field hockey or that lacrosse has free admission but no concessions available. Or how about a heads-up that it gets hotter than hell at baseball + softball games ? It's always someone's first game. I don't need ten-page bio on the assistant soccer coach, but it would be nice to know the things fans need to know and not have to thoroughly search for it or e-mail someone. The Sports Information Dept. at the minimum should publish a "Know Before You Go" document for each sport mirroring what professional sports teams do. It only needs to be updated whenever policies change. You could access it via a link under each sport.

And don't get me started on the disproportianate coverage. Santa Clara for instance publishes a separate online article EVERY TIME a new baseball plater commits. Well, they don't have a football team. UCD rarely even does summary articles.

Speaking of the assistant coaches' bios, why do they put links to them if they're not going to write anything ?

I also think there's an excessive reliance on social media as well. Platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram are lazy. Just a picture and a vague sentence. Not enough for people who want real content