If you're interested in a career in a college athletic department, look no further than Clint Often's advice. Often is an Assistant Athletic Director and Head of Communications, Marketing, and Sports Information who has worked at the University of Mary Washington for 26 years. In this interview, he discusses the behind the scenes work that goes on at a DIII school. Often describes his work on the school's social media platforms and even touches on the new NIL rules and regulations put in place by the NCAA. Let's hear what he has to say: 

Q: What does a day in your life look like during the school year?

A: Very busy, very early start and very late finish. [I'm] a  rare bird in this field, in that I'm a morning person. If we have a game on Wednesday, the preparation begins days before that, reaching out to our opponents to get their rosters for game programs for live statistics. [Also] links for live video and what games we stream the live stats links for people that want to watch those. When we get to game time, I typically arrive at the venue about an hour before the game. To set everything up, set up the streaming camera if I need the computers and the scoreboards as well.

Related: Rate the University of Mary Washington

Q: How do you set goals for yourself?

A: Traditionally here at Mary Washington, we've been on the lower end of the scale of workers to help. [So] my goal has always been to make it look like we have three or four full time people. [When I was in college] I played at a DII school and we played in a minor league stadium about a half hour from campus. It sounds really impressive, but nobody really cared or came. [So] that was always something in the back of my head that I want every kid who goes here to have a better experience.

Q: How do you develop a marketing plan?

A:  We have an amazing history going back to the 80s. So the history piece, for me, has always been a big thing in marketing, because it shows a commitment, dating back decades. One thing over COVID was to go back and type in soccer box scores from 1977. So it was pretty cool. And I'm a historian anyway, I love that stuff.

Q: How do you use social media to market DIII students?

A: I'd love to do more. It's interesting to see the way the trends go because I can track everything [we] do. You know, I can put out the same release on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram [and see how they perform]. The kids aren't too much into Facebook anymore. I typically use [Facebook] for awards and major things that happened in the department. I don't flood people's Facebook with 11 game stories on a Saturday. [Then] Twitter is kind of my news. That's what we've been sending out to Twitter and then I send [game stories] over to Instagram too.

Related: Send Tweet? Do's and Don'ts for Recruits on Social Media 

Q: What makes marketing and communications difficult at a DIII school?

A: Your audience is going to be smaller. And that's why I kind of tie it in earlier, having as many alumni as involved as possible. Not only as a point of pride for them, but it also helps get the word out. You know, that the audience is smaller, and [you have to] keep being creative, or else people stop looking.

Q: What demographics do you look to market to? Age? Location?

A: Our main slogan here at the university is recruiting and retention and student athlete experience. [And] we're always targeting potential recruits. My [goal is] having a consistent, fresh, really sharp looking media platform. It's very important because [young people] are looking to come to college [and play sports]. They don't want to look at something that looks old and stale.

Q: How does NIL affect DIII athletes and do we have anything in place to help UMW athletes get into this space?

A: It's really interesting, because you have the big-time, DI quarterbacks, but then you have also other kids who are getting huge amounts of money, just because they're social media influencers and they have a half a million followers. So, there's no real reason why a student athlete at a DIII school couldn't also have that, and develop a following for something completely outside of athletics. So, it's gonna be interesting to follow.

Related: 10 Ways to Make NIL Money in Non-Revenue Sports

Q: What has been your favorite sports memory at UMW so far?

A: Oh, you're lucky because I actually was just inducted into our Hall of Fame last week. And a part of my script was moments that I remembered, so I'll try to remember a few of those. We played in the national quarterfinals at California and won. And we found out on Monday morning that we were going to host the Final Four for DIII men's soccer that weekend. And one of the schools was religious so the school wouldn't play on Sunday. So we actually played the games on Friday and Saturday with the banquet on Thursday, which happened to be Thanksgiving. So, I hosted a Final Four with three days notice on Thanksgiving, that was pretty wild.

Clint Often remains on staff at UMW and is an integral part of the day-to-day operations in the athletic department. Over his 20+ years of experience, he's been a part of many different eras in sports marketing and communications. We were extremely lucky to be able to interview him to learn more about social media management and the daily activities for professionals in his field. 

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* Originally published on August 23, 2022, by Max Brown