Iinteresting column on how a team should control it's message

[tornado]

College basketball and national sports expert Justin Young says ...
that the TEAM should own their own site and message board in order to control the nitwits who say unbelievably stoopid things...

http://positionlogistics.com/sports-teams-own-your-message/

but I can pretty much guarantee that wouldn't work and would get out of control because if the team would delete and banish violators and haters - they'd go over to some other board and spew their hate even more...

[Da Coach]

Justin Young is a really good, bright sports writer, who spent a long time writing for Rivals/Yahoo. However, if that really is his opinion, IMO he is wrong. It would be pretty hard to find a single person in sports or at the universities or with pro teams who would agree with him. However, I don't see anywhere that he is talking about message boards.
I think he is saying teams need to try to control the message that gets out by trying to break the news on their own sites and/or by kissing up to sports writers and local bloggers, not necessarily by ownership of the media and message boards.

[AZ BU Fan]

I think the University of Moscow, Tehran A&M, Pyongyang Tech, and Beijing State already do this

[TheAsianSensation]

Yeah, colleges shouldn't own their own message boards. They should be as independent as possible, because you don't want the message to be controlled. You don't want the fan's views to be misrepresented. A fan site (of which a message board is the most prime example) is best served by having the owners/moderators be as little connected to the actual program as possible, although of course the owners should have some kind of fan interest in the program.

But as DC said I don't see anything where he talks about message boards and other sites where fans control the content.

[tornado]

UNI has been a very good team thus far - they've had the best RPI in the Valley mostof the season -- and all it took was one relatively bad performance, and their fans are turning quite negative...
seriously -- the worst point they've been at in the past five years??

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304105&postcount=93

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304099&postcount=87

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304097&postcount=85

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304093&postcount=81

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304092&postcount=80

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304089&postcount=77

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304089&postcount=77

http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.php?p=304128&postcount=116

but a few of their fans really applauded and praised Bradley's home crowd (8000+) and enthusiasm -- they couldn't believe BU has so many really loud and cheering fan after going 0-6!

[tornado]

Here's a story about why Steve Alford left as head coach at Iowa a few years ago and moved on to New Mexico..
It had to do with fan support and the Iowa AD's failure to stand strongly behind Alford..

First off the writer of the column slams the guy who simply poses a question - as if he's the thought police...


"If fans aren't happy with their program.. their reflexive reaction is to call for
a coaching change.

.. Alford didn't get fired at Iowa. He voluntarily left for New Mexico. Why? In
the first place, he was undercut by his then-athletic director, Bob Bowlsby,
who refused to stand up to the message-board crowd in Alford's defense.

The Lobos get great fan support year in and year out, which helps recruiting."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/seth_davis/02/22/Hoops.Mailbag/index.html

So...fans ragging on message boards CAN have a major impact on who they get to coach their team and also on "recruiting" ??

[SFP]

This is America and it is anyone's right to own and operate a message board. Now should a University try and control a board of their own? I guess that is up to the University. Will it be a better product then an independent or corporate sponsored one? I'd have to say a University would be in a better position to voice its brand and opinions if given adequate resources with their own but they could probably do more working with an independent board if they take the time and see the value of working behind the scene. A corporate sponsored board has a different agenda more likely and could pose the most damage to a University, if not monitored and given a channel counter act their position. All in all I believe a University with their limited resources is best served if they work with the boards and offer them an inside view much like they work with journalist.