When someone types http://www.ut.edu into their search bar and enters the University of Tampa website, a small link on the left side of the screen often goes unseen.
The “Athletics” link, bringing the viewer to tampaspartans.com, happens to be a key feature in the success and expansion of our beloved university. A lot more goes into the University of Tampa’s website than just plugging in a couple numbers and typing a few words.
UT Sports Information Director Tom Kolbe explained that you can find just about everything UT sports-related on tampaspartans.com.
“The content we feature on the athletics website includes game stories, player bios, full schedules and results, up-to-date statistics, media guides, archived content, photo galleries, live stats,” Kolbe said.
Kolbe added that the site also features “webcasts including video and/or audio, recruiting forms, alumni forms, complete department information, text messaging alerts, Sword and Shield info, Hall of Fame info and general athletic info.”
One could also find the links to the Spartans Facebook, Twitter and other social network accounts.
Clearly the UT athletics website is a huge project that is fairly difficult to tackle and keep updated at all times.
Kolbe is not the only contributor to the website; the Sports Information Department, including student workers, adds to it whenever given the chance.
Tampspartans.com provides an immense amount of information about UT athletics.
“[There is] up-to-date information on all varsity athletic teams and departments within the intercollegiate athletics office,” Kolbe said.
The 14 Tampa Spartan teams are covered in full on the site.
“Archived content is also available as the website is the most complete source of information on Spartan athletics,” Kolbe added.
Also on the website is a link to UT’s YouTube channel, which includes both video clips of competitions as well as press conferences of select teams. One clip, in particular, was chosen as a Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks Sports Video of the Day in May of 2010.
The clip was one of former UT baseball player Mike Blanke hitting a grand slam in the NCAA South Regional title game and being enthusiastically commentated by former Assistant Sports Information Director Taylor Flatt.
Media guides are a major factor inside the athletics website.
The media guides include current and past data and records as well as both the first year and veteran player biographies. The media guides offer a chance for the fans to become familiar with UT’s athletes and get to know the people they cheer for and support.
Kolbe commented on the significance of updating the site when possible.
“The vast majority of interested fans will follow our teams via the website. The information is readily available and we have proven ourselves in making information available in real time, meaning short wait times following announcements and events,” Kolbe said.
A university’s athletics website is crucial to the fans and opponents who want to know the right information at a moment’s instance. For this reason, it is imperative to keep the information on the site efficient and precise.
Not only do fans and opponents read UT’s athletics website, but prospective students and student-athletes make up a great deal of the viewers as well. Students interested in attending or playing at a Division II university with a competitive athletics program may stumble upon tampaspartans.com and decide to become a part of its history-making.
The production and revision of the University of Tampa’s athletics website is a lot more complicated than one would imagine. The importance of it is vital to the increasing interest in the university.
“I feel that offering additional features including YouTube, live stats, Twitter, Facebook fan pages and blogging will allow us to reach more people and spread the word of UT athletics and its continued success at the national level,” Kolbe said.
Kolbe, along with the rest of the Sports Information Department, work with the website each day in order to extend the Spartan spirit throughout the World Wide Web.
Maya Todd can be reached at mtodd@spartans.ut.edu.
UT Athletics
Department Online
http://www.tampaspartans.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/utathletics
http://www.twitter.com/utspartans
http://www.facebook.com/tampaspartans