The University of Sioux Falls Athletics Facebook page is the primary social media site for the University of Sioux Falls Cougars. Our intent is to use the page not simply as a billboard for content already posted on the athletics website (USFCOUGARS.COM), but to provide a way for the fans and supporters of Cougar athletics, along with the families of current student-athletes, to learn about and have fun engaging with all 15 USF varsity sports and the student-athletes that choose to pursue their athletic and academic goals at the University of Sioux Falls. Our goal is to give exposure to all sports and student-athletes, especially those often left out of the media spotlight, holding firm to the belief that the anchor of a 4X400 relay or the No. 6 singles player is just as important as the starting quarterback. Our Facebook page serves as more of a refrigerator door that displays everything from blogs posts, to post-game interviews, promotional graphics and newspaper articles that we know our fans would like to read. We’re shutterbugs that love sharing photos with our Facebook community (more than 100 albums) and are also big fans of video as you can see from our multitude of video segments: including weekly interviews with head coaches, “10 Questions" with a Cougar student-athlete, Tuesday Trivia, “5 W’s Wednesday," and everything else that we can cover with a flip cam and a (most of the time) steady hand. One of our favorite videos is the annual “Twas the Night Before Christmas" video; a smorgasbord of student-athletes, coaches, and athletics administrators each reciting a piece of the Clement Clarke Moore poem: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=584430021612454&set=vb.116590898396371&type=2&theater People always ask us what USF we are; University of South Florida, Saint Francis, San Francisco—Facebook is a way for us to let people know about all the great athletic and academic accomplishments taking place at USF-the University of Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We hope that our entry receives consideration because there’s no better way to share the stories of University of Sioux Falls athletics, our teams and student-athletes than winning a Shorty Award. It can be tough to get noticed in a place like South Dakota and USF is no exception; the university recently moved from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II and with that transition has come a greater struggle for newspaper ink, television interviews and your everyday media love. USF (enrollment 1,500) is the smallest school in our new conference, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). When you’re going up against schools that are more than 10 times your size, you’ve got to be creative and that’s something we strive for not only with Facebook but also with our other social media outlets (Twitter, YouTube, Tagboard, blogs). USF has countless student athletes that both diehard sports enthusiasts and casual fans would enjoy meeting (via our social media outlets) for not only their athletic talents but for their academic aspirations, career goals and just for the fact that they’re great young men and women who love their sport, their school, and to have fun. One recent example is a series of videos USF Athletics did promoting our annual head-to-head blood drive versus crosstown rival Augustana College. As you can see, sophomore pole vaulters Jagger Gran and Scott Greenman are anything but camera shy: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=601677236554399 We use videos like this to show the general public the fun-loving and funny side of Cougar Athletics. We know that ESPN and the local regional sports networks aren’t driving down I-90 to cover USF Athletics, and we’re really proud of what our student-athletes accomplish each day on the court, field, gridiron, track and in the classroom. We want all of you to know what goes on at USF, and winning a Shorty Award would certainly give attention to some great Cougar athletes.
