Use of Twitter varies throughout Big Ten

In the ever-changing world of college athletics, Tom Crean has used social media to communicate with the Hoosier fan base.

The invention and use of Twitter during the past few years has changed how people receive information in a timely and efficient manner.

With more than 40,000 followers and almost 3,000 tweets, Crean is one of the more active college basketball coaches on Twitter.

Since he joined the social network in April 2009, Crean has routinely tweeted inspirational quotes and tidbits about the program.

“I think early on, you think it’s going to be a recruiting tool, but it’s not, because not that many follow it, and I don’t read the tweets that come back,” Crean said.

One of the most debated topics among coaches and athletes who are on Twitter is how they decide to use the social media.

“I kind of tweet for the program,” Crean said. “I think it’s a forum to give people feelings on the team maybe what you are as a person, as a coach. I’ve gotten way away from talking about family on it and things like that because I do think there has to be a certain decorum to it. But I enjoy putting things out there.”

Among Big Ten coaches, Crean and Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers are the two most consistent tweeters.

Chambers, who has 1/10 of the followers Crean does, is in his first season as head coach, and said he looks at Twitter as a way to market his program.

“We utilize it to let our fans know what’s going on,” Chambers said. “I think there is a lot of interest of what we do on a daily basis, and what our players are doing, what our program is doing and what our university is doing.

“Fans get a connection to you. They feel like they know you, and if they feel like they know you and have that relationship, they are going to come to games.”

One difference between the two coaches is how they let their players handle Twitter.
Crean’s players can tweet year-round, whereas Chambers only allows his players to follow people.

“People ask me, ‘Why’s that fair? The players can’t do it but you can do it,’” Chambers said. “I’m using it for marketing and helping our program. You are tweeting about your life and what you’re doing and whether you are up or down.

“It really could cause problems, and I’ve seen it throughout the country. Some football teams, some basketball teams, some guys got kicked off teams because of Twitter. I don’t want to put that on our guys. I don’t think it’s fair. 18- to 22-year-olds, I know they can be a little bit more mature, but they aren’t. That’s reality.”

Crean said he hopes he never has to get to the point where he has to pull Twitter away from his players. He doesn’t say much about using Twitter, but he did make sure his players know the consequences of what they put on the Internet.

“I heard on the ‘Today Show’ one time that when you press send on the computer or your phone, it’s like a bullet leaving a gun,” Crean said. “You can’t get it back. So I’ve used that analogy with them. Obviously, I don’t want them to tweet just random thoughts. Nobody cares about that. If you are going to use it, use it in a proper way.”

Around the Big Ten, other coaches have varying opinions about how they and their players use Twitter.

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo is the longest-tenure coach in the
conference and does not use Twitter. Despite not having his own account, Izzo allows his players to tweet.

“He’s not the biggest fan of it because of all the guys who have gotten in trouble because they aren’t very responsible with it,” Michigan State guard Austin Thornton said. “But he has kind of put it in our hands (to) say, ‘Hey, you guys are developing into young men.’”

Players and coaches say to use “Twitter intelligence” when tweeting.

This off-season, Michigan Head Coach John Beilein brought in someone to talk with his team about how using Twitter is “a way to brand yourself.” By analyzing some of Beilein’s players’ tweets to educate them about what should and shouldn’t be said, Beilein said the message resonated with the team.

“We actually had somebody come in and show us some tweets, took some of our tweets, and you can’t tweet about this stuff and called some people out that we weren’t expecting,” Michigan guard Stu Douglass said. “I think it was good for us because people were not expecting it.” 

Of the 17 players on the IU roster, 13 have Twitter accounts and tweet in some form.
Junior guard Jordan Hulls is fairly new to Twitter compared to some of his teammates, having joined in January. Hulls knows part of the territory of being an IU basketball player is that people are watching and critiquing his every move, even if it’s just 140 characters long.

“When you tweet something, you are representing the program, yourself, your coaches, your university,” Hulls said. “You are representing a lot of things that people who aren’t athletes don’t have to worry about.”